Learning from Other Places

[KJHburg]

from the Austin Business Journal on their HQ relocations to Austin this year (Oracle was announced last year)  Most from higher cost locales but one small company was from Charlotte. 

• Green Dot Corp., a prepaid debit card and digital banking company, is moving its headquarters to Austin from Southern California. The company is embracing remote work and looking to tap into the business-friendly environment in Texas as well as the Austin area's talent pool, President and CEO Dan Henry said in a statement in mid-May. At the time, Green Dot (NYSE: GDOT) had about 1,300 employees in the United States and China, and a market capitalization of roughly $2.4 billion.

• Einride AB, a Swedish company developing a self-driving electric freight vehicle, is putting its U.S. headquarters in Austin. As of early May the company had raised about $150 million, including a $110 million series B funding round. It was unclear how many people Einride plans to employ in Austin. It also announced plans to open offices in New York and Silicon Valley.

• Invzbl LLC, maker of machines that use ultraviolet radiation to disinfect phones and other devices, has relocated its headquarters to Austin from Charlotte, N.C. Founded in 2019 by CEO Chuck Morrison, the startup as of April had five employees, including three in the Texas capital. But Morrison hoped to hire 25 to 50 people within 12 months and was looking for office space.

• Blockcap Inc., a cryptocurrency mining startup, moved its headquarters to Austin from Las Vegas. As of mid-April, the company had about 20 employees at an undisclosed office location, with plans to grow to 50 to 100 employees in six to nine months. Led by founder and Executive Chairman Darin Feinstein, Blockcap had raised more than $100 million as it aimed to grow to be the largest bitcoin miner in North America.

• Markaaz Inc., which makes an artificial intelligence-powered small business platform that helps connect those kinds of companies to clients and services, has relocated its headquarters to Austin from Los Angeles. It has secured office space on the east side, in the Foundry I building on East Fourth Street. It was not immediately cleared how many employees Markaaz had, but executives outlined in an announcement plans to hire 70 people by the end of the year, and a goal of having a team of 150 by the end of 2022.

• City Shoppe, an e-commerce company with a platform that helps people shop locally online, is relocating to Austin from Portland. CEO Ash Cintas said she put the decision about where to relocate up to an employee vote, and Austin won out. As of early April the team had eight people, with plans to add 15 or more employees. Cintas founded the business in 2020.

• XR Masters, which develops software that enables immersive technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality — as well as immersive tech yet to be created — relocated its headquarters to Austin from Chicago, Austin Business Journal on March 25 broke the news. CEO Ali Hantal founded the company in 2015. Hantal said the startup has yet to secure physical office space in Austin for the company’s new HQ because of the Covid-19 pandemic. He is currently exploring options, meeting with commercial real estate brokers and hopes to have a location “by the end of this year.” Local hiring will begin after that.

• Elevate Brands announced March 24 Austin had become the New York City-based startup's second headquarters. With a new second headquarters already set up at co-working company Galvanize’s 2nd Street Austin location, Elevate Brands is preparing to establish its own office space and hire locally as it expands in the Texas capital. Founded in 2016 in New York City by CEO Ryan Gnesin and Chief Operating Officer James Lucien, Elevate Brands acquires Amazon fulfillment-by-Amazon businesses and scales them. Gnesin, Chief Mergers and Acquisitions Officer Jeremy Bell, Chief Supply Chain Officer Amedio Palmieri and Chief Growth Officer now are based in Austin. The company currently employs 70 and plans to add this year to its current local staff of seven.

• Harmonate, a financial-technology company making software to accelerate private capital document processing and data analysis, announced March 23 plans to move to Austin from San Jose, California. As of late March, the company had about 20 employees, with four in the Austin area, including its CEO and CTO.

• CrowdStreet Inc., a real estate investment marketplace, announced March 19 that it will be relocating its headquarters in June to Austin. The 110-employee company will maintain its current office in Portland, and it’s adopted a hybrid work approach that allows employees to work from anywhere. The immediate impact to the Austin job market is unclear, but the company plans to add 80 positions by the end of the year.

• NinjaRMM LLC, which makes remote-monitoring and management software that allows businesses to keep tabs on their tech devices, told Austin Business Journal that is has moved its headquarters to Austin from San Francisco. The company had 17 employees in the Texas capital as of mid-March, of more than 200 employees worldwide. Dozens of hires were planned in Austin.

• Eleiko, which makes workout equipment, relocated its U.S. headquarters to Austin from Chicago. It has leased more than 52,000 square feet in South Austin for offices, distribution and a strength and condition center. As of early February, the company had about a dozen people on the ground in the Texas capital. Eleiko's global headquarters remains in Sweden

• ZP Better Together LLC, a software maker also known as ZP, relocated to Austin from Rocklin, California, according to a Jan. 28 announcement, along with divisions ZVRS and Purple Communications. ZP's companies provide video relay technology and interpretation services for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, which allows people to communicate in real-time through an interpreter using video software. The company, which already had a call center in the Austin area for more than 20 years, leased 24,000 square feet at a Northwest Austin office park. About 150 employees will work there — both new and relocated from California — of the more than 2,800 people employed nationwide by the company.

• QSAM Biosciences Inc., a biotechnology company developing cancer treatments, relocated to Austin from Palm Beach, Florida. The company announced the move Jan. 28, at the same time it reported raising $2.5 million with a series B stock offering led by California-based Checkmate Capital Group. Founded in 2004, QSAM makes nuclear medicines for cancer treatment and plans to use the new money to start clinical trials for its radiologic cancer therapy product, CycloSam. Douglas Baum is CEO.

• Alpha Paw LLC, a company selling pet supplies online such as dog beds and dog car safety seats, and its Victor’s Doggy Cookies division relocated from Las Vegas. Ramon van Meer is CEO of Alpha Paw and his young son, Victor, is founder, CEO and head chef at Victor’s Doggy Cookies. While their businesses were based in Nevada, they moved to the Texas capital from San Francisco. Ramon van Meer estimated in January the company would hire about 12 people this year.

• Sentry Kiosk Inc., which makes autonomous machines that can help prevent the spread of Covid-19 in workplaces by screening people and taking their temperatures, relocated from Minnesota. More than a dozen employees were based out of Austin as of January and roughly 20 to 30 more hires were expected within 12 months. Founder Joe Caldwell was also searching for additional real estate and a permanent CEO.

• Precision Global Consulting Ltd., a firm that helps companies place contract workers and serves as employer of record for those looking to hire, relocated to Austin from New York City. A spokeswoman said in a January email that the company had four members of its leadership team in Austin, including founder and CEO Adam Coleman. The company has maintained an operations hub in New York City and also has teams working elsewhere in the United States as well as in Canada and Europe. "2020 allowed us to revaluate what was important both personally and professionally," Coleman said in a statement. "It became very clear that the strategic decision to relocate our HQ to Austin Texas would have major long-term positive benefits for the business and clients and workers we serve."

• Ametrine Inc., which manufactures camouflage for the military, relocated from Maryland. The company expected to investment $3 million in a facility at 900 E. Old Settlers Blvd. in Round Rock and create 140 jobs with an average salary of $75,000, and in return was set to receive incentives totaling $345,000 in annual payments over five years.

• Digital Realty Trust Inc., a giant in the realm of owning and operating data centers used by major technology companies, relocated to Austin from San Francisco. The company has had data centers in the Austin area for years, at MetCenter in Southeast Austin. But now Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR) has leased space for a corporate office at 5707 Southwest Parkway. Erich Sanchack, executive vice president of operations, said in a January statement that roughly a dozen employees would be based at the new corporate office, with plans to grow. The company said it had more than 4,000 customers around the globe and its market capitalization, as of Jan. 25, was more than $40 billion.

• Loop Insurance, a technology company offering a new kind of auto insurance, relocated to Austin from Washington, D.C. The company also closed a $3.25 million funding round led by San Francisco-based venture capital firm Freestyle VC. Co-CEOs John Henry and Carey Anne Nadeau founded the company in July 2020.

• Truelytics, a company making software for wealth managers, relocated to Austin from Boston. The company, founded in 2017, made the move to tap into the plentiful "skilled and affordable labor" of the Texas capital as it sought to build out its sales and marketing efforts during a "second phase of growth," CEO Jeremi Karnell wrote in a Jan. 8 blog post.

• Amazing Magnets LLC, a magnet manufacturer and distributor, relocated from Anaheim, Calif. It plans to invest $5.5 million into a new headquarters and production facility in Round Rock. The company company expected to have 25 employees in Round Rock by the end of 2021, with plans to double its team in 2022. Most of its current staff are moving to Texas.

• 8VC, a venture capital firm with a portfolio that includes investments in companies such as Hims and Oculus, relocated to Austin from San Francisco. While the move was announced in November, a source told Austin Business Journal in January that the firm, led by CEO Joe Lonsdale, had taken 10,000 square feet of office space at 1221 South Congress Ave., just south of Music Lane.

[KJHburg]

very nice urban plaza between 2 recently built 10 story office buildings in  downtown Raleigh the One Glenwood and Bloc83 buildings.  

Can't wait to see the completed Vantage Southend urban plaza between the 2 11 story buildings here in Charlotte.  

Bloc(83) - Downtown Raleigh Office and Retail, One Glenwood, Tower Two (bloc83raleigh.com)

[rancenc]

Not a flattering article from the Wall Street Journal on one of the Queen City's Southeast rivals!!

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-music-city-meltdown-11619649990?mod=e2fb&fbclid=IwAR2ApjFYf53S0WV4s_-k6wYzkWQ11dQ3wb7_aFF2eDvoO-lL7eslT3QW7fk

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by rancenc

[KJHburg]

1 hour ago, rancenc said:

Not a flattering article from the Wall Street Journal on one of the Queen City's Southeast rivals!!

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-music-city-meltdown-11619649990?mod=e2fb&fbclid=IwAR2ApjFYf53S0WV4s_-k6wYzkWQ11dQ3wb7_aFF2eDvoO-lL7eslT3QW7fk

 

From what I could read it relates to massive debt Nashville has taken on here of late.  Plus the mayor had proposed a 50% property tax increase but then the city reassessed all the properties and of course they all went up.   But Charlotte and Raleigh for our issues are much better shape financially and it also said the state has threatened to take over the city's finances. 

[tozmervo]

Per the Ledger, CATS is preparing to refinance quite a bit of debt to save money. Not sure if the city/county have similar plans for other debt issues.

Quote

• Refinancing transit debt: You’re not the only one taking advantage of low interest rates to refinance a mortgage, but you’re probably not going to be dealing with quite as big a loan as Charlotte. The city is planning to refinance $200 million worth of debt from 2008 and 2015, tied to CATS bonds. Final approval is slated for May 24. Charlotte hasn’t said exactly how much it will save, but expects the reductions in debt costs to be “significant.”

 

[KJHburg]

This is sharp looking 36 story office building proposed in Uptown..... Dallas that is.   Heading to the Big D in the fall can't wait to drive around and ride around on DART and see the sights (their new buildings LOL)    KJ Consolidated Industries Texas HQ a possibly. 

Field Street Tower | Hillwood Urban | Dallas, TX

Edited May 19, 2021 by KJHburg

[rancenc]

Wow! You might and just MIGHT get a one sentence reference in the local biweekly newspaper in one of the under 500 population communities here in NC

https://www.ncnewspress.com/story/news/2021/05/20/ground-broken-four-new-homes-nc/5183442001/

 

[rancenc]

Texas or California?? Which state should North Carolina emulate!!

https://cals.ncsu.edu/news/you-decide-should-north-carolina-follow-california-or-texas/

[KJHburg]

Check out the town of Cary's new downtown park.  This 7 acre park has it all and something for everyone.  Including the dogs!  

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by KJHburg

[rancenc]

Aerial view of South Carolina's unimpressive (at least from my perspective) state capital city!

 

Edited May 26, 2021 by rancenc

[rancenc]

Recent aerial view of one of the few major Midwestern cities that is still growing both in population and economic diversification.

 

[rancenc]

Recent aerial video of Denver.  Can not remember which of the towers was the fictional headquarters of Denver Carrington from the 1980's series "Dynasty"!!

 

[rancenc]

Come next year, Atlanta could have much different stats as a city!

https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/from-big-apple-to-buckhead-fundraiser-grows-war-chest-for-cityhood-push/GYDRRNP7ERCRLIZZTSE4PLDOYY/

 

[smeagolsfree]

On 5/17/2021 at 6:57 PM, KJHburg said:

From what I could read it relates to massive debt Nashville has taken on here of late.  Plus the mayor had proposed a 50% property tax increase but then the city reassessed all the properties and of course they all went up.   But Charlotte and Raleigh for our issues are much better shape financially and it also said the state has threatened to take over the city's finances. 

We have had 4 mayors in a row that have not had a clue about what it means to be fiscally responsible. Carl Dean basically puts us in the mess we are in now and kicked the can down the road with some huge projects without raising taxes. The we had  a mayor who couldn’t decide who she liked best her husband or her security detail. The we had mayor that was thrust into the position not by choice who was not a leader by any means and now we have someone that is trying to fix everything at once, which is the wrong thing to do.

All of the first three mayors just kicked the can down the road afraid to make the hard choices of raising taxes when they needed to be raised, cutting Cadillac benefits plans for employees. We have not had a decent mayor here since Phil Bredesen back in the late 90s early 2000s. All that has happened here has been by a lot of luck and good recruitment despite the shortcomings here.

[KJHburg]

Up in Raleigh Cary and the most populous county in the state Wake the last 2 days.  (It is going to be great to have a cousin living there and my trips will increase not to mention my college roommate!)  Lots to learn I have said over the years (don't even get me started on their far superior park and greenway system) 

What Raleigh is lacking in supertall buildings it makes up in smaller buildings and human scale downtown.  Of course it helps the state has saved many smaller buildings and they have both a Krispy Kreme and McDonalds on the edge of downtown. 

1. tallest building outside of CLT the PNC Plaza mixed used tower. Over 530 feet.   2. Red Hat now owned by IBM but occpies this whole building.  3.  Like the brick highrise 17 stories  4. Just one Sky House 5. for good or worse Raleigh has strict height limits and lots of 2-3 story buildings right downtown.  6. Parking garage in middle of block with small buildings around it.  7.8. these buildings hide their transit center and they will have a new one near their Union Station for the BRT.   9. Briggs Hardware building dates back to 1887.  10.11 couple of skyline shots. 

Lots of people were downtown on a Sunday evening eating out milling around etc. 

If you have not been to Raleigh lately plan a trip. Your state tax $$$ pay for their great musuems which are all great!  Art Museum on its sprawling campus in west Raleigh and 2 the downtown the Natural History (great for kids) and the History museum.   Take the train to downtown and spend the day and the journey will be destination. 

It is okay to like Raleigh really it is.  I am proud of how our capital city looks and it is lot better than some of our regional neighbors who shall remain nameless. 

They are very excited about NC State going to the college world series too! 

 

[JRNYP2C]

21 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Up in Raleigh Cary and the most populous county in the state Wake the last 2 days.  (It is going to be great to have a cousin living there and my trips will increase not to mention my college roommate!)  Lots to learn I have said over the years (don't even get me started on their far superior park and greenway system) 

What Raleigh is lacking in supertall buildings it makes up in smaller buildings and human scale downtown.  Of course it helps the state has saved many smaller buildings and they have both a Krispy Kreme and McDonalds on the edge of downtown. 

1. tallest building outside of CLT the PNC Plaza mixed used tower. Over 530 feet.   2. Red Hat now owned by IBM but occpies this whole building.  3.  Like the brick highrise 17 stories  4. Just one Sky House 5. for good or worse Raleigh has strict height limits and lots of 2-3 story buildings right downtown.  6. Parking garage in middle of block with small buildings around it.  7.8. these buildings hide their transit center and they will have a new one near their Union Station for the BRT.   9. Briggs Hardware building dates back to 1887.  10.11 couple of skyline shots. 

Lots of people were downtown on a Sunday evening eating out milling around etc. 

If you have not been to Raleigh lately plan a trip. Your state tax $$$ pay for their great musuems which are all great!  Art Museum on its sprawling campus in west Raleigh and 2 the downtown the Natural History (great for kids) and the History museum.   Take the train to downtown and spend the day and the journey will be destination. 

It is okay to like Raleigh really it is.  I am proud of how our capital city looks and it is lot better than some of our regional neighbors who shall remain nameless. 

They are very excited about NC State going to the college world series too! 

 

 

I will admit, when I went to Cary several years ago for a long weekend trip, I got to see the museums next to the State House and was VERY impressed.  And there were some pretty good breweries in downtown (or very close to it).  Raleigh is OK.  I still like Charlotte much better.  Hopefully, I can get a trip to Durham to round out hitting all of the major cities.

Winston-Salem is in my top 3 though, along with Asheville rounding out with Charlotte of course.  Wilmington is good - just b/c it is close to the beach.  Greensboro - meh.  I can take it or leave it.

[michaelef]

It would be great if we could do anything remotely close to this 

[rancenc]

Aerial view of Austria's second largest city of Graz.  Also this is where my company's international headquarters is located.  When I was at a business conference three years ago, we went into the Old City for two nights for touring, shopping, and dining.  Very amazed at the active street life during the work week especially at night.

 

[Hushpuppy321]

Dont know if I should put this here but Charlottes competition is growing....

Hope CLT can respond By building its Center City area out (SouthEnd/Midtown/etc.)  with more Towers and much more Street level activation and pedestrian interests.

[videtur quam contuor]

Maybe this is more of "Other places learning from us". I was watching NHK Newsline tonight at 7-7:15, a Japanese broadcaster who has English language world news during that time period. The anniversary of George Floyd murder was a feature. There was a general description of U. S. policing that mentioned there is no national police oversight (as in Japan) and the many police jurisdictions. Also generic background video of police with guns drawn for traffic stops and other events with not enough context for me to understand.  Then there was video of Charlotte, "The capital of the state of North Carolina" (really). Johnnie Jennings was quoted, there was a brief item about social workers going on calls with the police for mental health emergencies, the service was Crisys, and the counselor shown briefly. Officer Mike Harris was shown and quoted after giving a training session about officer response and following the Eight Can't Wait police best practices that have become prominent recently. The CPD main building was on screen and some Charlotte locations shown so it was definitely a Charlotte story from some source. 

It is interesting to see how U.S. police are described for a non U. S. (or mostly non U. S.) audience. The reporter from New York was Sam Suzuki. (Suzuki is easily the most common family name in Japan).

[davidclt]

23 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

Maybe this is more of "Other places learning from us". I was watching NHK Newsline tonight at 7-7:15, a Japanese broadcaster who has English language world news during that time period. The anniversary of George Floyd murder was a feature. There was a general description of U. S. policing that mentioned there is no national police oversight (as in Japan) and the many police jurisdictions. Also generic background video of police with guns drawn for traffic stops and other events with not enough context for me to understand.  Then there was video of Charlotte, "The capital of the state of North Carolina" (really). Johnnie Jennings was quoted, there was a brief item about social workers going on calls with the police for mental health emergencies, the service was Crisys, and the counselor shown briefly. Officer Mike Harris was shown and quoted after giving a training session about officer response and following the Eight Can't Wait police best practices that have become prominent recently. The CPD main building was on screen and some Charlotte locations shown so it was definitely a Charlotte story from some source. 

It is interesting to see how U.S. police are described for a non U. S. (or mostly non U. S.) audience. The reporter from New York was Sam Suzuki. (Suzuki is easily the most common family name in Japan).

Skip to 8:45: Programs | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

Charlotte after 10:30

Edited June 24, 2021 by davidclt
Added picture

[videtur quam contuor]

Yep, that is it. Thank you David. 

[tozmervo]

On 6/20/2021 at 4:30 PM, Hushpuppy321 said:

Dont know if I should put this here but Charlottes competition is growing....

Hope CLT can respond By building its Center City area out (SouthEnd/Midtown/etc.)  with more Towers and much more Street level activation and pedestrian interests.

With charitable distance measurements, that photo shows about a mile of distance. Tryon inside the loop is 1.15 miles. Skyhouse to Sycamore is a little more than 2 miles. Downtown Nashville has a lot going for it, but it's still a very different scale from Charlotte.

[kermit]

Probably not great for little kids, but OMG we need these bikelane bollards!

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by kermit

[smeagolsfree]

This is the two mile view with a new 380’  4 blocks south proposed and a 20 story just completed, Not getting into a competition by any means, but the density runs over 30 blocks from the river and a good 10 blocks wide now. I did send KH Burg a list of proposed and Under Construction buildings and of course all will not be built but the track record right now is running about 80%. We now have about 100 buildings from 10 stories up proposed, but that is now starting on the East bank of the river with around 3 billion in construction planned there, with more being announced monthly with the announcement of the Oracle Campus, and the continued build out of the Nashville Yards development.

Seventy Five buildings either completed or under construction of 10 to 45 stories in the last 7 years.

It just seems folks love to put Nashville down or belittle the city but it seems we are here to stay. I have always had the utmost respect for Charlotte and the board, so a little respect. Photo below courtesy of Amar.