Economic Development - Expansions and Relocations

[J-Rob]

Call me crazy, but I think the thread went off topic unnecessarily.  The CRBA is likely targeting site recruitment firms and companies already planning to move. I highly doubt they are walking into random companies trying to convince them to move to Charlotte because Chicago is inferior. Said another way, if these target companies all announce they are going to Nashville, Atlanta or other competitor cities, we will all be asking why Charlotte wasn't in play.  It appears to me that the CRBA is just doing their job in targeting a city with companies that may already be looking to relocate. Their blog may have framed it poorly, but I think going cancel culture on the CRBA might have been a little much. Just my opinion.

Edited October 7, 2022 by J-Rob

[DonkeyKong]

54 minutes ago, J-Rob said:

Call me crazy, but I think the thread went off topic unnecessarily.  The CRBA is likely targeting site recruitment firms and companies already planning to move. I highly doubt they are walking into random companies trying to convince them to move to Charlotte because Chicago is inferior. Said another way, if these target companies all announce they are going to Nashville, Atlanta or other competitor cities, we will all be asking why Charlotte wasn't in play.  It appears to me that the CRBA is just doing their job in targeting a city with companies that may already be looking to relocate. Their blog may have framed it poorly, but I think going cancel culture on the CRBA might have been a little much. Just my opinion.

What he said!

[kermit]

8 hours ago, J-Rob said:

Call me crazy, but I think the thread went off topic unnecessarily.  The CRBA is likely targeting site recruitment firms and companies already planning to move. I highly doubt they are walking into random companies trying to convince them to move to Charlotte because Chicago is inferior. Said another way, if these target companies all announce they are going to Nashville, Atlanta or other competitor cities, we will all be asking why Charlotte wasn't in play.  It appears to me that the CRBA is just doing their job in targeting a city with companies that may already be looking to relocate. Their blog may have framed it poorly, but I think going cancel culture on the CRBA might have been a little much. Just my opinion.

As the person who started this here (sorry), I agree with you.

Having said that, this was a case of misinformation being spread. And, as community minded folks, I think we all have a responsibility to call out misinfo when we see it. Even if it comes at the cost of derailing a discussion. I don’t think the CRBA needs to be ‘cancelled’ but I do think they should be more careful with their public statements.

I am done, lets get back to Wells moving their HQ to Charlotte…

Edited October 7, 2022 by kermit

[BJKM]

7 hours ago, RANYC said:

The relationship between urban density, the design of that density, and crime have been repeatedly studied for many years, with mixed results.  Heterogeneity is not just racial, but can also be mixed-income/mixed-means, can be employment status, can be religious, can be mixed-national origin.  My friend doesn't need to spend more time in new or diverse circles.  He's the kind of person to celebrate intellectual freedom, to ask questions, and to then go to Google Scholar to look for answers in the quality and due process of data-driven, inferential research.

To put back on topic...economic development efforts here may want to consider focusing on optimizing local conditions, rather than exploiting the struggles of faraway places.

I would be interested in some links if you have any to provide. Specifically examples of cities that try to incorporate more “mixed-means” opportunities and how that gels with the capitalistic drive that creates the urban spaces that we all like to see as well at the gentrification that is a symptom. Are there examples of economic growth that also provide resources for the displaced populations? (Genuine question) could charlotte implement those same types of policies?

I don’t know your friend so sorry for making assumptions if the statement was made with good intent.  

[KJHburg]

This was and is a great win for this region the EJ Gallo Winery facility in Chester County down 77.  

"""When E. & J. Gallo Winery announced its plans and began construction last June for a massive East Coast hub in Chester County, company leaders targeted October 2022 to open the first piece of the operation. The nation's largest winemaker held a ceremony today to celebrate the fact it achieved that goal despite supply-chain challenges stemming from the Covid-19 outbreak.

Gallo welcomed a number of state and local leaders, including S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster, to mark the opening of its regional distribution center in Fort Lawn. The distribution operation occupies just a piece of a large, 1.5 million-square-foot building that is under construction to accommodate the first phase of Gallo's East Coast operation.

Erich Kaepp, Gallo's vice president of eastern operations, said it was "a push up to the end" to prepare to launch the distribution operation, which officially opened on Oct. 3.

"Having achieved that milestone further demonstrates that choosing South Carolina was the correct decision," CEO Ernest Gallo said of the company staying on schedule despite pandemic-related challenges. "Although we are here to celebrate the opening of this facility, it is just the first of many anticipated phases."""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/10/07/e-j-gallo-winery-chester-county-opening.html

 

[KJHburg]

2 industrial expansions in the region today.  

One for Charlotte:

""A manufacturer of bearings and power transmission products is expanding its Charlotte operations with a new facility in the Steele Creek area.

Solve Industrial Motion Group announced today it would invest $34 million into a new 282,134-square-foot industrial facility off Westinghouse Boulevard. The exact address for that facility has not yet been disclosed.  Solve will retain 51 workers and hire 60 more as part of the expansion, the city of Charlotte said.

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/10/12/solve-industrial-motion-group-steele-creek.html

 

and another for Statesville and Iredell County 

While the Doosan Bobcat expansion was previously announced this nugget was in the Biz Journal article about it"

""Mike Ballweber, president of Doosan Bobcat North America, said there were around 400 workers at the Statesville location in early 2021. Bobcat now employs nearly 600 workers there, he said, and plans to have around 750 employees on site by mid-2023 as part of the expansion efforts.""   Sounds like another 150 jobs to be added. 

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/10/12/doosan-bobcat-statesville-manufacturing-expansion.html

[KJHburg]

Interesting story about economic development grants and prospects here in NC from the Triangle Biz Journal. 

""Mike Walden, an economist and professor emeritus with North Carolina State University, helped come up with the formula the state uses to decide whether a project is worthy of a JDIG. And he said the report shows the incentives are working as they’re supposed to.

“There is always uncertainty in business investments, so the ‘failure rate’ among JDIG recipients isn’t surprising to me,” he said. “Fortunately NC has the ‘clawback’ provision that means the state can end incentives if the promised jobs aren’t generated.”  

Christopher Chung, CEO of the state’s top recruitment engine, the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, agrees the report showcases the reason incentives are performance-based – to protect taxpayers.

And he said market conditions simply change.

“Companies can’t predict the future any better than anyone else,” he said. “They give their best estimate … but things like a pandemic come along and can disrupt the best laid plans.”

And the report doesn’t take into account firms that outperform their agreements, he said, such as MetLife (NYSE: MET), which originally pledged 1,200 jobs in Cary. The company, now at 2,000 jobs in Cary, recently announced plans to create 400 more positions at its local campus.""

He Mr Chung continues to talk about current prospects:

""North Carolina does allow certain remote workers to qualify a company for incentives – but it’s not as big of an issue with new projects in the pipeline, Chung said. That’s because his team is not seeing as many office projects as it did before Covid. Chung said new projects his recruiters are seeing are “overwhelmingly industrial.”

“We’re not seeing those kinds of Arch Capital, Advance Auto Parts, Honeywell projects like we saw pre-pandemic… and I don’t know when those come back,” he said.

Add in layoffs tied to a potential recession that have made headlines in recent months and nothing is certain as companies try to figure out how to be more efficient in the age of remote working.

According to the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, there are 270 active projects as of Oct. 1 - companies considering the state for expansions and relocations - in the pipeline. The top three sectors of interest are automotive, food and beverage and life sciences. Specifically, there are 48 projects falling under the scope of "automotive" that are eyeing the state, according to EDPNC.""

As with Vinfast, Toyota Battery and Boom Supersonic the Charlotte region is close enough to attract suppliers of all 3 to this area as we are talking less than 2.5 hour drive away. 

[KJHburg]

I am gone to the mountains for a day or two and good news comes to region.  250 new aviation related jobs in Statesville.

""Jet East announced it had signed an agreement to establish a flagship maintenance facility in Statesville. The base of operations will include two facilities totaling 75,000 square feet of hangar space, 40,000 square feet of office space, shop space and an adjacent land parcel for future expansion. The operations will create more than 250 jobs in Statesville and are expected to launch in the first quarter of 2023.

“The facility at SVH offers an amazing opportunity for Jet East and allows us to expand our capacity, capabilities and reach within a key region of the U.S.,”""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/10/19/jet-east-gama-aviation-statesville-airport-jobs.html

[SydneyCarton]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

I am gone to the mountains for a day or two and good news comes to region.  250 new aviation related jobs in Statesville.

""Jet East announced it had signed an agreement to establish a flagship maintenance facility in Statesville. The base of operations will include two facilities totaling 75,000 square feet of hangar space, 40,000 square feet of office space, shop space and an adjacent land parcel for future expansion. The operations will create more than 250 jobs in Statesville and are expected to launch in the first quarter of 2023.

“The facility at SVH offers an amazing opportunity for Jet East and allows us to expand our capacity, capabilities and reach within a key region of the U.S.,”""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/10/19/jet-east-gama-aviation-statesville-airport-jobs.html

The stretch between Clt and Greensboro is a formidable aviation hub.

[KJHburg]

Financial Times puts 3 NC cities (Charlotte Raleigh and Greensboro) in the top 20 US cities for foreign investment.   Charlotte #7 and Raleigh # 9  Greensboro comes in at #20. 

https://www.axios.com/local/raleigh/2022/10/20/foreign-investors-charlotte-raleigh-greensboro-north-carolina

https://ig.ft.com/us-cities-index/?

 

[RANYC]

17 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Financial Times puts 3 NC cities (Charlotte Raleigh and Greensboro) in the top 20 US cities for foreign investment.   Charlotte #7 and Raleigh # 9  Greensboro comes in at #20. 

https://www.axios.com/local/raleigh/2022/10/20/foreign-investors-charlotte-raleigh-greensboro-north-carolina

https://ig.ft.com/us-cities-index/?

 

Finally beating Raleigh in a ranking.  

[KJHburg]

Charlotte attracts a lot of smaller Foreign companies but they grow here into bigger and bigger operations and in the region there are just scores of foreign owned factories.    We excel in attracting German companies for example and lots of Japanese ones too.  

Here you go if you want to read more about FDI in the Charlotte region

https://charlotteregion.com/clientuploads/Data/WhitePapers/2021_FDI_Whitepaper.pdf

[Reverie39]

20 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

The stretch between Clt and Greensboro is a formidable aviation hub.

Agreed, now would love to see some of the aerospace engineering come here too. It's a field NC is lacking in.

[J-Rob]

This podcast was an interesting listen: https://www.buzzsprout.com/940228/11535989

It talks about the partnership between QM Power and EPIC at UNC Charlotte.

It is a biased podcast from CLT Alliance, but it is interesting to hear someone talk about Charlotte serving as the "next Houston" for renewable energy. It may be a little aspirational, but fun nonetheless.

More about EPIC

https://epic.charlotte.edu/

[RANYC]

22 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Charlotte attracts a lot of smaller Foreign companies but they grow here into bigger and bigger operations and in the region there are just scores of foreign owned factories.    We excel in attracting German companies for example and lots of Japanese ones too.  

Here you go if you want to read more about FDI in the Charlotte region

https://charlotteregion.com/clientuploads/Data/WhitePapers/2021_FDI_Whitepaper.pdf

Frankly, given it’s a financial times ranking, I’d give it far more credibility than many of the others, plus it’s a ranking that, by its nature, puts Charlotte on a global stage.

Edited October 21, 2022 by RANYC

[JRCLT]

This podcast was an interesting listen: https://www.buzzsprout.com/940228/11535989
It talks about the partnership between QM Power and EPIC at UNC Charlotte.
It is a biased podcast from CLT Alliance, but it is interesting to hear someone talk about Charlotte serving as the "next Houston" for renewable energy. It may be a little aspirational, but fun nonetheless.
More about EPIC
https://epic.charlotte.edu/
http://content.invisioncic.com/x329420/monthly_2022_10/EPIC.thumb.PNG.ae9daa1bffd41ec386889de26696b1d4.PNG

I’m there everyday and there’s a lot of great research in energy among other great projects happening there. EPIC has a great partnership program with many industry professionals that are involved with the university. It’s a great place for connections in engineering and beyond. Engineering College at Charlotte is underrated.

[KJHburg]

Shout out to Wilmington and New Hanover on their 2022 business announcements.  Since New Hanover County is 1/5 the size of Mecklenburg County these job announcements would be like Mecklenburg County getting 5300 jobs in just 4 projects.   So this is a big deal down in our largest coastal city.    Those average salaries are not too shabby either.  Not to mention the NC Port has been in expansion mode and tourism is very strong in the county as well. 

here is the summary of the 4 announced big job announcements for Wilmington from  Wilmington Biz.     This has been just a fantastic year for the region. 

Company	Codename	State incentives	Local incentives	Min. jobs	Avg. salary	Capital investment	Timeframe
MegaCorp Logistics	Transit	N/A	$500K	300	$62K	N/A	5 yrs.
GE Hitachi	Clear	N/A	$1.5M	485	$131K	$85.2M	5 yrs.
Live Oak Bank	Buckeye	$1.5M	$500K	204	$113K	$25M	12 yrs.
Port City Logistics	Speed	$225K	$112.5K	75	$64K	$16M	5 yrs.
	TOTAL:	$1.7M	$2.6M	1,064	$92.5K	$126.2M

 

A prosperous NC makes for a prosperous Charlotte region too.  

 

[Reverie39]

Wilmington used to be the largest city and pride of NC. Per Wikipedia:

"Toward the end of the 19th century, Wilmington was a majority-black, racially integrated prosperous city, and the largest city in North Carolina."

This prosperity was ruined by horrific events in the ensuing years, including a racially-charged and violent overthrowing of local government. People were expelled from or left the city in droves.

"They expelled opposition black and white leaders from the city,^[10] destroyed the property and businesses of black citizens built up since the Civil War, including the only black newspaper in the city, and killed an estimated 60 to more than 300 people."

In 1910 Charlotte overtook Wilmington and became the center of commerce in North Carolina. It's interesting to imagine what could have been if these things didn't happen. Would Wilmington have been a port city rivaling something like Baltimore by now? Very sad that such an integrated and wealthy city was ruined so quickly.

That said Wilmington has found its groove again. I was just there recently and it is such a pretty little city. Good to see it growing.

[kermit]

^ not sure the Wilmington-Charlotte realignment, along with Wilmington's horrific history with race, was particularly unusual or unique to NC. It was part of a region-wide shift to what historians refer to as the New South (old South referring to the export/plantation agricultural economies of the Coastal Plain). The New South was about building a new, industrial, economy along the rail lines that were being built through the Piedmont South. This shift created cities like Atlanta, Birmingham, Knoxville and Greenville at the expense of older cities like Savannah, Charleston and Mobile.

Regardless the history nerd stuff, I agree that the historic portions of Wilmington are really nice. Unfortunately the Cape Fear did not provide many good opportunities for colonial era urban growth -- Wilmington is a pretty mediocre location for a city as you move beyond the historic district.

Edited October 30, 2022 by kermit

[videtur quam contuor]

Baltimore is the closest East Coast city to the Appalachian crest. It is at the western head of Chesapeake Bay. After the Erie Canal dropped shipping rates from NYC to Buffalo 90% Baltimore knew it needed to compete with the wild growth of NYC as an international shipping center. Thus the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Pushing alongside the Potomac and crossing the ridge left a downhill run to tributaries of the Ohio and the center of the continent. Johns Hopkins was a broker of goods on sailing ships  and by Conestoga Wagons to the interior and committed some of his fortune to this enterprise and became the first railroad baron of the U. S. 

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/about/history/johns-hopkins.html

Wilmington would never have been able to compete with Baltimore. North Carolina has always lacked water resources to the interior with Fayetteville being the only significant location as it sits at the head of navigation for the Cape Fear River. 

[SydneyCarton]

On 10/29/2022 at 10:02 AM, KJHburg said:

Shout out to Wilmington and New Hanover on their 2022 business announcements.  Since New Hanover County is 1/5 the size of Mecklenburg County these job announcements would be like Mecklenburg County getting 5300 jobs in just 4 projects.   So this is a big deal down in our largest coastal city.    Those average salaries are not too shabby either.  Not to mention the NC Port has been in expansion mode and tourism is very strong in the county as well. 

here is the summary of the 4 announced big job announcements for Wilmington from  Wilmington Biz.     This has been just a fantastic year for the region. 

Company	Codename	State incentives	Local incentives	Min. jobs	Avg. salary	Capital investment	Timeframe
MegaCorp Logistics	Transit	N/A	$500K	300	$62K	N/A	5 yrs.
GE Hitachi	Clear	N/A	$1.5M	485	$131K	$85.2M	5 yrs.
Live Oak Bank	Buckeye	$1.5M	$500K	204	$113K	$25M	12 yrs.
Port City Logistics	Speed	$225K	$112.5K	75	$64K	$16M	5 yrs.
	TOTAL:	$1.7M	$2.6M	1,064	$92.5K	$126.2M

 

A prosperous NC makes for a prosperous Charlotte region too.  

 

That’s true.  

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by SydneyCarton

[SydneyCarton]

That’s true.  NC’s core cities are concentrated in a small geographic area.  From the Va-NC border to the NC-SC border is only about 130 miles and from Chapel Hill to Charlotte is 140.  In this small area are many cities with vibrant but very diverse economies.  Charlotte is the finance/general corporate center.  The Triangle is the bio-science/tech center, and Greensboro is the aviation hub.    That’s pretty impressive.

[BarrenLucidity]

6 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

That’s true.  NC’s core cities are concentrated in a small geographic area.  From the Va-NC border to the NC-SC border is only about 130 miles and from Chapel Hill to Charlotte is 140.  In this small area are many cities with vibrant but very diverse economies.  Charlotte is the finance/general corporate center.  The Triangle is the bio-science/tech center, and Greensboro is the aviation hub.    That’s pretty impressive.

Charlotte has more tech jobs, both in terms of current and openings, than Raleigh and has since 2019.

[kermit]

2 hours ago, BarrenLucidity said:

Charlotte has more tech jobs, both in terms of current and openings, than Raleigh and has since 2019.

This caught my eye, and I want to read more. Can  you share a source on this?

[JRCLT]

Charlotte has more tech jobs, both in terms of current and openings, than Raleigh and has since 2019.

A lot of Charlotte tech is geared toward finance while Raleigh is hosting large offices for Apple, Google, etc.

This caught my eye, and I want to read more. Can  you share a source on this?

Yes compared to Raleigh alone, Charlotte has more jobs. Raleigh has about 2/3 of what Charlotte has.

https://www.comptia.org/content/research/best-tech-cities-it-jobs#section16%20start

Although, Raleigh/Durham have a higher amount of tech jobs together.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/biggest-tech-talent-hubs-in-us-and-canada/