Legal Insight

Economic Development Is Increasingly About Execution

What causes some economic development projects to move forward smoothly while others lose momentum long before construction ever begins?

That question surfaced repeatedly across recent industry conversations, including discussions at the 2026 KAED Collaboration Conference.

The focus was less on headline projects themselves and more on the realities that determine whether projects stay aligned once timelines tighten, infrastructure questions emerge, and multiple stakeholders are working toward the same outcome.

None of those pressures are entirely new on their own. What feels different is how often they are overlapping at the same time and how directly communities are being forced to think about readiness, coordination, and long term sustainability in practical terms.

The challenge for many communities is no longer identifying opportunity. It is sustaining alignment long enough to execute successfully.

Increasingly, economic development work is becoming less about any single project and more about managing overlapping pressures at the same time: infrastructure, workforce, funding, permitting, redevelopment, and long term sustainability.

Where Projects Begin to Fall Out of Alignment

One of the clearest throughlines across these conversations was the importance of sustained collaboration early in a project’s lifecycle.

Site selectors, utility partners, and economic developers repeatedly stressed that projects often begin falling out of alignment long before anyone fully recognizes there is an issue. In many cases, the problem is not one major breakdown. It is unanswered questions or lingering concerns that compound over time when key stakeholders are not fully informed on project expectations, risks, timelines, or infrastructure realities early enough in the process.

Projects rarely lose momentum all at once. More often, they slowly fall out of alignment as infrastructure realities, funding pressures, permitting concerns, and stakeholder expectations begin compounding over time.

That tension surfaced repeatedly in discussions around incentives, TIF structures, site readiness, and project execution. Many of these conversations reflected how alignment issues quickly become execution issues once timelines tighten and projects become more complex.

Rethinking Rural Opportunity

Rural development conversations focused heavily on how communities can better leverage the assets they already have at their disposal.

A recurring theme was the importance of utilizing programs like KPDI and historic rehabilitation tax credits to reinvest in existing buildings and long vacant properties. Many panelists discussed how rural communities may not be able to build workforce capacity and public infrastructure overnight, but they can position themselves more competitively by modernizing underutilized properties and creating environments better prepared for future investment.

Panelists also emphasized that many rural communities do not independently have the staffing, funding, or infrastructure capacity to compete for major projects on their own. At the same time, employers bring impacts that extend far beyond direct jobs, including construction activity, increased tax revenue, and broader regional economic growth.

There were also broader conversations around how tourism and community identity can support economic development efforts, including coordinating site selector visits around community events to showcase local momentum and quality of place.

Many panelists also spoke about rural competitiveness in terms of adaptability and strategic reinvestment rather than scale alone.

Why Projects Stall Before Construction Begins

Project delays before construction even begins remained another recurring topic throughout these discussions.

Many panelists shared examples of projects that stalled because sites were marketed before communities completed a comprehensive understanding of environmental conditions, utility availability, or infrastructure limitations.

Several discussions reflected how site readiness is now being evaluated much more broadly than simply whether land is available. Increasingly, the question is whether projects can realistically move through infrastructure, permitting, environmental review, funding, and coordination challenges without losing momentum once timelines tighten.

Economic development work itself is also becoming much more interconnected. Infrastructure, permitting, redevelopment, incentives, funding, and long term planning are no longer happening separately from one another. They are overlapping much earlier in the process.

What Long Term Competitiveness Requires Today

Long term competitiveness was also framed more broadly than in years past.

Conversations around workforce development extended beyond labor availability alone and into issues like affordability, safety, childcare access, and overall quality of life. Industries evaluating where to invest are increasingly looking for communities that can support and retain workforce talent over time, not simply communities with available labor today.

Several discussions also acknowledged how changes in federal funding can impact state and local investment strategies and stressed the importance of diversifying revenue streams to reduce reliance on uncertain funding sources long term.

The broader takeaway was not that there is one formula for successful growth. It was that many communities are actively reassessing what readiness, collaboration, and sustainability actually require under current conditions.

Why These Conversations Matter

For legal counsel involved in economic development, these conversations matter because they reveal where projects gain momentum, where alignment begins to break down, and how infrastructure, funding, redevelopment, and policy decisions increasingly overlap.

More often, successful economic development comes down to whether communities can sustain coordination long enough to move projects from opportunity to execution, especially when coordinating projects with multiple communities or agencies.  This is where legal guidance becomes essential for helping developers and local governments identify critical project turning points and align partners and stakeholders to move forward effectively.

Kara Legg is an Associate at McBrayer's Lexington office where she specializes in economic development with a particular emphasis on industrial development authorities and the procurement of funding through the business programs available in Kentucky. Ms. Legg can be reached at klegg@mcbrayerfirm.com and (859) 551-3685.

Services may be performed by others. This article does not constitute legal advice.