Economic Development - Expansions and Relocations

[SydneyCarton]

I think that the Charlotte area is in the hunt for SW due to Lowes.  That being said, it sounds like SW seeks a suburban campus.  Being close to Lowes makes sense.

[KJHburg]

^^True for SW like mentioned above however most companies are very secretive about their relocation.  Who was talking about Honeywell before they announced here?  Not really anyone I know.  Who mentioned Allstate was doing a 2250 job expansion here before they announced it?  Not many people.  Some companies don't mind if it is leaked out to show they are serious others not so much.  Commercial real estate brokers sometimes have very loose lips.  Many companies do this all in stealth mode check in under assumed names at mid market hotels like Hampton Inns or Holiday Inn Express in the suburbs for meetings.  Sometimes the state or local officials don't even know what they company they are dealing with.   and gotta love all the code names they use for Project Forge or this or that.   

[videtur quam contuor]

I drove through Gary, Indiana X years ago and among the steel, petroleum and chemical plants was a paint factory. Along the highway was a quarter mile of paint panels, every color and labeled as a test area for paint performance. Good location for it with environmental, ozone, and weather of all kinds. I think of this when this company comes up and that there is likely a paint test area on Lake Erie now. 

[nicholas]

22 hours ago, tarhoosier said:

I drove through Gary, Indiana X years ago and among the steel, petroleum and chemical plants was a paint factory. Along the highway was a quarter mile of paint panels, every color and labeled as a test area for paint performance. Good location for it with environmental, ozone, and weather of all kinds. I think of this when this company comes up and that there is likely a paint test area on Lake Erie now. 

I don't think there is enough money in the world to convince a F500 company to move its headquarters to Gary.

Edited November 16, 2019 by nicholas

[CLT2014]

23 minutes ago, dnlleffingwell said:

I think Sherwin Williams will pick between Atlanta and Charlotte area because of Home Depot and Lowe's headquarters. Either location will be good for Sherwin Williams,Home Depot or Lowe's. I hope that Sherwin Williams picks Charlotte area. If they pick Charlotte for there location, I believe it may be either near the headquarters of Lowe's or the new Tec center. Fingers crossed.

Sherwin Williams products are largely not sold at Home Depot due to contracts with Lowe's, so they don't really gain anything from proximity to Home Depot in Atlanta. Lowe's is their only nationwide hardware store partner for paint, Minwax, Cabot, et.

Home Depot's name brand paint suppliers are Behr and Glidden / PPG . Rustoleum is also a major Home Depot supplier for stains (like Varathane brand).

Edited November 16, 2019 by CLT2014

[CLT2014]

17 minutes ago, dnlleffingwell said:

I do not know how things work but I have a brother that works at Surtape In Catawba counyy . They compete with 3M and they are always competing and win a contract in different cycles from Home Depot or Lowe's, one or the other or both. I do not know how it works. I would think it would be the same with paint.

A bit different for the paint companies as they are firmly entrenched with each brand. Behr Paint is essentially an affiliate of Home Depot and been with them for 31 years so I don't see them getting pushed out anytime soon for Sherwin.

Valspar has been with Lowe's since 1971. Sherwin Williams now owns Valspar and only expanded the contract, so I doubt we will see the first major shakeup in preferred paint vendors anytime soon. The paint relationships are more like strong partnerships than the typical procurement relationship of who makes the cheapest glue, nails, wood, et.: https://newsroom.lowes.com/news-releases/lowes-sherwin-williams-partnership/

Edited November 17, 2019 by CLT2014

[Guest]

Now, I'm not claiming to know anything here, because I don't. But I have a hard time believing that Sherman Williams, which has 4500 of its own stand alone stores nationwide, would move to a city, just because one of its contracts, which has 1/2 the amount of stores, is HQ'd there. Move to a city because it had a superior airport, and superior standing in "listicles" maybe. Move to a city because it has a great interstate commerce industry, sure. Move to a city because its river has never caught on fire, yup. I'm sure a sizable team at Sherwin Williams handles the Lowe's account, but its not so big of a deal, that moving that team near Lowe's would be that big of a priority. 

[CLT2014]

1 minute ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

Now, I'm not claiming to know anything here, because I don't. But I have a hard time believing that Sherman Williams, which has 4500 of its own stand alone stores nationwide, would move to a city, just because one of its contracts, which has 1/2 the amount of stores, is HQ'd there. Move to a city because it had a superior airport, and superior standing in "listicles" maybe. Move to a city because it has a great interstate commerce industry, sure. Move to a city because its river has never caught on fire, yup. I'm sure a sizable team at Sherwin Williams handles the Lowe's account, but its not so big of a deal, that moving that team near Lowe's would be that big of a priority. 

Completely agree. Only 16% of Sherwin Williams annual revenue comes from the Consumer Brand groups that includes the Lowe's contract (alongside other retailers). 

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

On 11/16/2019 at 7:00 PM, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

Now, I'm not claiming to know anything here, because I don't. But I have a hard time believing that Sherman Williams, which has 4500 of its own stand alone stores nationwide, would move to a city, just because one of its contracts, which has 1/2 the amount of stores, is HQ'd there. Move to a city because it had a superior airport, and superior standing in "listicles" maybe. Move to a city because it has a great interstate commerce industry, sure. Move to a city because its river has never caught on fire, yup. I'm sure a sizable team at Sherwin Williams handles the Lowe's account, but its not so big of a deal, that moving that team near Lowe's would be that big of a priority. 

The article I sent the link for indicates that Lowe's is the exclusive retailer for their paint (besides their stores). All things being equal, I think its fairly relevant in the decision making process.

[KJHburg]

I think if a choice was made for Sherwin Williams to move out of Ohio,  I think Charlotte would win over Atlanta due to the Lowes retail contract.  Now over a Dallas another story.  However we could win out over Dallas due to our relative location to Ohio (much closer easier on families)  It is still a big IF they move out of Cleveland and they may be shopping for quite a bit of money from Ohio and using shining cities on the hills to show they are serious.   However there are some other fish in the sea right now and we are ready to reel them in soon.   

[SydneyCarton]

2 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

I think if a choice was made for Sherwin Williams to move out of Ohio,  I think Charlotte would win over Atlanta due to the Lowes retail contract.  Now over a Dallas another story.  However we could win out over Dallas due to our relative location to Ohio (much closer easier on families)  It is still a big IF they move out of Cleveland and they may be shopping for quite a bit of money from Ohio and using shining cities on the hills to show they are serious.   However there are some other fish in the sea right now and we are ready to reel them in soon.   

I think that Charlotte is a better choice over Dallas or Atlanta because there's a lot less traffic in the QC, which improves quality of life.  Also, Charlotte is a lot closer to Ohio than those cities so it makes it easier for families that want to drive for a visit.

[csweet]

23 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

   However there are some other fish in the sea right now and we are ready to reel them in soon.   

If anyone knows who these fish are, it's you. Can you enlighten us?

[Guest]

10 hours ago, CarolinaDaydreamin said:

The article I sent the link for indicates that Lowe's is the exclusive retailer for their paint (besides their stores). All things being equal, I think its fairly relevant in the decision making process.

Interesting, thanks, I had not seen that.

Here are the numbers from their 3rd Qtr Financials.

For reference "Consumer Brand Group" is their Lowes offering plus others (OUTLETS: Over 10,000 points of distribution with leading mass merchandisers, home centers, independent paint dealers, hardware stores, craft stores, fine art stores, automotive retailers and industrial distributors in the United States, Canada, Poland, United Kingdom, China, Australia and New Zealand)

Americas Group is their stores

Performance Coatings Group is Industrial and Automotive Uses.

[QClifer]

Is today's Truist merger announcement the big rumor from last week??  If not, when is that going to break?

[KJHburg]

10 minutes ago, QClifer said:

Is today's Truist merger announcement the big rumor from last week??  If not, when is that going to break?

No as that was announced a long ago.   More to come keep watching.....

[KJHburg]

story in a German magazine about the "town" of Charlotte and why it has attracted so many German businesses.  

In English

https://charlotteregion.com/news/2019/11/21/top-stories/why-the-us-city-of-charlotte-becomes-a-headquarters-of-the-german-economy/

Auf Deutsch 

https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/management/report-deutsches-amerika-warum-die-us-stadt-charlotte-zu-einem-hauptsitz-der-deutschen-wirtschaft-wird/25249320.html

Edited November 22, 2019 by KJHburg

[Windsurfer]

16 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

story in a German magazine about the "town" of Charlotte and why it has attracted so many German businesses.  (Not mentioned are the direct nonstop flights daily to Munich and Frankfurt) 

In English

https://charlotteregion.com/news/2019/11/21/top-stories/why-the-us-city-of-charlotte-becomes-a-headquarters-of-the-german-economy/

Auf Deutsch 

https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/management/report-deutsches-amerika-warum-die-us-stadt-charlotte-zu-einem-hauptsitz-der-deutschen-wirtschaft-wird/25249320.html

Hey, wait a second. I'm not a birther, but, but .... "  and of course the German-born US President Donald Trump." 

Or, is this just German humor?

[tozmervo]

That first article reads like it was written by a bot

[Nick2]

5 hours ago, Windsurfer said:

Hey, wait a second. I'm not a birther, but, but .... "  and of course the German-born US President Donald Trump." 

Or, is this just German humor?

He did claim that his dad was born in Germany on multiple occasions while giving speeches in the EU (hint: he wasn't). And I know the Europeans absolutely love poking fun at Trump for the crazy things he says so I'd guess humor. 

4 hours ago, tozmervo said:

That first article reads like it was written by a bot

It was. It's almost verbatim the German article translated to English using chrome's auto-translate feature.

Edited November 23, 2019 by Nick2

[J-Rob]

So... We made it past Thanksgiving and into December, which means it is officially Announcement SZN.  There have been several rumors sparked whether it be VG, Sherwin Williams, or a mysterious suitor for land near the airport.  Would anyone like to provide any insights or make any predictions?  Are any relocations on the horizon?  Will there being any relocations requiring new office space in the central business district?

Can't wait...

[KJHburg]

All I can say is the biggest job announcements of 2018 were announced in December of 2018.  Honeywell, LendingTree expansion etc.  

Charlotte Regional Partnership meeting Dec. 3

Charlotte Regional Partnership Economic Outlook Monday Dec. 9 with several CEO's in attendance   

As for Sherwin Williams I am sure that will not be announced next year even if they decide to stay in Ohio.  

 

[KJHburg]

 here are some job updates  MUFG Union Bank now has 92 people in their Charlotte WeWork offices and they lease a whole floor I hear    from 45 in September 

remember Better.com that online mortgage company that promised a 1000 jobs within a few years they are now up to 202 employees in Charlotte they are growing rapidly   from 49 in September 

75 at Moody's tech center here in Charlotte.     from 37 in September 

None of these firms from what  I remember were given big incentives packages to come or expand here.  

Edited December 3, 2019 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

How NC ranks the counties for economic incentives and Tier 3 which Mecklenburg and most of the area counties are is the best and thus not eligible for some of the bigger grants to Tier 1 counties for example.  But everytime a company comes to Mecklenburg part of the state incentives go into a fund for rural development which is a good idea.  

https://files.nc.gov/nccommerce/documents/files/2020-Tiers-memo_asPublished_120219.pdf

[U_R_]

One of the prospective "Atlantic Yards" tenants is a Fortune 50 technology company that is considering relocating its headquarters from another state to Atlanta, said Terri Kerr, managing director with site developer Hines.

https://saportareport.com/fulton-panel-turns-down-buckhead-developer-seeking-incentive/

A report about a F50 company looking to relocate their HQ. I'm only adding this because often times ATL and CLT are locations being considered for corporate relo. Could this be one of the big companies y'all have been talking abt?

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

36 minutes ago, Ric0_0 said:

One of the prospective "Atlantic Yards" tenants is a Fortune 50 technology company that is considering relocating its headquarters from another state to Atlanta, said Terri Kerr, managing director with site developer Hines.

https://saportareport.com/fulton-panel-turns-down-buckhead-developer-seeking-incentive/

A report about a F50 company looking to relocate their HQ. I'm only adding this because often times ATL and CLT are locations being considered for corporate relo. Could this be one of the big companies y'all have been talking abt?

I've heard rumors of Anthem moving their HQ to ATL but that is neither a tech company nor will that be in Atlantic Station. Doubt thats one on CLT's radar.