North Carolina Biotech Research Campus

[Miesian Corners]

Seriously guys, this is the best thread ever. Included here:

- altrvr and dubone discussing transit

- orulz providing insight with a state-wide perspective

- Miesian Corners is enraged over uninspired architecture

- A2 is being the group optimist/cheerleader

- a Charlotte vs. Raleigh crap-slinging contest

- monsoon is threatening banning

- Neo reinforcing subjugation via the boot-heel of admin status

Somebody get StevenRocks in here to cover the retail angle.

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Great Post!! You are officially a UP god!

My friends, those of us named have been successfully read.

[A2]

A2 the answers to all your questions can be found  here.

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I am truly a lucky man

A2

[dubone]

since this is the most RANDOM thread ever, i just had a random thought to toss into the mix....since this project is basically designed to study nutrition and fruits, a fun name for this project could be "Appleday" (a take on "apple a day keeps the doctor away", which is the premise for murdock spending so much on this).

[A2]

maybe these guys could be our cheerleaders for the place D. They did a great job for W. Buffet

A2

[Miesian Corners]

I like "Village of Fruits and Nuts", dubone.

[A2]

It would be a classic. ^

Think about it Fruit and Textiles all rolled into one.

GENIUS, I TELL YOU, GENIUS !

[dubone]

usually when downtown mills shut down, the nuts are the first to take over, and revitalization doesn't start happening until the fruits gain a foothold.

I guess murdock is trying to jump directly to the fruit phase.

(sorry, it is such a bad joke.)

[A2]

usually when downtown mills shut down, the nuts are the first to take over, and revitalization doesn't start happening until the fruits gain a foothold. 

I guess murdock is trying to jump directly to the fruit phase. 

(sorry, it is such a bad joke.)

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A2

[monsoon]

Seriously guys, this is the best thread ever. Included here:

- altrvr and dubone discussing transit

- orulz providing insight with a state-wide perspective

- Miesian Corners is enraged over uninspired architecture

- A2 is being the group optimist/cheerleader

- a Charlotte vs. Raleigh crap-slinging contest

- monsoon is threatening banning

- Neo reinforcing subjugation via the boot-heel of admin status

Somebody get StevenRocks in here to cover the retail angle.

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Haha, well as a epilog to this story, jb gave Neo a fews words of advice on something that would be anatomically difficult. boot-heel for sure.

[dubone]

we'll have to wait until the UNC Nutrition institute provides some advice on how to keep blood pressure low on discussion groups.

My guess is:

8 oz of Dole brand canned fruit

30 oz of beer

1 gallon of fresh air (breathed deeply)

5 oz of Get Over Yourself elixir

[Miesian Corners]

usually when downtown mills shut down, the nuts are the first to take over, and revitalization doesn't start happening until the fruits gain a foothold. 

I guess murdock is trying to jump directly to the fruit phase. 

(sorry, it is such a bad joke.)

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The witty quips just keep flying around here. Good one, dub-one!

[monsoon]

So back to a serious question about this subject.

Do you think that $1Billion in investment in this campus, plus all of the spin off development will be detrimental to the plans to convince businesses to move to downtown Charlotte? And now, instead they will move to the Kannapolis area where the crime is low, taxes are lower, the city has a great deal of infrastructure from the mill days, and there is fairly easy access to I-85 and of course the major cross state rail lines pass through there.

Another possibility I see is heavy development on Hwy 73 and Hwy 3 between Kannapolis and Lake Norman where the other end of this road is all the investiment being made for the new Lowes HQ. Aside from the 8000 employees at this location (where there were none a couple of years ago), downtown Mooresville is redeveloping the old Burlington Mills factory into a business/research incubator mainly to support Lowes.

The local goverment has projected this corridor may have 300,000 additional people living on it in the next 25 years. Maybe this is where the rail line needs to go (From Mooresville to Kannapolis) and not to downtown CLT.

[orulz]

Okay, I vote that it's time to clean up this thread and trim out the irrelevant posts (or move them to the "coffee house," NGP's post really was hilarious..)

Back on topic:

This article in the Observer spells out some more of the details.

High points:

• Burlington-based Labcorp has agreed to open up a major facility in this project. Having a laboratory on-site will make this a very attractive location for established corporations and start-ups alike.
  
• The state universities' cost to run their research facilities will potentially come to a grand total of $25 million a year. Seems like a lot to me, I wonder how it compares to other public-private ventures like Centennial Campus.
  
• Murdock will establish a $100 million venture capital fund to encourage and fund biotech startups.
  
• There is talk of a 40,000 square foot education facility for training people for biotech jobs.
  
• The high school will indeed be a residential high school.
  
• Ancillary amenities include 700 residential units, a 125 room hotel, a 1,000 seat conference/performing arts auditorium, a movie multiplex, and a "Dole Organic Foods Cafe."
  
• The city of Kannapolis is considering TIF's to build a 300-space underground parking deck on-site.
  

From watching the news and reading the articles, it really seems that Murdock is trying to get the monkey off his back that's been there since he sold Cannon Mills to Fieldcrest and it eventually folded. Some of that might just be a ploy to win public favor, but at the very least he seems excited, and that has apparently gotten a lot of folks to go along with it.

Let's wait to see what happens next.

[A2]

So back to a serious question about this subject.

[nyxmike]

The local government expects 600,000 people in Mecklenburg County in the next 25 years, so I think it should be in DT Charlotte. I think what they need up there are some wider roads. I-85 in Cabarrus County is only 4 lanes/2 on each side - does anyone know when they plan on widening that? Hopefully sometime in the next 25 years..

I don't think it will hurt DT at all - DT attracts different types of businesses and will continue to do so, as long as BoFA and Wachovia are around. DT will and should always be the focal point of the metro, but it is healthy for the smaller cities around it to do well on their own - spread the wealth..

[atlrvr]

Perhaps this will attract more Venture Capitalists to the area.....since Charlotte ranks as one of the lowest metros in terms of VC. I'm sure they would prefer to have offices in Uptown.....who knows, maybe they will visit their investments on the commuter rail.

[monsoon]

The Concord Mills exit is mostly built out now and the exit does not provide easy access to Kannapolis, so I am not so sure if it will change much due to this announcement.

I do see however, the call to turn the Cabarrus Cnty airport, which is accessed by this exit, into a commercial airport to compete against Douglass to all of a sudden become much louder.

[dubone]

i'm not so sure this really will contribute to sprawl. It might create more suburbs around kannapolis, but it is a city, and that is normal. the big problem would be if cabarrus county had no city centers, and was just covered with suburban subdivisions and a sizeable percentage of those people commuted into charlotte. Investment in the core of a smaller city actually helps prevent sprawl in my view.

i do think that Kannapolis and Mooresville will be linked to eachother as they grow. I'm sure it won't be too long before there are calls for a parkway, as nc73 and nc3 are both already over capacity.

[A2]

Perhaps this will attract more Venture Capitalists to the area.....since Charlotte ranks as one of the lowest metros in terms of VC.  I'm sure they would prefer to have offices in Uptown.....who knows, maybe they will visit their investments on the commuter rail. 

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I agree atlrvr. The VC money WILL come in. The Finance component would definately be housed dtwn. No Doubts about it.

A2

[monsoon]

......  I'm sure they would prefer to have offices in Uptown.....who knows, maybe they will visit their investments on the commuter rail. 

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Why is that? If their customers are in Kannapolis, I don't see where that would be an effective business strategy to be located so far away timewise.

[monsoon]

One other VERY improtant thing to note is that Murdock is creating a 100,000,000 dollar fund to incent companies to relocate from around the US and the World. That is a hell of a lot of money to allocate JUST for Incentive Cash for Research Companies. Charlotte does not come close to having that kind of capital to incent businesses to reside in CLT/MECK.

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Indeed. CLT spent $300,000,000 just to get the NBA to play a few games in downtown Charlotte. This could have been much different. Say an incubator in the wasteland between Freedom Drive and Wilkenson. Or on N. Tryon between downtown and Sugar Creek. Well maybe those people will get the occasional ticket to watch thugs throw a ball around.

(Ok, I admit it, I couldn't help bringing up the comparison. )

[monsoon]

It should be noted, BTW, that part of Kannapolis is in Rowan county which is not part of CLT's MSA.

[A2]

It should be noted, BTW, that part of Kannapolis is in Rowan county which is not part of CLT's MSA.

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I think it will be in the 2010 Census though since it stradles the county line.

A2

[atlrvr]

I agree atlrvr. The VC money WILL come in. The Finance component would definately be housed dtwn. No Doubts about it.

A2

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Because downtown already has the top lawyers, top accounting firms, and to be blunt about it culture. Locating 45 minutes away from an investment around related services makes a lot more sense than locating at the investment and being 45 minutes away from the services.

I somehow don't see Alston & Bird, Kennedy Covington, Cadwalader, PriceWaterhouse, or Earnst & Young to open offices on Kannapolis.

[A2]

Holy smokes. The artilce today predicts more than 5000 tech jobs and OVER 30K support jobs. Talk about a Criticle Mass !!!!

BTW, Murdock is qouted as saying there will be more scientists concentrated here than anywhere in the ENTIRE US"

YEAH BABY !!!!

A2