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Triad Business Notes


krazeeboi

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Triad's housing market seems to be improving, at least according to this article from the Biz Journal. The article notes that the number of newly built homes available for sale has decreased from 2,192 in May 2009 to 1,466 in May of this year. Apparently a 1200-1300 range represents a healthy market for a metro area of the Triad's size.

The article also states that the decline in home inventory is due to the absence of many of the Triad's big development companys, Kavanaugh, CP Morgan, et. al.

Personally, I'm glad to see these developers gone. I feel bad for anyone who may have lost their jobs due to these companies' dissolutions. But I don't feel bad about having a few less cookie cutter developers in the Triad. These kinds of developers, in conjunction with wide deference from the Triad's elected leaders, have resulted in increased sprawl.

Hopefully this past year will serve as an awakening for Triad leaders and they will begin to emphasize and encourage more sustainable home developments, particularly with existing city boundaries. They need to stop the bait and switch by giving free water and sewer hookups to builders who build in unincorporated areas, with the promise from the builder that they will petition for annexation in the future.

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The Triad's housing market seems to be improving, at least according to this article from the Biz Journal. The article notes that the number of newly built homes available for sale has decreased from 2,192 in May 2009 to 1,466 in May of this year. Apparently a 1200-1300 range represents a healthy market for a metro area of the Triad's size.

That is some encouraging news. Thanks for sharing.

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Grabbed this link from another posting in the coffee house, the Sacremento Bee has posted a map on when metros are going to return to pre-recession employment levels.

As far as the Triad is concerned, this is what was projected:

Winston-Salem's MSA should return to pre-recession levels by 2012

Burlington and Greensboro's MSA will not return to pre-recession levels until 2014 'or beyond.'

Here's what the list said for the state:

2011:

Durham, Raleigh

2012:

Charlotte, Wilmington, Winston-Salem

2013:

Greenville

2014 'or beyond':

Asheville, Burlington, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Hickory, Rocky Mount.

read into what you will...

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Grabbed this link from another posting in the coffee house, the Sacremento Bee has posted a map on when metros are going to return to pre-recession employment levels.

As far as the Triad is concerned, this is what was projected:

Winston-Salem's MSA should return to pre-recession levels by 2012

Burlington and Greensboro's MSA will not return to pre-recession levels until 2014 'or beyond.'

Here's what the list said for the state:

2011:

Durham, Raleigh

2012:

Charlotte, Wilmington, Winston-Salem

2013:

Greenville

2014 'or beyond':

Asheville, Burlington, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Hickory, Rocky Mount.

read into what you will...

If I had to guess, I would say Greensboro/Guilford County individually will rebound more quickly than the Greensboro metro area as a whole. Rockingham and Randolph counties, both of which have much higher unemployment (Rockingham 13+ %) are probably dragging down the metro's numbers somewhat.

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Taking this in a totally different direction, if these predictions turn out to be true, it would be interesting to see the impact it would have on the next election.

That is true, Asheville, Fayetteville, and Greensboro I believe went solidly blue in the last election. Would the encumbents in races in these areas face a backlash due to a slow recovery? It seems most Americans are resigned to a long recovery from this recession, would that hold true if most other metros in the state have returned to former glory by then?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Greensboro based VF Corp makes bid to acquire Eddie Bauer. VF Corp is a fortune 500 company and is the world's largest apparel company. The company owns brands such as North Face, Vans, Jansport, Lee and Wrangler.

http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/07...for_eddie_bauer

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/busi...diebauer16.html

Edited by cityboi
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  • 2 weeks later...

Locally-headquartered RF Micro beat industry expectations and saw a 23% jump in Q2 revenues. The company sounds optimistic that the market which caused them to shed 400 jobs locally in 2008 is stabilizing.

The company has also taken aggressive steps to diversify its product line, including a recently announced partnership with the US Dept. of Energy to develop solar panel technology.

Just google "RF Micro" and you'll find industry analysts and stock traders alike are optimistic about RF's future.

On a broader note, I know a lot of people in the Triad grumble about the need to get away from manufacturing. I agree. But the kind of advanced manufacturing that RF and others are engaged in are the kinds of companies that we could use more of, not less.

There's also been a lot of discussion about the Triad as an aerotropolis. And in my opinion, regional leaders need to play up our great transportation infrastructure, because there are dozens, if not hundreds of advanced manufacturing and biotechonology industries that rely on fast and dependable delivery of goods and services. The FedEx Hubs at PTI and in Kernersville will further compliment this.

Edited by beyonce245
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Locally-headquartered RF Micro beat industry expectations and saw a 23% jump in Q2 revenues. The company sounds optimistic that the market which caused them to shed 400 jobs locally in 2008 is stabilizing.

The company has also taken aggressive steps to diversify its product line, including a recently announced partnership with the US Dept. of Energy to develop solar panel technology.

Just google "RF Micro" and you'll find industry analysts and stock traders alike are optimistic about RF's future.

On a broader note, I know a lot of people in the Triad grumble about the need to get away from manufacturing. I agree. But the kind of advanced manufacturing that RF and others are engaged in are the kinds of companies that we could use more of, not less.

There's also been a lot of discussion about the Triad as an aerotropolis. And in my opinion, regional leaders need to play up our great transportation infrastructure, because there are dozens, if not hundreds of advanced manufacturing and biotechonology industries that rely on fast and dependable delivery of goods and services. The FedEx Hubs at PTI and in Kernersville will further compliment this.

I agree. These are our strengths and this is what the Triad should be focuses on, not becomeing another Charlotte or Raleigh because if we try to imitate those cities by becoming a banking or research region, we'll always lag behind. Charlotte and Raleigh are decades ahead of the Triad in those sectors.

Edited by cityboi
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  • 3 weeks later...

Looks like BB&T is buying the 'almost failed' Colonial Bancgroup from Montgomery, AL. This puts BB&T in a new market (AL) and strengthens it's position in others, propelling it higher (I've read #4) in FL. The deal is an uncharacteristic risk, but if they played their cards right and didn't assume much of Colonial's toxic debt, it could be a huge boost to BB&T.

Read the CNN article here.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Mack Trucks will have its grand opening for its world headquarters in Greensboro tommorow and the headquarters will employ over 500 people. Volvo Trucks of North America is already headquartered in Greensboro. HA HA if thet built their headquarters downtown, it would have been a small tower.

Edited by cityboi
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Mack Trucks will have its grand opening for its world headquarters in Greensboro tommorow and the headquarters will employ over 500 people. Volvo Trucks of North America is already headquartered in Greensboro. HA HA if thet built their headquarters downtown, it would have been a small tower.

Read about the opening this morning. It's great to have another big name company headquartered in the Triad. And it'll be good to have hundreds of jobs that'll pay an average salary of $73,800.

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Machine Specialties is moving from it's current location in Greensboro to Rock Creek Center in Eastern Guilford County. The company is tripling its square footage, going from 50,000 to over 150,000 sf. The company also announced plans to hire nearly 150 more additional employees. Read about here.

In other economic news, Guilford County Commissioners will holding a public hearing September 17th to receive feedback on a proposed incentives package to an undisclosed company that wants to relocate 228 to Guilford.

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In other economic news, Guilford County Commissioners will holding a public hearing September 17th to receive feedback on a proposed incentives package to an undisclosed company that wants to relocate 228 to Guilford.

The company requesting the incentives is Ameritox, a company that specializes in pain-management testing. They've requested $277,500 over three years, which sounds like a steal to me, considering the county would get 228 jobs, all of which would earn at least $44,000 annually. The company would also invest $26 million in equipment and new construction.

I imagine the county commissioners will approve this in a heart beat. Read about it here.

TurboCare, Inc. in Forsyth County also announced today that it would spend $30 million to expand its Rural Hall facility and will create 110 new jobs with an average wage of $45,855 per year. Read about it here.

Both of these are great announcements for the Triad economy.

Here's hoping that the Guilford commissioners swiftly approve the incentives for Ameritox. And hopefully we'll hear more good economic news in the coming weeks and months!

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The company requesting the incentives is Ameritox, a company that specializes in pain-management testing. They've requested $277,500 over three years, which sounds like a steal to me, considering the county would get 228 jobs, all of which would earn at least $44,000 annually. The company would also invest $26 million in equipment and new construction.

I imagine the county commissioners will approve this in a heart beat. Read about it here.

TurboCare, Inc. in Forsyth County also announced today that it would spend $30 million to expand its Rural Hall facility and will create 110 new jobs with an average wage of $45,855 per year. Read about it here.

Both of these are great announcements for the Triad economy.

Here's hoping that the Guilford commissioners swiftly approve the incentives for Ameritox. And hopefully we'll hear more good economic news in the coming weeks and months!

Some good news!! Thanks for the update.

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Pace is cutting between 100 and 200 jobs at its W-S facility. Employees have not been paid for over a month and Pace still owes 888,000 in back lease payments at its operations at Smith-Reynolds.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/se...-winston-salem/

This is unfortunate. I've read a lot of the comments from the article and others, and the owner of Pace sounds like a real jerk and a bad businessman. I don't think we've heard the last about this company, b/c there were apparently federal investigations into employee complaints about the company.

I just hope the employees get paid sooner rather than later. Not the kind of economic news we need in the Triad.

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good news for Winston. Survey: Winston-Salem Has Third Best Job Outlook In Nation

http://www.digtriad.com/news/top/article.a...28&catid=14

3 months later and the prospective job outlook is much more pessimistic for Winston-Salem from the same survery. The number of employers saying they will be hiring in the next quarter dropped from a 3rd best in the US 22% to 11%. Winston-Salem also has the highest response in the 'don't know' category in the state at 9%. However, the two leading NC metros, Charlotte and Raleigh had lower job hiring outlooks, 9% and 6%; and worse job reduction outlooks as compared to the triad, 15% and 12%. Personally, IMO, this survey may work well for Manpower's needs, but I don't think it's an completely accurate picture.

Read the WSJ article here.

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More good jobs news for the region. Wachovia says it will add 150 new jobs in the Triad region over the next two years. The article doesn't say where the jobs will be located, but I imagine a good portion of them will be in WS, since the article states the jobs are a "result from growth in the bank's Trust Center and Specialized Service Group in Winston-Salem."

Keep the good news coming! Read about it here.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Moody's and MSNBC.com reports that the Winston-Salem metro has moved from being 'In Recession' to 'In Recovery' along with 78 other metros in the U.S. Data does lag about 6 weeks, so any impact from Dell's closure hasn't been counted yet. The only other NC metros listed as 'In Recovery' were Goldsboro, Greenville, and Va. Beach-Norfolk-Newport News (part of this metro is in NE NC), all others are still listed as 'In Recession.'

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