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Possible HQ Relocations


QueenCityBobcats

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I would think along the lines of industrial congolomerates......we have recently gotten SPX, and Carlyle (sp?)....my brain is straining to think of some others....possibly TYCO. Maybe Dana Corp. These companies would not go downtown.

I wouldn't be too optimistic about a financial services company. The best chance in my opinion would to get TIAA-CREF to completely relocate their HQ here, but they would just expand the existing campus.

Possibly some sort of service provider like ADP.

Possibly some mortgage company like Coutrywide.

I agree Dole Foods is a possibility, but they would certainly go to K-town.

I think most companies likely to come are currently located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Southern California, or Upstate NY.

With all that said, I don't see a single relocation leading to an Uptown HQ.

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What Large companies do yall think may relocate here over the next couple years. We have sucessfully brought Lowe's, Goodrich and others. I think that Rupert Murdoch's Dole is a good possibility. What others do yall think might come?

I could be wrong but something tells me that Dole HQ will not move from CA. Being they are so international and could do it from anywhere, you never know, but they still have very large operations up and down CA and Mexico including major operations with the ports of SF and LA. Moving from CA to Charlotte will be a big jump. My guess is they would also look at direct flights to many SA and Asian countries. Maybe their recently split off division of real estate and resorts could be a good option. I could be wrong

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We have had a few notible losses as well in the past few years.

  • Diamler Chyrsler Vans - This was a new HQ created by GM for their european built commercial vans that are exported and sold here as Dodge and Freightliners. GM closed this HQ in 1995 and merged its operations back into Detroit. It's a bit of a shame as flyers for the Sprinter vehicles had Charlotte skyline and street scenes in the background. Do a search as some are posted here.
  • IBM - IBM's last major new research, development and manufacturing facility was built in Charlotte and took a decade to fully complete where the employee population reached 8,000. While not a HQ, it had a major impact on Charlotte but IBM began downsizing it in the 90s after a failed attempt by the City to do an illegal annexation in the late 80s and later getting a black eye from CMS. Most of its operations moved to RTP or Lexington to become Lexmark. In a different situation Lexmark printers could have been HQ'd here instead of Lexington. IBM recently stated its local population was around 1,300. The IBM facility remains one of the largest buildings in the county.
  • Apple Computer - Apple opened a regional support center in Charlotte in 1980 that employed several hundred people. This number might be higher, but I don't remember. They built a 10- 11story building on I-77 in the area of Woodlawn and at least until the early 2000's the Apple logo cold be seen from the highway. I think it is gone now. Apple moves the operations of this center along with all the employees to Austin around 1990-91 or so.
  • Royal Insurance - There was huge fanfair when Royal Insurance announced in the the 1980s that it was relocating its HQ from Manhatten to Charlotte and would build a new HQ. The reason for the move was cost savings. Along with this would come 1200 employees. It was a big plum for CLT at the time. In the years since, Royal had to do several mergers to stay alive and in the process layed off hundreds of its CLT workers. The corportation is now know as the Royal-SunAlliance and is HQ'd in Canada, but it maintains its much smaller USA HQ in CLT in the former Royal Insurance building.

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Why doesn't NC just change their business taxes to match SC's? It seems like it is inevitable for companies that are struggling to find cost savings without laying lots of people off. Not only can they save taxes in SC, but they can compensate their employees less, too, as income taxes are lower.

NC must fix its tax structure, or lose a lot of business and growth in the next decade. High income tax, high sales tax, high business tax, and high property taxes just aren't conducive to long term growth. It is fine now due to relocations from more expensive areas in the north, but that won't last, especially as SC gains critical mass.

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When companies relocate, I'm sure they're looking to cut relo costs as much as possible. They want to be able to tell employees that there will be affordable places to live nearby. It's easier to make that case with a new SC location than uptown Charlotte.

Opposite extreme: I worked for a company once that relocated its headquarters from the Fresno area to the S.F. pinensula. I think we could count the number of people that took the relo package on one hand.

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May I ask - isn't the bigger picture suburban / exurban office growth & not just the SC tax base? If it wasn't Lancaster County, couldn't have easily had been Union or Cabbarrus County?

Exactly.

Well, today's business journals reports that Continental Tire (one of Charlotte's Fortune 500 HQs), may relocate to northern Lancaster County.

Isn't Lancaster County part of the Charlotte region? How is this different from Lowe's being located in Mooresville? We consider "Charlotte" home to Lowe's?

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Exactly.

Isn't Lancaster County part of the Charlotte region? How is this different from Lowe's being located in Mooresville? We consider "Charlotte" home to Lowe's?

Actually, neither Mooresville nor Lancaster County is part of the Charlotte metropolitan area, at least the way the Census Bureau defines it. The only counties they count are Anson, Cabarrus, Gaston, Mecklenburg, Union and York.

As for Continental Tire, they seem determined to shut down their local plant, and then we'll see where the HQ goes next.

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They both should be in the Charlotte Area.

Both should be in the 2010 Census basd on comuting patterns. The MSA will more than likely spike to well over 2,000,000 .

My frustration is that the continual relocations of Large HQ's will create another Atlanta. When commuting paterns reverse and businesses seek surburban campuses and lower cost the end result is S-P-R-A-W-L !!!. The companies get Charlotte to use as their Metro affilitation and they get all the amenties the city has to offer without being a contributing tax payer. In Charlotte we have a unique problem of being located on the state line. This can create problems beond anything I think that we have even uncovered on this thread.

I love larger MSA numbers, but not at the expense of having more Sprawl and less emphasis on our Urban Core.

I am one that loves to argue Charlotte's MSA and CSA numbers, now I just might get the numbers I want at a price I am not really wanting to pay.

A2

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My frustration is that the continual relocations of Large HQ's will create another Atlanta.

EXACTLY, you all are unkowingly coming to the dark side...

ATLANTA: Charlotte, I am your father.

CHARLOTTE: Noooooo!!!!! (cut to Charlotte getting their arm cut off & falling)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm not sure if this is the right thread but....

We lose another one. Being on the SC border is really starting to hurt.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/14153329.htm

Kansas City saw this happen in the late 60's when places like Overland Park, KS began to become very popular for relocations. It ended up being a benefit for the city to have a cheaper alternative.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well in today's Observer and Busines Journal, the news is that First Charter, which moved to University City from Conord about 5 years ago, is selling their HQ.

They are looking for smaller space for lease. There was an implication that some offices for the top executives and such could come downtown.....that would be sweet.

http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte...tml?jst=b_ln_hl

The rest of the employees will move into smaller leased space out in the UC.

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