The Good News Report

[atlrvr]

Siemens had been looking to shutter some of their gas turbine plants around the world.  Guessing with Trump tax reform (both lowering corp rate and faster amortization of capital expenditures) that the Charlotte plant may actually net benefit from the planned consolidation, and even expand.

Just speculating...

[KJHburg]

NC is ranked the 5th best state to drive in versus SC's 30th place ranking.  As someone who drives in both states constantly I would much rather drive in NC with our roads, highways etc.  https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/01/24/north-carolina-ranks-a-top-state-for-driving-south.html

[CLT>___]

^^.... Surprised SC even made top 50...

Edited January 25, 2018 by JSquare

[kermit]

NM

Edited January 25, 2018 by kermit

[kickazzz2000]

“Let ‘em work, let ‘em live.

[Scribe]

Atlantic Coast Pipeline is approved (permitted) in NC.

No matter what your view on the pipeline it could be a huge catalyst for heavy/mid industry to look along its path for expansion.

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/01/26/north-carolina-regulators-approveatlantic-coast.html

Edited January 26, 2018 by Scribe

[deleted]

On 1/25/2018 at 4:19 PM, JSquare said:

^^.... Surprised SC even made top 50...

 

23 hours ago, kermit said:

NM

Rankings aren't just road conditions and adequacy of highways.  There were 23 criterion.  Louisiana was the worst I've seen (circa 2004).  NJ was pretty bad also.

https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-states-to-drive-in/43012/

 

[Nick2]

On 1/15/2018 at 2:54 PM, NcSc74 said:

Its simple, NCGA.  

Their rural initiatives/tilt has allowed other cities to gain momentum on Charlotte.  Of course that is my opinion.  But again its competition, NC has historically had to fight a little harder than other regions.  The QC will be fine.

You have a valid point that I agree with to an extent but I have to offer up a counter point. The rural areas are lagging badly. The quality of infrastructure and especially education is dramatically worse. There are less people and less tax base so this makes some sense. However, the dramatic difference in quality is not ok. There has to be a basic level of quality that should be standard.

 

You also have to keep in mind that a whopping 41% of the state lives in "rural" counties. So although the triad, triangle, and CLT are huge and driving almost all the growth in the state, the fact is that rural areas are often catching the short end of the stick. And that's even with the apparent bias by the NCGA towards them.

So in some ways, their supposed major bias towards rural areas is helping the people in our state who are in worse conditions.

[KJHburg]

On 1/25/2018 at 3:18 PM, atlrvr said:

Siemens had been looking to shutter some of their gas turbine plants around the world.  Guessing with Trump tax reform (both lowering corp rate and faster amortization of capital expenditures) that the Charlotte plant may actually net benefit from the planned consolidation, and even expand.

Just speculating...

Actually I just saw the video tape of that dinner meeting the President had with the Euro execs and the CEO said Siemens will build the next generation of gas turbines in America and asked by Trump where he said "Charlotte"    This is indeed great news for our area as there was some speculation of this plant laying off people. 

[KJHburg]

The Charlotte region industrial warehouse market is on fire.  In 2017 Cushman and Wakefield is reporting over 3 million sq ft of warehouse space was absorbed.  These large 30-36 feet tall warehouse boxes may be hidden around the region but they are job creators and being filled quickly.   This compares to about 1 million sq ft of office space absorbed last year.  Of the 164 million sq ft of warehouse space in the region the vacancy rate is 4.4%.  

http://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/research-and-insight/unitedstates/charlotte-industrial-snapshot/

Edited January 30, 2018 by KJHburg

[videtur quam contuor]

Before there was fintech, before banking, before trucking there was distribution and sales . "Drummers", or traveling salesmen, taking orders from books of wares or sample cases to carry home for shipment to customers. This was due to the fortunate location of Charlotte on railroads serving the growing population and the newly discovered industrial force based on electricity. Instead of water as power, electricity allows a company to move their manufacturing functions to the city, to the railhead, to where their warehouse is located and Charlotte filled that bill satisfactorily. This transportation and warehousing extended from our early electrical age on into the auto/trucking era. Warehousing, shipping, and transportation has been an (our) employment center for a long time. The article below gives a brief summary of Drummers in point #5.

http://cmhpf.org/Educationneighnorthchar&bidd.htm

[Scribe]

A 1350-acre megasite - near the border with Virginia north of Durham is a new asset for attracting large - er.. huuge projects.

Quote

The site is situated between two Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) power plants, which positions the site best for a nanotechnology company, such as a semiconductor manufacturer.

Paywalled CBJ article here: https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/01/30/n-c-certifies-megasite-person-county.html

[KJHburg]

Since a healthy heart of a city is good thing for region I will put this here. The state of the center city  report for 2018 is out.  Some highlights 1.37 Million sq ft of office space opened,  1.9 M under construction,  1847 new apartments opened in 2017, 713 new hotel rooms opened last year and 1076 rooms under construction,  and 27,200 live in the center city (which this includes uptown, SouthEnd, midtown)   Download your own report here https://www.charlottecentercity.org/business/reports/  Good stuff happening and more to come in the next year or two. 

Heres a recap but do download the report it has all kinds of info in it.  http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article197446354.html

Edited January 31, 2018 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

I consider this good news as a  local (Davidson) vet starts selling flags to help combat veteran suicides.  And Mike Rowe profiled him on this online series called "Returning the Favor"  where he highlights Americans doing good above and beyond for others.  (If you are not watching this series you need to be but you might have to have a box of tissues nearby)  

https://www.facebook.com/ReturningTheFavor/videos/2012332272371366/

Great job Dan! 

[KJHburg]

NC technology jobs growing 2x the rate of nation as a whole in 2017.  Plus good fact to remember North Carolina is #1 in percentage of women in tech jobs.  https://www.wraltechwire.com/2018/02/02/report-ncs-tech-sector-soared-28-in-2017-this-year-looks-even-better/?ito=792  and we expected to be the 2nd fastest growing tech job state in 2018.  

[KJHburg]

UK based food company opening a new bakery operation here 40 new jobs. 

""Bakkavor, which keeps its North American headquarters here, signed a nine-year sublease late last year for 55,000 square feet at Ridge Creek West Industrial Park. It is now upfitting that space to accommodate a baking facility that will employ 40, according to Bakkavor. The bakery, at 10220 Western Ridge Road, will supply prepared foods to local and regional grocery chains.  The building will be modeled similarly to Bakkavor's baking facility in England""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/02/07/uk-food-manufacturer-beefing-up-charlotte-presence.html?ana=twt&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5a7b68e19ebbef00088f202a&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

[KJHburg]

Yet another Charlotte Tech startup success story.  (We really need a new topic called the Charlotte Tech Scene or something)  From a subscriber only article in the Biz Journal 

"""Charlotte-based Investor Management Services, that's what Atkinson plans to do for commercial real estate investment technology. Atkinson was appointed CEO of IMS, a software-as-a-service platform used to manage commercial real estate investments, about a year ago. Today, the company says it has more than 200 clients and posted 150% revenue growth in 2017.  Today, IMS employs about 60, with about half of those joining the company over the past year. Atkinson expects that number to grow to 100 over the next 18 months."""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/02/09/how-this-charlotte-tech-company-is-changing-the.html?ana=e_du_prem&s=article_du&ed=2018-02-09&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1518208422&j=79924791

This joins the ranks of other growing firms like Passport, MapAnything, Healthgram, AvidXchange, etc etc that continues to grow and thrive right here in the Queen City! 

Here is their company webpage https://www.investormanagementservices.com/

Edited February 9, 2018 by KJHburg
link added

[Merthecat]

Charlotte is bidding to host the 2020 Republican National Convention:

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/02/15/charlotte-bidding-for-2020-republican-convention.html

[Squid7085]

I would love to have the RNC come to Charlotte. I think it would be great for the city to have hosted both in a short period of time like that. However, politics aside, if Trump is indeed going to be the nominee, that is going to be a heck of a week. To say Charlotte would attract people from all over the country on both sides would be an understatement.

[SgtCampsalot]

20 minutes ago, Squid7085 said:

I would love to have the RNC come to Charlotte. I think it would be great for the city to have hosted both in a short period of time like that. However, politics aside, if Trump is indeed going to be the nominee, that is going to be a heck of a week. To say Charlotte would attract people from all over the country on both sides would be an understatement.

//headache

[tarwater]

What does bidding entail? I didn't know there was bidding for the RNC/DNC, I thought they just went wherever they wanted. If this involves tax breaks or discounts, that would be truly disgusting.

[J-Rob]

Not that I know directly, but my assumption would be that they would be putting together a package of resources such as police support for crowd control, etc. Regardless of political preferences, that would be a zoo of a week. Normally I am all for Charlotte exposure, but that might be a good week to be on vacation if the city gets it.


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[KJHburg]

18 minutes ago, tarwater said:

What does bidding entail? I didn't know there was bidding for the RNC/DNC, I thought they just went wherever they wanted. If this involves tax breaks or discounts, that would be truly disgusting.

No when the DNC came to town the Feds reimbursed CMPD for the extra security.  (so taxpayer dollars were used but Federal dollars)  A fund was set up help defray the cost with major companies contributing money.  

It is a major inconvenience for sure but so was the DNC but the worldwide exposure was great then and would be great again.  We have even more hotels now and more to come before 2020.  I remember every major hotel in the city was booked.  (The California delegation was in the old Adams Mark before it converted back to the Sheraton and Le Meredian and they did complain abou t the hotel at that time)    By 2020 we would have the Intercontinental the Bohemian, maybe a Tryon Place hotel plus the recently opened ones like Kimpton, the Embassy Suites, the SpringHill suites etc.   The media crowd is unbelievable and some of my friends earned a lot of extra money.  

 

Edited February 16, 2018 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

CapTech which just moved into their new half floor space in 300 South Tryon is adding more and more jobs here.   Already 20 jobs this year and another 40-50 to be added. From a subscriber article today

""CapTech entered the Charlotte market in 2010 and now has more than 150 employees locally. After more than tripling its space with the recent uptown move, the company is looking to add to its staff throughout 2018. CapTech has so far this year added about 20 new employees and expects to bring an additional 40 to 50 workers on board by the end of 2018, said Jeff Skipper, a principal at the Charlotte office. Those job positions will span technology, design and management consulting.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2018/02/21/inside-consulting-firms-new-office-at-300-south.html

[NCMike1990]

ClearSkyImages has a new photo album called "Homeplate Highrise", under helicopter galleries. There are no pics posted yet.

http://photos.clearskyimages.com/helicopter

Hopefully, this means movement is picking up and an announcement will be made soon.