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Concord in the midst of major changes?


Neo

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Here's an update on the former Phillip Morris plant.  Looks like Alevo will be developing and manufacturing Gridbanks that store and regulate energy for the grid, rather than just manufacturing electric vehicle batteries as was previously mentioned.

 

 

Alevo officials say they have signed a joint operational agreement with Customized Energy Solutions (CES) to provide 200MW of frequency regulation services to the wholesale energy market.

 

This is a pretty impactful "next big thing" sector assuming it takes off.  Tesla/SunCity are working on the very same ideas out West.  Good to see that this is more than just a manufacturing venture.  It's another forward-thinking energy company investing in the Charlotte area.  Hopefully they can pen a deal with Duke Energy and this can become a real part of the Charlotte area.

 

On a recent drive to meet my parents for dinner I noticed that the city has recently removed the traffic lights along 29 for the entrances to the facility.  Must be a significant decline in employment numbers compared to Phillip Morris.

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So, take this FWIW, but Amazon just recently had a meeting with their staff at their Concord sorting facility to let them know that they are looking at purchasing land adjacent to their facility in Concord for a distribution center. Evidently the Charlotte area's orders through Amazon have gotten right to the cusp of their requirement to build a distribution center.

This is great news for Prime members because it would allow for same day delivery (which they've just recently changed to free for prime members) and for the option of Prime Now shipping. BUT, it could be terrible news for Charlotte retail.

Evidently they would transfer some employees from the current sorting facility over, but this could mean plenty more jobs.

I got this news from a friend of a few Amazon employees, but apparently their plans are to have the facility open by Q3 2016.

Edited by AuLukey
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Sometimes I think we have an idyllic view of what retail should be.  The great department stores that we all think of in downtown areas have either been established there for over 75 years, or were built to compete with other stores already established.  The Internet, and soon, same day delivery will take away many of the staple products that merchants rely on to support the slower turnover of higher priced fashion goods.

 

When you go to the mall, is it to buy a specific item, or do you shop the store just to shop.  Of the last 10 items you have purchased, how many have been online vs in a store, and of the store purchases, how many of them could have been done on-line?

 

Vendor expenses to operate a store include staff, fixtures, taxes, building, shipping, theft, ROI, and I am probably missing some.  Vendor expenses to sell on line eliminate most of those expenses, and the prices remain the same.

 

I grew up in a department store, I was a buyer for several different departments and am familiar with those costs.  Big department stores will not return to downtown Charlotte.

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I don't shop online, I don't plan on shopping online, I don't like shopping online, I think shopping online is a gimmick like extreme couponing.

It doesn't even cross my mind to go online to shop. Takes all the "fun" of getting out of the house. It's odd to me, reclusive. And I want the instant gratification of buying something and I'm sort of indecisive of what I want so picking something up, putting it down, comparing things, etc. is also a big plus for me

(no offense to those who do like to shop online.)

Edited by AirNostrumMAD
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^I go out and browse to shop usually (especially if I need clothes that I want to fit right), but now when it comes to stuff like buying Xmas gifts, I can type in key words like "wolf", "leather watch", or "little tikes basketball" and and save a ton of time, often finding cheaper options than fighting crowds. I would think a significant amount of non-reclusive and reclusive people would find that appealing.

... And now I might do it on Xmas eve haha

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Such an interesting topic. This thread could grow and is probably off topic. That said, someone at lunch asked me how much the new warehouse and, in general online-same day delivery will affect us. (I wholesale auto parts).  In short, I said, "I hope not much", but so far internet sales haven't hurt me that much....I think. Believe it or not, about 60% of my customers still do not shop for their parts on line. They install parts and they can diagnose cars, but as far as looking up the individual parts they prefer relying on experts as opposed to themselves. Anyway, there're now some major overhead costs that go along with online shopping too. Staff to answer questions, software programers, and security to name a few. 

 

Regards,

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So, take this FWIW, but Amazon just recently had a meeting with their staff at their Concord sorting facility to let them know that they are looking at purchasing land adjacent to their facility in Concord for a distribution center. Evidently the Charlotte area's orders through Amazon have gotten right to the cusp of their requirement to build a distribution center.

This is great news for Prime members because it would allow for same day delivery (which they've just recently changed to free for prime members) and for the option of Prime Now shipping. BUT, it could be terrible news for Charlotte retail.

Evidently they would transfer some employees from the current sorting facility over, but this could mean plenty more jobs.

I got this news from a friend of a few Amazon employees, but apparently their plans are to have the facility open by Q3 2016.

To piggy back off this potential development, I found the following article:

 

http://www.independenttribune.com/news/edc-global-businesses-among-looking-at-cabarrus/article_80f065aa-05f6-11e5-94e4-afa49bc3f3cc.html

 

Most notable paragraph:

 

"The report also states that the average site request among the 37 projects is 28 acres with an average building request size of 74,362 square feet. Each project could mean an average of 240 jobs, according to the report. Among those projects, 86 percent were new projects and 14 percent where expansion projects."

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FedEx recently finished up (at least I think they are finished) a very large SmartPost facility in Concord off of I-85 but as of this morning a new permit has been posted for a FedEx Ground facility on the same street. I'm a little confused as I didn't there was 108 acres (what the permit is for) left on this property for a large scale building. Permit is for a site plan.

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On 11/5/2015, 9:40:42, Neo said:

FedEx recently finished up (at least I think they are finished) a very large SmartPost facility in Concord off of I-85 but as of this morning a new permit has been posted for a FedEx Ground facility on the same street. I'm a little confused as I didn't there was 108 acres (what the permit is for) left on this property for a large scale building. Permit is for a site plan.

http://www.independenttribune.com/news/concord-considering-incentives-for-million-fedex-project/article_007d8fc6-9c8f-11e5-a2b6-8b49bb642b00.html

It looks like this is moving through.  At 343,000 square feet it will be a little smaller than the Kernersville FedEx Ground facility, but still a very substantial hub.   Looks like Concord is becoming quite the spot for FedEx facilities.

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This company just recently did a renovation of the old Heilig Myers furniture just two blocks away.  Converted the building into apartments that have already been leased.  Hopefully this project comes to fruition.

http://www.independenttribune.com/news/hotel-concord-could-be-sold-to-rehab-development/article_b8c98254-c563-11e5-9ab9-87d9698df2f4.html

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3 hours ago, rancenc said:

That could be great. Downtown Concord is one of the COOLEST downtowns. Currently it's your classic "everything closes at 3pm" downtown, but they have a ton of great architecture and solid bones.

Just take a stroll down this block

 

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10 minutes ago, SgtCampsalot said:

That could be great. Downtown Concord is one of the COOLEST downtowns. Currently it's your classic "everything closes at 3pm" downtown, but they have a ton of great architecture and solid bones.

Just take a stroll down this block

 

That IS a great block.  I'm hoping that light rail eventually makes it to Concord (assuming they want it).  Huge potential.

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12 hours ago, rancenc said:

That building is quite lovely, I'm glad they are able to save it. I have a friend who was recently on the upper floors in Hotel Concord and his impression was that it was beyond salvaging, as the walls were literally falling apart.  I'll be interested to see the finished project!

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On 9/5/2016 at 8:31 AM, ah59396 said:

That building is quite lovely, I'm glad they are able to save it. I have a friend who was recently on the upper floors in Hotel Concord and his impression was that it was beyond salvaging, as the walls were literally falling apart.  I'll be interested to see the finished project!

Charlotte is so lucky to have these bedroom cities like Concord, Kannapolis and even Gastonia.  In 15 years or so they are really going to offer a great dynamic to the overall region in terms of lifestyle choices.   

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Does anyone know if any improvements are in the offing for the speedway ? Drove by Daytona International Speedway, just yesterday and it makes Charlotte Motor Speedway look like a dung heap.

Another thing that puzzles me is that there are myriad retail, restaurant and entertainment options, in Daytona, literally across the street from the speedway. Everything looks almost spanking new. Why hasn't Charlotte nurtured a similar arrangement ? As the Vatican of NASCAR, it's a poor showcase.

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I think it's a tale of two different beasts here. Yes, NASCAR is extremely popular here, but it is life down in Daytona. Also, down there the track is pretty much the defacto downtown in regards to entertainment as the actual downtown is fairly sleepy and the strip on the beach isn't much to speak of. I think any developer that would attempt to do anything to compete with Concord Mills in any way would be insane.

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