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The Good News Report


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Resolvit - An IT management consulting firms based in suburban D.C. has opened a Charlotte office with 2 people, but looking at their website, have job postings out for 7 more.

I noticed that Seimens has applied for a building permit to upfit space in an office park in University City. The office building is part of Innovation Park, the old IBM complex that became Meridian Corporate Center and then went into foreclosure. I'm not sure what division of Siemens is moving in, but I'm almost positive they aren't currently located there, and I have heard of no announcement. Areva is located in the office park, so it could be related to Nuclear Power, or it could be something unrelated.

Finally, Charlotte made national news for "green" energy. Charlotte will be the first city in the nation to have the majority of its office buildings wired into smart grid technology which allows individual power users to see real time how much energy they are using. It is supposed to reduce energy consumtpion of Uptown office buildings by 20%. It was announced by Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative today in NYC as an outstanding collaberation between the private and public sectors.

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Finally, Charlotte made national news for "green" energy. Charlotte will be the first city in the nation to have the majority of its office buildings wired into smart grid technology which allows individual power users to see real time how much energy they are using. It is supposed to reduce energy consumtpion of Uptown office buildings by 20%. It was announced by Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative today in NYC as an outstanding collaberation between the private and public sectors.

Yes! This is a huge deal that I'm very excited about. The potential impact of this project is incredible.

http://envisioncharlotte.com/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-23/cisco-duke-plan-to-link-north-carolina-buildings-to-smart-grid.html

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I noticed that Seimens has applied for a building permit to upfit space in an office park in University City. The office building is part of Innovation Park, the old IBM complex that became Meridian Corporate Center and then went into foreclosure. I'm not sure what division of Siemens is moving in, but I'm almost positive they aren't currently located there, and I have heard of no announcement. Areva is located in the office park, so it could be related to Nuclear Power, or it could be something unrelated.

According to today's Charlotte Biz Journal, Siemens will be relocating their nuclear instrumentation and control group to Charlotte from Atlanta. They are leasing about 17,000 sqft with the option for an additional 15,000 by year end. It will include both transfers and new hires.

EDIT: Corrected typo

Edited by dbull75
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Yes! This is a huge deal that I'm very excited about. The potential impact of this project is incredible.

http://envisioncharlotte.com/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-23/cisco-duke-plan-to-link-north-carolina-buildings-to-smart-grid.html

It sounded to me that the displays would be INSIDE the lobbies of the buildings... is this right? That's a start (and I suppose the initiate is directed toward those who work in the buildings to reduce the use of their own office), but to truly make a statement, I'd like to see these visible on the sidewalks (to every-day-people). maybe in the future?

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Yes! This is a huge deal that I'm very excited about. The potential impact of this project is incredible.

http://envisioncharlotte.com/

http://www.bloomberg...smart-grid.html

That really is awesome! How long do you suppose it would take for residential units to be hooked up to this smart grid, or is this tech just for large power consuming buildings/districts?

Just curious.

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I was wondering about the residential side of Uptown. In some of the press about this, I gathered that Duke has been testing similar monitoring solutions in some South Charlotte homes. I think that if the commercial monitoring goes well, it stands to reason that the residential won't be far behind, especially the larger projects like Avenue, Catalyst and the Vue.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Charlotte-based Tree.com (parent company of LendingTree) will be hiring 40 new employees as part of it's 75 person local expansion taking place over the next few months. Most of these positions are in the area of Marketing, Product Development and Technology.

http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2010/10/11/daily13.html

Edited by dbull75
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Saertex USA will create 178 jobs and invest $6.5 million at its Mecklenburg facility. There are currently 126 employees there now for the German based company. The company manufactures technical fabrics that are used to make composite materials used by wind energy, aerospace, civil engineering, automotive and ship-building industries.

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Saertex USA will create 178 jobs and invest $6.5 million at its Mecklenburg facility. There are currently 126 employees there now for the German based company. The company manufactures technical fabrics that are used to make composite materials used by wind energy, aerospace, civil engineering, automotive and ship-building industries.

Man I hope someone in the chamber is thinking of ways to expand and capitalize on Charlottes energy momentum. It would be nice to see the city become the a hub for not only green energy industries but research in that field also.

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I did not put these announcements in my earlier post, but US Airways is rehiring all furloughed flight attendants and expects to begin hiring more flight attendants soon. The jobs announcement today follows US Airways' announcement of a record 3Q profit. Although I have no firm numbers I am guessing that some of those hires may be Charlotte based.

ISIS Fund Services, a Bermuda based hedge fund is opening up it's US office in Charlotte. This is good for the city as it indicates that Charlotte is still a dominate financial center and is diversifying it's base of financial services companies.

The best news may be the possibility of Li-Ion opening up a two production lines for their electric vehicles in Mooresville (with a possibility of a 3rd production line).This announcement could eventually mean 600 jobs and $500 million in investment. Here is the Bizjournal article(for paid subscribers) and a link to their corporate website. The Inizio looks awesome.

http://www.bizjourna.../18/story1.html

http://www.li-ionmotors.com/

Edited by cltbwimob
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Forsite Development, lead developer for ReVenture Park, is teaming up with FCR Recycling on a new $30 million “Recycled Fuel” facility that will vastly improve Mecklenburg County’s recycling rates and transform non recycling recoverable waste into a fuel that can be utilized to create renewable electricity. The facility is expected to be operational by April 2012 and will create 150 new jobs when up and running. The recycled fuel created from this project will be enough to give power to 30,000 homes annually.

http://www.charlottechamber.com/index.php?src=news&refno=3011&category=Economic+Development+News&prid=3011

Edited by dbull75
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  • 2 weeks later...

Unemployment dropped by 7/10 of a percent from August to September. The September unemployment rate in the region is now at 10.4% down from 11.1% in August. The large drop in unemployment is made better by the fact that the census is over and probably represents true hiring, not just temp jobs.

http://www.bizjourna...t-drops-to.html

Edited by cltbwimob
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One thing that none of the news sources mentioned in the employment figure is that the number of people employed actually declined, just that the number of people in the labor force declined at a greater rate. Given that it was Aug-Sept change, seasonality has a lot to do with it and it occurs every year (think 1000+ Carowinds workers returning to school) so it is hard to determine what exactly the trend was, either more people giving up and dropping out of the labor force looking for jobs, or at least a decent share of people gaining full time employment to partially offset the decline in seasonal employment. Given the almost uniform decline in unemployment across the state, I would guess it is probably a combo of both.

However, nationally the rate didn't change (though the labor force did decline), so the fact that NC and Charlotte in particular declined at a high rate indicates that either more people are finding jobs here than nationally or that people are giving up at a much higher rate. Given the large inflow of people Charlotte is still seeing, I'm guessing that hiring here is well above the national average.

Finally, this is the first time since I believe late 2008 that Mecklenburg's unemployment rate has been equal to the national rate. We now are equally as bad as the rest of the country rather than 1-2% worse.

3 bits of good news from the Charlotte Business Journal

1) Bohle, a German manufacture of glass finishing products, has opened a US HQ here in Charlotte, though will only employ 6. Sometimes these things lead to opening manufacturing operations after a year of 2, so there is that potential. None the less, its good to see another German HQ here.

2) Nestle is being pitched to open a research lab at the NC Biotech thingy up in K-town. Obviously they are a big name, and would help further lend credibility to the center.

3) It is rumored that Reaology (the parent company to several residential real estate brokerage firms) is looking at Charlotte and other cities to relocate its corporate HQ from NJ. They would need 200k sq ft. The bad news is, I can't think of any blocks office space that size. BofA could probably accomodate them downtown, but my guess is they are a suburban tenant. If we somehow did get them, 200k sq ft probably translates into 750 jobs or so.

Also, as an antedote, I'm in the financial services industry and the last 2 weeks, recruiters have been cold-calling me at least every other day. I probably didn't recieve more than 1 call between spring 2009 and early summer 2010, and the rate has picked up since then. From about 1 per month until about 1 every other week by the end of summer, to constant now. I don't really ever talk to them, but it seems most of the work is contract for Wells Fargo though not all. Also, just from general observation, BofA seems to be hiring a lot of people now. I don't know it is turnover or if they cut too many a couple of years ago, but I sense they are adding between 50-100/month in Charlotte for the last several months.

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It looks like an entertainment company is set to purchase the Philip Morris site. Unfortunately, I've never heard of them or anything they've produced. Apparently it is a movie production studio and music studio combo and from what I can tell the owner is one in the same. It could bring up to 2,500 jobs to the area though which is obviously a good thing.

Here's a newspaper article regarding the news: http://www2.independ...site-ar-501061/

Here are links to the companies:

Elevating Entertainment Motion Pictures

http://elevatingente...t.com/index.htm

Lamon Records

http://lamonrecords.com/index.html

Just thought I would add this to the collection of good news.

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CIAA has decided to extend their contract with Charlotte as the host city for the tournaments through 2014. Not only is this a great economic event for the city but it is great marketing. Apparently participants continue to give high marks to Charlotte!

That only makes sense. The tournament has actually become a signature event for Charlotte.

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The Guv will be in town Monday for a jobs announcement in Charlotte, and then going to Kings Mountain for a jobs announcement there as well. I assume the Kings Mountain is for a data center at the T5 site, but I have no clue what the Charlotte announcement could be. The city and county have both approved close-door session incentives within the last 2 weeks.

Normally I would say with Perdue coming, that it is big, but she is scheduled to be here for a fundraiser anyway, so maybe not so big. We typically hear rumors before something big gets announced, but I'm hoping to be surprised this time.

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The Guv will be in town Monday for a jobs announcement in Charlotte, and then going to Kings Mountain for a jobs announcement there as well. I assume the Kings Mountain is for a data center at the T5 site, but I have no clue what the Charlotte announcement could be. The city and county have both approved close-door session incentives within the last 2 weeks.

Normally I would say with Perdue coming, that it is big, but she is scheduled to be here for a fundraiser anyway, so maybe not so big. We typically hear rumors before something big gets announced, but I'm hoping to be surprised this time.

It looks like the good news is 180 new SPX jobs. The Observer has just reported this...My link

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I figured this was good news. I am going to break it into quotes because I figured it would be better than me trying to explain. I don't want nothing lost in the translation :)

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood traveled to Charlotte today to tell local leaders, "we are going to reallocate some money from Ohio and Wisconsin."

- WBTV3 http://www.wbtv.com/....asp?S=13519704

"You all are going to be in the high-speed rail business," LaHood said, drawing applause from a crowd of transportation and other regional leaders gathered at the Knight Theater in uptown.

Charlotte Observer - http://www.charlotte...l#ixzz15a3d41BE

"And I can say the same about transit and street cars forms of transportation whether they be walking paths or biking paths," LaHood said. "You all get it...You're going to reap big, big benefits."

- WBTV3 http://www.wbtv.com/....asp?S=13519704

"Because you all have worked together, and your governor and your transportation folks have worked together, we're going to be making some announcements," LaHood said. "I'm not going to be making it today, but I want you to know because of the leadership of the state on high-speed rail, you all are going to be in the high speed rail business."

- WBTV3 http://www.wbtv.com/....asp?S=13519704

So. What I gather is not only are we going to reap "big, big benefits" regarding High-Speed Rail, but for whatever else we want whether it be side walks or Street Cars? Cool Tools! :fun:

Edited by AirNostrumMAD
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