The Good News Report

[Niner National]

I've actually been in the Siemens building before. Some of the turbines they build in that place are enormous. Some are probably nearly the size of tractor trailers and 20+ tons. Very cool place to see.

[JayGee]

Right you are, sir. I mis-read the question as to what Siemens does... period. There was some chatter on this thread earlier about rail sidings and the thinking that the California facility was at capacity...

kermit 7Posted 20 November 2009 - 08:48 PM

aceboogie, on 20 November 2009 - 07:32 PM, said:

This is really awesome. I wonder if this announcement will help fuel the "Energy Hub" status that Charlotte is trying to attain. Also, doesn't Siemens deal alot with trains and rail? Just curious.

apologies for fueling speculation, the CBJ article spurred me to do some googling: The Siemens LRT production facility in Sacramento cranked out 58 cars in 2007 and planned to produce 100 in 2008 http://sacramento.bi.../10/story2.html -- I am guessing that would generate around 40 rail cars worth of freight. It appears that Sacramento facility employs around 700 people (the CBJ article about project cardinal says "up to 650 new jobs within 5 years")

This September article from the WSJ discussed Siemens plans for expansion due to increased funding for all types of rail thanks to the stimulus (although there was nothing specific about new facilities or sites):

http://online.wsj.co...0447984485.html

I would assume that rail car production will require chunks of steel that are larger (and heavier) than can be easily transported by truck and is the type of production (of heavy / bulky things) that make sense to do near a market (and perhaps near the port of Charleston to facilitate exports to Puerto Rico and the east coast of South America). If Siemens feels that the Sacramento facility will hit capacity due to stimulus related expansion, then an east coast location (in a non-union state) might make sense.

The "expansion of a production facility" statement from today's CBJ article could go either way.

It sure would be nice if Charlotte's national (but not local) reputation for "progressive transit planning" combined with the Siemens facility down on Westinghouse might lead to some really nice new factory jobs in town. It might also be an event that might help silence some of the local transit critics by creating a tangible connection between transit and employment.

The impression I got from his statement is that it is related to what they do now at that plant.

I think it would be very cool to have an LRT facility here, though. And they have plenty of land if you look it up in Polaris.

[southslider]

It sure would be nice if Charlotte's national (but not local) reputation for "progressive transit planning" combined with the Siemens facility down on Westinghouse might lead to some really nice new factory jobs in town. It might also be an event that might help silence some of the local transit critics by creating a tangible connection between transit and employment.

If the LRT trains are already built in California, maybe Siemens would manufacture modern streetcar vehicles in the US at a Charlotte plant to compete with Portland's United Streetcar plant. From tracks being laid in DC to plans being made in Atlanta, Charlotte may be the best East Coast location for a plant, on top of other factors that already make the Carolinas attractive to manufacturing.

[kermit]

Despite my enthusiasm for an East coast LRT manufacturing facility it appears that Siemens has elected to expand their existing Sacramento manufacturing facility:

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9DUNBLG0.htm

[JayGee]

Supposedly Bev is in Claremont today for a big jobs announcement at 3 pm.

[kermit]

File under "fantasy"

Interesting article in today's Wall Street Journal speculating on Barclay's desires to expand into US retail banking. The article focused on Barclay's acquiring a mid-sized US bank and continuing expansion from that base. They also expressed a desire to expand their private wealth business. Since one of the banks mentioned as a target was Suntrust (hq in Atlanta) (other banks mentioned were 5/3 and Comerica) I could see a tiny window for Barclay's to HQ its US retail activities here (not far from the Atlanta employees at Suntrust, plenty of talent available for additional expansion, an available trading floor for their expanding capital markets activity, lots of experienced wealth management folks around town -- I'll choose to ignore the fact that Atlanta may be the simpler short-term choice if they purchase Suntrust). There is also some history between Barclay's and BofA, but I don't know the details. I suppose one major obstacle is that no self-respecting London-based banker wants to fly into Gatwick (but this is a problem for Atlanta and Cincinnati too I believe)....

Anyway, while this is a huge longshot I do hope the folks at the chamber have this on their radar screens.

http://online.wsj.co...s_LEFTWhatsNews

EDIT: To be clear, the article does not mention Charlotte at all. I am simply connecting some improbable dots.

Edited March 9, 2010 by kermit

[caterpillar2]

File under "fantasy"

Interesting article in today's Wall Street Journal speculating on Barclay's desires to expand into US retail banking. The article focused on Barclay's acquiring a mid-sized US bank and continuing expansion from that base. They also expressed a desire to expand their private wealth business. Since one of the banks mentioned as a target was Suntrust (hq in Atlanta) (other banks mentioned were 5/3 and Comerica) I could see a tiny window for Barclay's t HQ its US retail activities here (not far from the Atlanta employees at Suntrust, plenty of talent available for additional expansion, lots of experienced wealth management folks around town -- I'll choose to ignore the fact that Atlanta may be the simpler choice). There is also some history between Barclay's and BofA, but I don't know the details of those discussions. I suppose one major obstacle is that no self-respecting banker wants to fly into Gatwick (but this is a problem for Atlanta and Cincinnati too I believe)....

Anyway, while this is a huge longshot I do hope the folks at the chamber have this on their radar screens.

http://online.wsj.co...s_LEFTWhatsNews

I am sitting on my knuckles waiting for the announcement coming in the next week concerning some astronomically good economic news to hit Charlotte. It isn't Seamens, but something much larger. I don't know what it is just that the communicator is with the Chamber of Commerce and couldn't be specific.

[HopHead]

I am sitting on my knuckles waiting for the announcement coming in the next week concerning some astronomically good economic news to hit Charlotte. It isn't Seamens, but something much larger. I don't know what it is just that the communicator is with the Chamber of Commerce and couldn't be specific.

You mean "Project Cardinal" that's been talked about?

[kermit]

You mean "Project Cardinal" that's been talked about?

based on previous posts here I think its likely that Project Cardinal refers to Siemens expansion of their gas turbine production facility on Westinghouse.

[cltbwimob]

I am sitting on my knuckles waiting for the announcement coming in the next week concerning some astronomically good economic news to hit Charlotte. It isn't Seamens, but something much larger. I don't know what it is just that the communicator is with the Chamber of Commerce and couldn't be specific.

Could it possibly be the decision by ENN to base it's US HQ in Charlotte? Or maybe it will be that Radioshack intends to establish it's HQ in Charlotte.

Do you have any more details that could perhaps fuel some speculation?

[atlrvr]

BarclaysAmerican used to be headquarterd in Charlotte and did a range of commercial and consumer lending.....they were even going to build and office tower at the site of the future 3rd Ward park in the late 1980s. They instead slowly sold off their business lines, and finally shuttered Equifirst which was the last business to remain in Charlotte in 2009.

[qcnative2469]

BarclaysAmerican used to be headquarterd in Charlotte and did a range of commercial and consumer lending.....they were even going to build and office tower at the site of the future 3rd Ward park in the late 1980s. They instead slowly sold off their business lines, and finally shuttered Equifirst which was the last business to remain in Charlotte in 2009.

I heard a rumor that Gov Perdue is going to be in charlotte @ 11AM thursday for a press conference and that this was related to an expansion @ Siemens (above & beyond what they are doing now - 60k sq. ft.).

Cardinal has everyone i have talked to stumped.

[qcnative2469]

I heard a rumor that Gov Perdue is going to be in charlotte @ 11AM thursday for a press conference and that this was related to an expansion @ Siemens (above & beyond what they are doing now - 60k sq. ft.).

Cardinal has everyone i have talked to stumped.

i made a mistake, it is 5/3 moving downtown, not siemens.

Edited March 10, 2010 by qcnative2469

[InitialD]

i made a mistake, it is 5/3 moving downtown, not siemens.

Yeah, the artist formerly known as IJL tower (201 N. Tryon Street) will be the new regional HQ of 5th 3rd. Still wish they could have built that tower next to Odell.

[tozmervo]

5/3rd's move gives a lot of ammunition to the Uptown boosters who say that the office space opening up is a good thing. Previously, there was not enough vacant space for 5/3 to move.

I have to admit, though, a part of me wishes a non-bank presence was moving in. You know, to add a little more variety to the white collar population Uptown.

[cltbwimob]

i made a mistake, it is 5/3 moving downtown, not siemens.

Actually, you may have been right the first time. According to the Observer, that is the big economic news tomorrow. Looks like Project Cardinal was Siemens just like most here suspected. This is great news.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/03/10/1303725/siemens-plans-big-charlotte-expansion.html

[sammyjoey]

so to summarize...

1. 5/3 moving to ILJ

already announced

2. Project Cardinal = Siemens expansion

Scope of project is "shocking"

rumored on Mar 3 that an announcement coming in the next few weeks - now known to be tomorrow at 11am

3. "Shockingly good economic news" - bigger than the Siemens expansion

rumored on Mar 9 that an announcement coming in the next week

could potentially be HQ of ENN or Radio Shack

4. Barclay's retail bank

absolute fantasy - no reason (yet) to believe this is going to happen

any other major rumors right now?

[kermit]

^ there is also the Morgan Stanley retail bank operation which appears to be dependent upon the nature of financial industry regulation coming down the pike.

MS appears to be looking to fill 7 posistions in Charlotte including one titled "Head of Commercial Credit"

http://www.morganstanley.com/about/careers/careersearch.html

[brokenraven]

Lol they also have 564 positions open in NY city alone.

Edited March 11, 2010 by brokenraven

[HopHead]

Charlotte Bizjournals is actually reporting that the Siemens expansion will bring 800 jobs to Charlotte!

In addition, Fifth Third will be hiring over 250 employees in NC to cover an expansion. A large chunk of which will be in Charlotte.

[krazeeboi]

Awesome news about Siemens. It would be even better to have an announcement about ENN (and a new corporate tower with an Asian flair would be cool too). That would really give the energy sector in Charlotte a huge boost.

[atlrvr]

For what it is worth I have continually heard that MS is negotiating for state incentives before they make a major hiring push....sort of like GMAC had a trickle of hiring before their incentives, but didn't hire the 200-250 additional ones until there was a cash reward to do so.

I have no specifics, but I do know that there have been several major announcements floating around since late last year that should get finalized soon. Siemans was one of them, but I believe there are at least 2-3 more of at least equal scope, and several smaller deals.

[tozmervo]

Maybe I missed this earlier in the thread - what's ENN? There are too many results on Google to figure it out.

[kermit]

so to summarize...

....

3. "Shockingly good economic news" - bigger than the Siemens expansion

rumored on Mar 9 that an announcement coming in the next week

could potentially be HQ of ENN or Radio Shack

...

If I were a betting man I would rule out a Radio Shack announcement in the short term. The Wall Street rumor mill has the company in play as an acquisition target. While they will need a new hq site (due to lease agreements) if they are bought by private equity (which seems most likely) -- a corporate buyer may fold command into their own operations. Either scenario may involve substantial corporate downsizing (in order to increase RS focus on the wireless business)

I would think (without any direct knowledge of the specifics) that any negotiations about new hq sites will be delayed until the ownership question is settled.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idCNN0325639320100303?rpc=44

[jednc]

Maybe I missed this earlier in the thread - what's ENN? There are too many results on Google to figure it out.

I'm guessing it's this: http://www.ennsolar.com/