How many workers in Downtown?

[monsoon]

During WSOC's coverage of the HOF ralley, WSOC stated there were only 30,000 workers in downtown Charlotte. We have heard numbers stated here ranging from 25K to 65K and maybe even a wild number of 100K once.

So my question is were they correct and the downtown worker population is only 30K or is it indeed higher? Does anyone have a reputable source for this information?

[Rickydavisfan21]

that can't be right, the world trade centers had 10,000 people working in each of the towers

[atlrvr]

I was quoted in the CBJ at 65k....but I certainly didn't mention that number.....they sometimes get a bit creative with estimates.

I don't really have a source to quote, but I can tell you a more realistic number is about 55,000 office workers, and another 5,000 "other" workers....retail, janitorial, etc.

[monsoon]

that can't be right, the world trade centers had 10,000 people working in each of the towers

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The WTC employed 50,000 people in a very densely packed 12 million sq ft. (all buildings). How much floor space is there in DT Charlotte?

[A2]

The WTC employed 50,000 people in a very densely packed 12 million sq ft. (all buildings).  How much floor space is there in DT Charlotte?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

roughly 12.5 million.

They said that the two towers housed as much office space than the entire CBD of Cincinatti.

A2

[monsoon]

Then its entirely possible the 30K number is accurate as I don't see DT Charlotte being even close to the density of lower Manhatten.

[49er]

Downtown Raleigh employees 27,000 workers in about 6 million sq ft of space...split between state govt and private office space.

Charlotte actually has about 15-16 million sq ft of multi tenant and single tenant space like Bellsouth, the Char Meck govt center, etc.

30,000 is way too low, the estimates always run 50,000 - 60,000.

You witnessed some poor research on WSOC my friend.

[A2]

Then its entirely possible the 30K number is accurate as I don't see DT Charlotte being even close to the density of lower Manhatten.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

40K workers was a closer number to the employee count in the two towers.

http://www.drj.com/special/wtc/1404-03.html

A2

[dubone]

everything i have ever read points to a number between 50k and 70k.

someone should email CATS and ask, as I'm sure they were required to do a scientific study on the number of employees/commuters go to downtown.

[Rickydavisfan21]

http://www.charlottecentercity.org/nav.cfm?cat=21&subcat=114

55,000 workers 14.3 million sq ft.

[Rickydavisfan21]

and I believe that was a couple years ago

[A2]

http://www.charlottecentercity.org/nav.cfm?cat=21&subcat=114

55,000 workers 14.3 million sq ft.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What makes that a nice figure is that the number is old. So technically speaking there could be many more uptown workers. This link still has our uptown population at 8,000. Great link though , I knew it was out there somewhere.

A2

[DigitalSky]

yea i always thought it was at least around 50k

[monsoon]

I don't think I would trust a number from the CCCP. They also said the Arena was a good thing for Charlotte.

[Rickydavisfan21]

thats what I love about you monsoon you are so wonderfully opinionated haha don't start me on that topic haha

[atlrvr]

For a current assignment, we were charged to find the total Uptown employment (this only counts people with a set space and does not include police patrol officers, Duke Energy linemen, street vendors etc.)

We determined it to be just under 65,000, with 57,000 of those private-sector office jobs.

[dubone]

I was quoted in the CBJ at 65k....but I certainly didn't mention that number.....they sometimes get a bit creative with estimates.

I don't really have a source to quote, but I can tell you a more realistic number is about 55,000 office workers, and another 5,000 "other" workers....retail, janitorial, etc.

So did the CBJ quote you proactively?

They must have figured that you would eventually do the math, and realize there were 65,000 workers.

[atlrvr]

They are a clever bunch....they outsmarted me before I could outsmart myself.

[dubone]

By the way, I think we've been hearing the 65k number for a while. Most likely, it hasn't changed that much in recent years. Office space hasn't increased and the big three downtown companies have been stable, with just small layoffs and small hiring efforts.

Retail employment around Epicentre could help a bit. The new Wachovia tower could also boost downtown employment. Other than those projects, do we have any hope that the 65k number could increase much in the next few years?

[atlrvr]

I think that we will see some increases in government jobs....some departments are moving outside the loop, while others are consolidating.

I believe we will continue to see law firms, and accounting firms expand, as well as some small botique firms.

All told though, I don't expect employment to surpass 70,000 people by the end of the decade.