Despite the slowing economy caused by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, there was a modest increase in the number of major business expansions in the Los Angeles 5-county area during 2001, according to a survey released by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. (LAEDC). The total number of major business expansions for 2001 totaled 390, compared to 370 major expansions in 2000. The value of major expansion in the 5-county area climbed to $2.82 billion, a 50.3% increase over the 2000 total. The level of activity over the course of the 2001 was considered fairly constant, with an easing in October and November. These figures do not include smaller expansions, which the LAEDC has not counted. A rule of thumb is there are approximately three to four smaller expansions for every major expansion. A major expansion is a project with a lease or permit value of $1 million or more, or involves a facility of 20,000 square feet or more. The information has been verified by the LAEDC. The 5-county area includes Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties. Orange County saw a jump from 95 major expansions in 2000 to 129 in 2001, while the Riverside-San Bernardino combined county total almost doubled from 32 in 2000 to 58 in 2001. However, even with the largest dollar volume of major expansions at $1.72 billion (up 55.6 percent over the previous year) Los Angeles County posted a slowing to 193 major expansions in 2001 from 222 in 2000. Ventura County also experienced a slowdown in major expansions, from 21 in 2000 to 10 in 2001. The single largest expansion in 2001 came from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The studio announced the move of its headquarters from Century City to Santa Monica, with 425,000 square feet and a value of $500 million. One interesting feature of the 2001 expansion survey for the Los Angeles area was the diversity of the projects. Industry sectors posting increases from 2000 to 2001 included aerospace, apparel, autos, biomedical, health services, international (foreign ownership), and logistics. Far and away the largest number of expansions was found in technology, a total of 73, although this was down from 121 in 2000. The next largest number of expansions in 2001 was in logistics with 24, followed by autos at 20. Firms from 12 states and three foreign countries committed to major expansions within the 5-county area in 2001. Foreign investment came from Hong Kong, Japan and the United Kingdom, with one major expansion each.