The Good News Report

[KJHburg]

The PGA Championship ended with an exciting ending which the media loves and local guy was in it for most of it.  No rain today which is a miracle given the rain we are getting now. Good exposure for Charlotte, Quail Hollow and Johnny Harris and hopefully he is ready to start some more of Legacy uptown. The golf media loved Quail Hollow and Charlotte and kept gushing over the city, the course, the club, the locals etc. Hopefully lots of business execs were courted maybe like the Toyota Mazda people (see above), banks based out of town with large operations in the QC etc but not headquartered here. Only one big rain delay over 4 days when it has rained everyday somewhere in the area is truly good news! 

Edited August 14, 2017 by KJHburg

[cjd5050]

10 hours ago, KJHburg said:

The PGA Championship ended with an exciting ending which the media loves and local guy was in it for most of it.  No rain today which is a miracle given the rain we are getting now. Good exposure for Charlotte, Quail Hollow and Johnny Harris and hopefully he is ready to start some more of Legacy uptown. The golf media loved Quail Hollow and Charlotte and kept gushing over the city, the course, the club, the locals etc. Hopefully lots of business execs were courted maybe like the Toyota Mazda people (see above), banks based out of town with large operations in the QC etc but not headquartered here. Only one big rain delay over 4 days when it has rained everyday somewhere in the area is truly good news! 

Johnny Harris and his team need to take a victory lap after this performance.   Just an outstanding event from a production point of view.  Was super impressed at every turn.  Also read a funny bit that about a week after Baltusrol took a victory lap on breaking sponsorship records Harris and Quail Hollow set the new bar....a year in advance.  

Some of the best news to come out of this is the PGA is going to move the Championship up to May in 2019 to avoid competing with football and to try and change the view that the PGA is the 4th of the 4 majors.  They have already ruled out going back to regular stops in Wisconsin and are hopeful that Long Island and Rochester NY will be 'OK' in May but as someone who is from NY I am pretty confident they won't be itching to return.   Charlotte, on the other hand, looks like a perfect location for May.

Feel pretty confident that when you add everything up Quail Hollow is going to quickly become a regular stop like Southern Hills and Oak Hills.  That's about $100 million at each pass.  Not bad at all.  

Edited August 14, 2017 by cjd5050

[KJHburg]

List of the top 10 FinTech companies includes Charlotte based AvidXchange coming in at #9. And #4 on the list has a rapidly growing office in Charlotte Credit Karma.  Plus we have numerous smaller startup firms in the area too. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurengensler/2017/08/08/biggest-us-fintech-companies/#3ad8bed159d8

In other news NC's lack of an auto plant may help us get one according to this article 

http://www.journalnow.com/business/business_news/local/nc-s-lack-of-automaker-plant-presence-may-boost-chances/article_ebc558d2-06c7-5e55-8b0f-1c827c632d42.html

Toyota's largest supplier of transmissions has plants in NC already not to mention our many other auto suppliers already in the state. Not to mention we have finally have our act together with 4 mega sites which we really did not have in the last decade. 

[KJHburg]

Albemarle Corp based in Charlotte's Southpark area adding 30 jobs at its headquarters and 170 jobs in Cleveland County where it has a lithium processing facility. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article167149497.html?utm_content=buffer83a90&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer  All those laptop and cell phone batteries need lithium so it seems to be a growth industry. Average salaries in Cleveland county over $78k twice the county average! 

[Rufus]

3 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Albemarle Corp based in Charlotte's Southpark area adding 30 jobs at its headquarters and 170 jobs in Cleveland County where it has a lithium processing facility. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article167149497.html?utm_content=buffer83a90&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer  All those laptop and cell phone batteries need lithium so it seems to be a growth industry. Average salaries in Cleveland county over $78k twice the county average! 

I always forget that they relocated here a few years ago. Such an impressive relocation for a F1000 company. 

[js4life]

Amazon must be in love with the Charlotte area as they will build another center in Kannapolis. Their east coast  HQ must be next 

[rancenc]

3 minutes ago, js4life said:

Amazon must be in love with the Charlotte area as they will build another center in Kannapolis. Their east coast  HQ must be next 

I wonder if they are going to consolidate with current one that is located near the Concord Regional Airport.  The two facilities would be like 4-5 miles from each other.

http://www.wbtv.com/story/36134268/kannapolis-city-council-approves-amazon-distribution-center

[KJHburg]

The Concord Airport center  is what is called a Sortation center where packages are sorted for their last mile delivery to US post offices. It is about 202K sq ft. This 1 million sq ft warehouse (which I thought was Publix) is a major distribution center like the ones in SC near Columbia and Spartanburg.  This has to be a fulfillment center. Here is the difference but I would think all would coexist including the Prime Air warehouse near the airport that is 500K sq ft. http://mwpvl.com/html/amazon_building_new_sortation_network.html   This means Publix is still out there looking as they will need a distribution center near here for groceries they are hauling up from Atlanta. So basically Amazon will have 3 types of warehouses in the Charlotte region. 

Edited August 15, 2017 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

New manufacturing company coming to Huntersville Business Park first plant in US for this Spanish company. 40 new jobs. https://charlottechamber.com/news/2017/08/29/member-news/daumar-corporation-announces-first-us-flexographic-printing-facility-in-huntersville/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+charlottechamber/gDed+(Charlotte+Chamber+Member+News)

[KJHburg]

Another story on the new Spanish company building its first US plant in Huntersville. https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2017/08/30/spanish-produce-package-company-to-bring-40-jobs.html

[Urbee]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

Another story on the new Spanish company building its first US plant in Huntersville. https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2017/08/30/spanish-produce-package-company-to-bring-40-jobs.html

will check that out

[J-Rob]

Interesting article on London based FinTech firm choosing Charlotte for first U.S. location.    It is only 10 people for now, but given the extensive process they went through before choosing Charlotte (over the likes of Chicago and Austin), it is definitely good news.  Thought this was particularly interesting:

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2017/08/31/london-fintech-opens-first-overseas-office-in.html

[CLT704]

^ Also very good for boosting CLT-LHR traffic, when/if they expand. 

Edited August 31, 2017 by CLT704

[CLT2014]

10 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Another story on the new Spanish company building its first US plant in Huntersville. https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2017/08/30/spanish-produce-package-company-to-bring-40-jobs.html

Sealed Air's global HQ being in Charlotte is going to be a good anchor now for the packaging industry to add more locations here. From Sealed Air, Pactiv, Genpak, Graphics Packaging, Atlantic Packaging, Daumar and more we are building one of the largest workforce hubs for that industry in the country. The HQ locations especially usually bring the engineers, chemists, R&D, and highly paid management jobs as well. 

Edited August 31, 2017 by CLT2014

[skymiler]

2 hours ago, CLT704 said:

^ Also very good for boosting CLT-LHR traffic, when/if they expand. 

If they only have 40 employees in London, how much expansion could we realistically expect in Charlotte?

[jednc]

Not sure if this is good news or not...

CHS and UNC Healthcare to join.

[CLT2014]

16 minutes ago, jednc said:

Not sure if this is good news or not...

CHS and UNC Healthcare to join.

Less competition usually isn't good for the customer. They are going to have a heavy grip on the market price of healthcare in NC. I'm sure the insurance companies will pass it on with higher premiums. 

[hambone931]

1 hour ago, CLT2014 said:

Less competition usually isn't good for the customer.

They don't compete in the same geographic area. It would be different if CHS was doing this with Novant. 

[CLT2014]

7 minutes ago, hambone931 said:

They don't compete in the same geographic area. It would be different if CHS was doing this with Novant. 

Insurance companies are by state though and it will give the combined hospitals a bigger stick to negotiate prices. "Oh you don't want to pay $2,500 for an MRI... well fine... we won't accept Aetna." The combined giant will control many of the hospitals in the two largest metro areas in the state and will have more strength to wait out an insurance company (like CHS did with United Healthcare back in 2015) that doesn't agree to their pricing. 

Prices might stay flat, but they will likely not decrease. 

Edited August 31, 2017 by CLT2014

[KJHburg]

Millennials are moving to NC as the 4th fastest state in growth in USA but guess what city is #1   CHARLOTTE Hmm must be our breweries, tapas etc but more probably our jobs and low cost of living. https://smartasset.com/mortgage/where-millennials-are-moving

[cjd5050]

12 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Millennials are moving to NC as the 4th fastest state in growth in USA but guess what city is #1   CHARLOTTE Hmm must be our breweries, tapas etc but more probably our jobs and low cost of living. https://smartasset.com/mortgage/where-millennials-are-moving

Just read a study that says you need a $117,000 salary to purchase a home in San Diego.  This assumes 20% down on the median priced house of $605,000 with a mortgage of 4.21% and a monthly payment of $2,700.  That same monthly payment is about $4,200 in San Fransisco and $5,200 in San Jose.  It's absurd and why I no longer live in CA.  

So ya...Charlotte looks attractive to everyone and not just Millennials.  

[CLT2014]

30 minutes ago, cjd5050 said:

Just read a study that says you need a $117,000 salary to purchase a home in San Diego.  This assumes 20% down on the median priced house of $605,000 with a mortgage of 4.21% and a monthly payment of $2,700.  That same monthly payment is about $4,200 in San Fransisco and $5,200 in San Jose.  It's absurd and why I no longer live in CA.  

So ya...Charlotte looks attractive to everyone and not just Millennials.  

Every time I'm home in CA, it is shocking how many of my peers live with mom and dad and are 30 years old. Most say "well I could live with mom and dad until 35 and save for a down payment.... or spend money on rent, but never be able to save enough to buy a place." It is a tough decision to make. 

I couldn't do 30 years of my life on this planet living with my parents.... haha, no matter how good the weather is. 

Zillow found the national average is 21% of working age millennials live with their parents. In Charlotte it is 18%. In Los Angeles it is 32%.

https://www.zillow.com/research/millennials-living-with-mom-12287/

Edited September 1, 2017 by CLT2014

[KJHburg]

Charlotte ranked #16th in the nation in creating private sector jobs since the Great Recession. Raleigh even beat that but it is great NC has 2 metros on this list. https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2017/09/01/raleigh-area-added-100-000-private-sector-jobs.html?ana=e_ae_set1&s=article_du&ed=2017-09-01&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1504294468&j=78773941

Edited September 1, 2017 by KJHburg

[HighRiseHillbilly]

30 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Charlotte ranked #16th in the nation in creating private sector jobs since the Great Recession. Raleigh even bet that but it is great NC has 2 metros on this list. https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2017/09/01/raleigh-area-added-100-000-private-sector-jobs.html?ana=e_ae_set1&s=article_du&ed=2017-09-01&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1504294468&j=78773941

My petty monster says "NO.... CRUSH RALEIGH", but yeah, good for them or whatever. 

[videtur quam contuor]

Well, we did crush them. The report brags about adding 100,000 jobs but the ranking is according to increase in percentage of private sector jobs and Charlotte has nearly double Raleigh. Raleigh had fewer jobs added but a higher percentage growth due to a (much) smaller base. Raleigh added 103k, Charlotte 132k in 10 years (if you believe the BLS stats). Raleigh CSA is 2mil+ and Charlotte is 2.6mil+ and we have double the private sector jobs. Double.