Economic Development - Expansions and Relocations

[KJHburg]

New metal frabicating company expanding to Cleveland County with 130 jobs.

North Dakota firm picks Cleveland County near Charlotte for new factory, 130 jobs | WRAL TechWire

[rancenc]

3 hours ago, KJHburg said:

New metal frabicating company expanding to Cleveland County with 130 jobs.

North Dakota firm picks Cleveland County near Charlotte for new factory, 130 jobs | WRAL TechWire

Follow up article to today's announcement in Cleveland County!

https://governor.nc.gov/news/industrial-company-invest-nearly-21-million-shelby

[KJHburg]

Here is the 200th German company in the Charlotte metro  and a profile on it and how important UNC Charlotte was to their decision to open an office here. 

Charlotte Regional Business Alliance | The 200th German Company in the Region and a Huge Draw at UNCC

 

 

[rancenc]

The film industry continues to pump money into the state's economy and tax coffers!

https://www.nccommerce.com/news/press-releases/film-production-north-carolina-reaches-new-investment-high

 

[KJHburg]

Food manufacturer seems to be very interested in new plant at new Gaston County industrial park.

"" the Gaston County Board of Commissioners authorized the sale of 26.8 acres at the park for "Project Ashbury." County documents state the company behind the project is a food manufacturer that makes pre-packaged meals sold at grocery and convenience stores. The company would hire around 230 people and invest $48 million at the new manufacturing facility, county leaders said.""

Food manufacturer targets Gaston County's Apple Creek Corporate Center for 230-job project - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

NC is the 3rd largest in the USA in terms of food processing. 

Food Processing & Manufacturing Industry in North Carolina (edpnc.com)

in other econ development news companies moving their HQs out of California is accelerating in the last few years.  (and I am hearing one such large California based company maybe looking at a HQ shift to Charlotte and it is not the stagecoach) 

from San Fran 

By Mark Calvey  –  Senior Reporter, San Francisco Business Times
Aug 25, 2021 Updated Aug 25, 2021, 4:36pm PDT
The pace of California companies moving their headquarters out of state is quickening, according to a new report.

“The departures are accelerating as more relocation plans move to implementation,” according to the report by site selection consultant Joseph Vranich, president of Spectrum Location Solutions and Lee Ohanian, a UCLA economics professor and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.  In the first half of 2021, 74 companies moved their headquarters out of California, for a monthly average of 12.3. In all of 2020, 62 companies took their headquarters out of the Golden State for a monthly average of 5.2, while in 2019 78, or a monthly average of 6.5, did so. In 2018, 58 companies moved their headquarters out of California, or a monthly average of 4.8, according to the report titled, “Why company headquarters are leaving California in unprecedented numbers.”  That means California lost a total of 272 headquarters between Jan. 1, 2018 and June 30, 2021, the report found, based on press releases, media reports and other disclosures that a company’s headquarters has left California. The figures may understate the actual departures since small businesses leaving the state often go unnoticed.  The report’s authors cite familiar reasons for the headquarters leaving California: taxes, regulations and high costs tied to labor, litigation, energy and utility costs. Other factors coming into play are so-called quality of life issues such as housing affordability and homelessness. ""

Smart Wires HQ moved to Durham from Silicon Valley,  Extreme Networks moved to Wake County from SV and this is in the last few months.    It is time for Charlotte to snag a California  HQ.    I can think of several companies beside Wells Fargo that would fit Charlotte's wheelhouse well.  
 

[Cadi40]

The film industry is truly making a comeback in NC and hopefully it will stay that way. For all of you horror movie lovers, the remake of “Scream” with some of the original cast members just wrapped filming in Wilmington!

[go_vertical]

I'm only interested if they got meta about the industry's over-reliance on film remakes. 

[KJHburg]

1 hour ago, Cadi40 said:

The film industry is truly making a comeback in NC and hopefully it will stay that way. For all of you horror movie lovers, the remake of “Scream” with some of the original cast members just wrapped filming in Wilmington!

I was just down in Wilmington for about 48 hours and saw 2 productions being shot.    "People like Us" on Fox new tv series and a Hallmark Christmas movie "Christmas in Harmony" complete with faux snow in the 90+ degree heat on Market St near the riverwalk!   

[Norm2]

Glad to see the film industry coming back to NC. Hopefully the Charlotte area itself will attract for film productions too

[Windsurfer]

7 hours ago, norm21499 said:

Glad to see the film industry coming back to NC. Hopefully the Charlotte area itself will attract for film productions too

They forgot to paint the leaves brown.

[KJHburg]

10 hours ago, Windsurfer said:

They forgot to paint the leaves brown.

oh that is just digital editing....

[KJHburg]

Warehousing and distribution is growing very rapidly in the Charlotte region.  Employment grew 60% in 2020!  These mega warehouses are going up all over the region like the 1 M sq ft warehouse built as spec in Troutman now leased by Walmart.   And the massive Amazon expansion in Pineville, north Charlotte, west Charlotte marches on as well. 

Charlotte Regional Business Alliance | Industry Spotlight: Logistics and Distribution

[KJHburg]

NC wins an award from its peers for video promoting NC economic development.  Video link is bottom of that page. 

EDPNC Wins Major Communication Awards at 2021 SEDC Annual Conference - Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina

[KJHburg]

From the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance on their recent recruitment trips and visits to Charlotte upcoming by firms.

Charlotte Regional Business Alliance | Business Recruitment Project Update

""The team is also busy with upcoming client visits: an Austrian company is visiting Charlotte this week, an Indian CPA firm will visit the following week, and a German firm, in mid-October.""

remember the 4th quarter by years end is usually the busiest time for economic developmen announcements.  Stay tuned.....

[KJHburg]

From the Triangle Biz Journal talking about the entire state:

""For the first time in history, North Carolina is looking at an economic development pipeline that exceeds $100 billion.  That’s according to Chris Chung, CEO of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, which takes the lead when it comes to recruiting companies looking to relocate or expand in the state.

According to Chung, recruiters are presently working on 240 active projects representing 78,000 new jobs and, “For the first time ever in our history,” more than $100 billion in potential new investment.  That’s as foreign direct investment – investment by firms based in foreign countries – is still down, at about 23 percent of the total project activity.""

as noted in the past the 4th quarter is  usually the busiest in econ development announcements.  

[KJHburg]

North Carolina is ranked #1 best state for business expansions by the influential Site Selection magazine shoving Georgia to #2 after they topped the list year.   This is great news and I do believe we will have multiple job announcements across the state including Charlotte by years end.   Take a look at the list of job announcements they highlight.  most of the job growth is and will be in the Charlotte and Raleigh Durham regions.  But every part of the state is getting something really in the last year.   

Business Climate Rankings: Brighter Horizons | Site Selection Magazine : After tying for first place with Georgia last year, North Carolina pulls into the top spot.

North Carolina Again Ranks as Site Selection’s Top State Business Climate - Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (edpnc.com)   but go through the list and look at the job announcements around the state.  

[atlrvr]

Just ran across this:

ABOUT AMERICAN EQUITY

At American Equity Investment Life Holding Company, we think of ourselves as The Financial Dignity Company that offers solutions designed to create financial dignity in retirement. Our policy holders work with independent agents, banks and broker-dealers, through our wholly-owned operating subsidiaries, to choose one of our leading annuity products best suited for their personal needs. To deliver on our promises to policy holders, American Equity has re-framed our investments focus, building a stronger emphasis on insurance liability driven asset allocation as well as the origination and management of private assets. Our company is headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa with satellite offices slated to open in 2022 in Charlotte, NC and New York, NY.

 

Digging a bit, I see they just hired a new CEO that is based here in Charlotte.  He used to work at Brighthouse/MetLife 

American Equity is a Fortune 1000 company.

[KJHburg]

This once again proves something I say.  It is hard to get people to move out of Charlotte.  US Bank and their 800 person operation is here because some people left either BofA or Wells and wanted to stay here instead of moving.  Dittos for Ally Bank.  When a high level banker forget his name left BofA to go work with then GMAC Bank he said he is staying here.  Now they have a 26 story office tower here and more employees than in their HQ city of Detroit.   The USAA operation is here because some big wig with them was familar with Charlotte and was hired from one of our firms here.  

What KJ tells people "  You could not blast me out of the Charlotte region.  Born here and will be buried here.     But that does not mean I wont travel around.  

This is great news about American Equity given insurance companies are fairly cheap when it comes to real estate I would expect a suburban location but who knows depends on whom they are hiring.  

[turbocraig]

8 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

This once again proves something I say.  It is hard to get people to move out of Charlotte.  US Bank and their 800 person operation is here because some people left either BofA or Wells and wanted to stay here instead of moving.  Dittos for Ally Bank.  When a high level banker forget his name left BofA to go work with then GMAC Bank he said he is staying here.  Now they have a 26 story office tower here and more employees than in their HQ city of Detroit.   The USAA operation is here because some big wig with them was familar with Charlotte and was hired from one of our firms here.  

What KJ tells people "  You could not blast me out of the Charlotte region.  Born here and will be buried here.     But that does not mean I wont travel around.  

This is great news about American Equity given insurance companies are fairly cheap when it comes to real estate I would expect a suburban location but who knows depends on whom they are hiring.  

I think you may be referring to Al deMolina, who left BA to run the newly rebranded Ally.

[KJHburg]

1 hour ago, turbocraig said:

I think you may be referring to Al deMolina, who left BA to run the newly rebranded Ally.

Yes that's him but could not remember his name.  

Edited November 5, 2021 by KJHburg

[RANYC]

2 hours ago, KJHburg said:

This once again proves something I say.  It is hard to get people to move out of Charlotte.  US Bank and their 800 person operation is here because some people left either BofA or Wells and wanted to stay here instead of moving.  Dittos for Ally Bank.  When a high level banker forget his name left BofA to go work with then GMAC Bank he said he is staying here.  Now they have a 26 story office tower here and more employees than in their HQ city of Detroit.   The USAA operation is here because some big wig with them was familar with Charlotte and was hired from one of our firms here.  

What KJ tells people "  You could not blast me out of the Charlotte region.  Born here and will be buried here.     But that does not mean I wont travel around.  

This is great news about American Equity given insurance companies are fairly cheap when it comes to real estate I would expect a suburban location but who knows depends on whom they are hiring.  

I think you're absolutely right on this, although in the case of American Equity, I'd guess the aversion to and avoidance of Iowa might have been the bigger factor than the desire to stay in Charlotte.  By the way, I graduated from high school in West Des Moines - moved there in middle of junior year after Dad took a job there.  Family tolerated it for 20 months and then dipped - never looked back.  I think the string of days with minus 65 degree wind chills did it for my Dad.  I will say, however, the public schools were rigorous, intensive, well-resourced, and top-notch.  I guess CMS is a different beast altogether, but if a city like Charlotte could offer high-quality instruction and school cultures like what I saw all around Iowa, we'd be the envy of the world and totally unstoppable.

Edited November 5, 2021 by RANYC

[atlrvr]

The CEO lives in Myers Park.   So perhaps he'll want the office close, but I imagine more it's a function of what types of jobs they will be staffing in Charlotte.  Investment, capital markets, legal, tech transformation, I could see Uptown/South End.  Back office or call center roles, I could see something more suburban.

Their current HQ is very suburban.

[KJHburg]

I sure would hope NC is going after one of these HQs that is spinning off from GE and I would suggest GE Aviation which has plants in Asheville, Durham, Wlimington, and West Jefferson.  Lets see where would a great HQ city be for an industrial manufacturer such as this close to its plants and with a great airport itself?   Hmm.   Attn Charlotte Regional Partnership call on them asap.

GE stock jumps as it splits into 3 companies | Fox Business

Edited November 9, 2021 by KJHburg

[atlrvr]

I think either the Aviation or Energy companies probably would consider Charlotte.  At this point, I'm actually fairly certain they haven't thought the far ahead, but I assume about 20 states econ dev groups have already put in calls this morning.

[CLT2014]

1 hour ago, atlrvr said:

I think either the Aviation or Energy companies probably would consider Charlotte.  At this point, I'm actually fairly certain they haven't thought the far ahead, but I assume about 20 states econ dev groups have already put in calls this morning.

Ohio will probably put up a good fight to keep the GE Aviation headquarters in the Cincinnati metro too and offer incentives if needed. The GE campus in Cincinnati is massive and they have about 9,000 employees based there (7,300 more than in all of NC), with a stronger labor force with experience in aerospace than Charlotte.  Part of the benefit of breaking up a conglomerate into smaller units is you put the people in leadership in closer contact to the actual business for more hands on leadership. Taking all the top leaders of GE Aviation out of the current HQ campus and isolating them in a city not known for aviation talent isn't necessarily the wisest move for a company that will be on its own.

Prior to the pandemic, GE Aviation's CEO wrote an Op-Ed about what a perfect fit GE Aviation and Cincinnati were for each other and the region's strong talent pipeline built the success of the most profitable division of GE.  Poaching banks and insurance companies from other cities has been easy for us, but getting a major aerospace manufacturer will be a bit tougher with our labor market: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/2019/07/08/opinion-ge-aviation-cincinnati-perfect-match/1619588001/

Edited November 9, 2021 by CLT2014