David MacNamara focuses his legal practice on assisting companies with locating major facilities across the United States, with emphasis on industrial, headquarters, back-office, data center, and distribution development projects.
David has assisted numerous clients with domestic and international location analysis, site selection, cost modeling, and negotiating incentives with multiple states and jurisdictions. He regularly assists companies in site selection, incentives, and deal negotiation for major facilities, including data centers. For data center projects, David guides clients through vetting, verifying, and negotiating key project requirements. He has also advised developers on the viability of sites for data center projects and provided strategic recommendations to make sites more marketable for future development.
In addition, David has assisted countless clients in securing and claiming federal income tax credits as well as a variety of state and local incentives. He also regularly advises on state and local tax matters, concentrating on their impact on site selection considerations. David is part of an integrated team that counsels clients on issues involving real estate, environmental site assessment, regulatory and permitting, public finance, as well as state and local tax and general corporate matters.
Prior to joining the firm, David spent 12 years with KPMG in their Site Selection & Project Development group providing site selection and economic development consulting services. David is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Pennsylvania.
Representative Experience
- Lead client through multi-state site selection analysis to locate enterprise-level data center. Negotiated comprehensive incentives package and prepared required annual reporting.
- Assisted data center developer with identifying and evaluating sites in the southeastern US for data center development potential. Identified material risks to development and strategies for mitigation.
- Prepared 50-state and local tax net-of incentives comparison, ranking market differentials for hyperscale and enterprise-level data center operations.
- Supported hyperscale data center operator in negotiating state and local incentives for multiple states in southeastern US
Honors & Awards
- The 2024 Trailblazers in Building & Infrastructure, City & State Pennsylvania
Thought Leadership
Publications and Presentations
- Speaker, Area Development Conference
- Utility Solutions: Powering Strategic Site Development (Louisville, KY, 2024)
- Product Development & The “Mini Mega-Site (Greenville, SC, 2023)
- Proactive Site & Product Development: Invest Now for a Greater Return Later (Raleigh, NC, 2022)
- Tax & Incentives Landscape in 2021: How Different Businesses Fare Across the States" (Richmond, VA, 2021)
- Speaker, Southern Economic Development Council Conference
- The South’s EV & Battery Sector Advantage" (2024)
- #AmericanSouth Site Selection Panel (2023)
- Speaker, Florida Broadband Summit – Innovate Ideas from the Private Sector: Broadband and Economic Development Growth (2024)
- Author, article in Area Development Magazine Q2 2024: "In Focus: Will Serve Letters and Right-of-Way Acquisitions in Site Selection"
- Interviewee, SEDC Podcast Episode 39 –"LIVE from the #AmericanSouth Site Selection Summit – An Interview with David MacNamara (2023)"
- Acknowledged Contributor, "Location Matters 2021: The State Tax Costs of Doing Business"
- Speaker, Qualified Opportunity Zones Symposium, hosted by Tennessee Valley Authority (2019)
- Speaker, Credits and Incentives Symposium, hosted by Institute for Professionals in Taxation
- “The Changing American Workforce and How You Can Adjust To It To Cut Cost and Improve Productivity” (2019)
- “Keeping Up with Uncle Sam’s Tax Credits: Federal Credits Update” (2018)
- Speaker, NexGen Talks (Brookyln, NY, 2019)
- Acknowledged Contributor, Pennsylvania Tax Handbook, published by American Lawyer Media (2013)
Languages
- Spanish
