The Good News Report

[Norm2]

41 minutes ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

To each their own…

the day they tell me I need to come back to the office is the day I give my notice. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Same! Working from home has brought a ton of flexibility into my life. I also don't miss losing 90 minutes a day or more to commuting. You don't realize how much of your life is wasted in a vehicle.

[RANYC]

2 hours ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

To each their own…

the day they tell me I need to come back to the office is the day I give my notice. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I suspect a good share of people will feel this way until the next recession, or talent situation becomes more of a buyer's market than seller's.

I'm up and down on this.  Some days I can't stand the people I work with, and other days we're fine and seem to get a lot done.  Solution will be to vary the spaces and configuration in the office rather than being in one place at a single workstation all day. 

if i must commute to the office, then I'd love to see my Dream for a Future Workplace - Collab and creative spaces, flex rooms for working groups, sofas and couches, coffee shop imitation spaces, research library imitations, reading booths, team-bonding labs, kitchens, obstacle courses, fitness rooms designed to allow for collaborations, mental fitness consultation spaces, axe-throwing and demolition stress-relief rooms, massage chairs...etc

Edited May 16, 2022 by RANYC

[KJHburg]

1 hour ago, RANYC said:

 

if i must commute to the office, then I'd love to see my Dream for a Future Workplace - Collab and creative spaces, flex rooms for working groups, sofas and couches, coffee shop imitation spaces, research library imitations, reading booths, team-bonding labs, kitchens, obstacle courses, fitness rooms designed to allow for collaborations, mental fitness consultation spaces, axe-throwing and demolition stress-relief rooms, massage chairs...etc

the above sounds like my Wework offices with great coffee and free beer on tap. 

[Rufus]

2022 Fortune 500/1000 List is out, and the Charlotte area had a nice showing with 15 companies on the lists. 

1. Lowes -- overtakes BoA as the largest public company in Charlotte (F500 - 35)

2. BoA -- (F500 - 36)

3. Nucor -- (F500 - 98)

4. Honeywell -- (F500 - 105)

5. Duke Energy  -- (F500 - 145)

6. Truist -- (F500 - 155)

7. Sonic Auto -- (F500 - 300)

8. Brighthouse -- (F500 - 468)

9. Ingersoll-Rand -- (F1000 - 550)

10. Coca-Cola Consolidating -- (F1000 - 560)

11. Sealed Air -- (F1000 - 565)

12. Jeld-Wen -- (F1000 - 626)

13. Dentsply Sirona -- (F1000 - 668)

14. Albermarle Corp.  -- (F1000 - 780)

15. Curtiss Wright -- (F1000 - 921)

 

Diversey is no longer listed since it is owned by Bain Capital. XPO Logistics spinoff should show up on here next year. Premier, Inc, Driven Brands, SPX Corp., and EnPro are Charlotte's other $1b revenue public companies. I think there are a couple more waiting in the wings with relocations and the overall health of the region's economy. Nice to have the bragging rights. 

[Matthew.Brendan]

What exactly is that measuring? How on earth is Lowes ahead of Bank of America?

[JRCLT]

What exactly is that measuring? How on earth is Lowes ahead of Bank of America?

While it may or may not be the only factor: Lowes made more revenue.

[KJHburg]

1 hour ago, JeanClt said:

While it may or may not be the only factor: Lowes made more revenue.

yes it is based on revenue i.e. sales that is why Walmart is the biggest company or in the top 2-3 in the country. 

[KJHburg]

Big weekend for tourism this weekend with the Coca Cola 600 and no matter if you follow NASCAR or not it is big.  This race puts heads in the beds as they say.   They are expecting their biggest crowd in years this weekend.  I was a volunteer with the USO at an event today with Joey Logano.  No matter what you think of him on the track he was the nicest guy all smiles for the 150 people who wanted to meet him and get an autograph.  Met a family of 4 from Wisconsin down here for a few days and a family of 4 from Ohio down for the race.  With all the race shops in this area mostly  there is a lot for the fan to do here not to mention the Hall of Fame.   I must say I changed my mind on his on track reputation after seeing him cheerfully greet 150 plus fans and was so patient and kind to them. 

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

I don’t know much about nascar but have been to 5+ races. What a great time! I mean what other sport is BYOB!! Lol anyways, I don’t know the reasoning but was disappointed that the all star race wasn’t here this year. All star and 600 are synonymous big time races for Charlotte. I guess I get the rotation of it but it had been in Charlotte for the longest. I like the all star race bc of all the big names and events and it’s a lot shorter than the 600. 

[KJHburg]

Biggest crowd at Charlotte Motor Speedway since 2017.  Very exciting race too.  People from all 50 states, even Australia and UK according to the speedway. 

https://www.fox46.com/organization/nascar/coca-cola-600-welcomes-nearly-100000-fans-to-charlotte/

[KJHburg]

Mr Tepper needs to make this happen from Twitter tonight

Joe Person
@josephperson

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirms Panthers were one of more than 20 teams to express interest in hosting a future draft. 2025 and ‘26 will be the next to be awarded, likely at some point next year.

[rancenc]

The NC Dept of Commerce awarded grants to various municipalities throughout the state!

https://www.nccommerce.com/news/press-releases/rural-communities-awarded-american-rescue-plan-transformation-grants-boost-local

[KJHburg]

Young professionals continue to flock to Charlotte so says Linkedin

https://charlotteregion.com/news/2022/06/15/alliance-news/charlotte-ranked-fourth-fastest-growing-city-for-young-professionals/

Love this quote and what i have always said once you get someone to Charlotte it is hard to get them to leave.  Our stickiness i.e. how long people stick around is really strong.  They plant themselves here they bring their friends, family and even parents to the metro.

“We are excited to be a magnet for recent college graduates and pleased this momentum continues,” Charlotte Economic Development Deputy Director Christina Thigpen wrote in a statement. “Many come here for the jobs and stay for our incredible quality of life, convenient location and ever-evolving cityscape.” 

“You have the ability to be in the mountains and the ability to be in the city,” said Bennett.     (and I would add access to great beaches too that are half of tank away)

and here are the perspectives from 2 recent Partnership employees

https://charlotteregion.com/blog/2022/06/15/clt-alliance-blog/why-charlotte-two-perspectives-on-talent-attraction/

Edited June 16, 2022 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

Random notes from the Bisnow event today and things I heard mostly good but a few bad news items.  These are from my copious notes I took today.

52% of the absorption of office space in the Charlotte market has been from out of state firms in the last 5 years

Many of the panelists felt Charlotte has better infrastructure than our peer cities those being Nashville, Austin specifically.   Our airport, highways, and public transit all superior than those 2

Someone mentioned that Centrum out of Chicago might be doing a 40 story apartment tower on South Blvd in upper south end area.

Hines out of Houston is interested and getting closer to a deal locally.  They are active in Durham and Cary and they pointed out to me they will pay cash and have great backing.

Someone who attended a NY office real estate conference felt the NY centric audience there was much more negative to office space going forward as people have longer commutes into the city being a factor.  However even there is a flight to quality.

28 towers planned for Southend quipped someone in attendance. 

Some developers felt the ones who develop something and quickly sell it after lease up might be the ones not doing deals in a more difficult environment of the next 12-18 months.  But those who long term hold feel much more confident. 

Those with financing and cash equity will be the ones building and starting in the next months.
Most agreed there is a flight to quality spaces and or creative office space 
Valuations are correcting in multifamily meaning selling something for much more after completion or with a few years of ownership is harder to do.
European money is very interested in US real estate so that might be a new capital source
Not everything announced recently will be built several said this.
Barings has 750 employees now in Charlotte random fact heard
The UDO is designed to create predictability and lessen need for rezonings.
Construction pricing seems to be flatlining but not dropping. 
Portman guy told story a building in Austin that was budgeted at $150M seeing $1 M price increases a month. 
A few thought we are recession now based on what they see on the ground.
Consumer confidence is shaken and that is 2/3 of the economy.

Sublease space is 2.5% of the Charlotte office market which means 2.3 M sq ft.  Since the pandemic 800K sq ft of sublease space was occupied by  other tenants (but of course that means they did not lease new space)

Your office space now needs to be commute worthy. Something that people will want to come to frequently. 

I said this during the breakfast to someone then a panelist said it out loud any recession will bring workers back into the office as the labor market loosens up.
Overall 44% of the office workers are back in the office.  Lowest percentage is NY City and highest percentage is Dallas.  Charlotte is around 50 or percent I recently read.  In the local submarkets Southpark has the highest number of workers back into the office at over 70%.  Reason suspected is the office size is smaller and when your CEO is in the office in a smaller office most likely the workers will be as well. 

Someone noted the recent McKinsey survey  58% of the jobs will be flexible work hours, 35% remote only and rest in the office only.  One developer felt only 60% of the office space going forward will be needed by that was his guess.  Others I talked to disagreed.

The planning director did mention she laughs when she reads on social media about making 277 a river!

Indoor and outdoor amenities are important in office developments going forward and the trends we were seeing before Covid only accelerated during and after Covid.
Travis with Portman said Southend is one of the top 5 submarkets in the country in his view.  Likens it to the east side of the Beltline in Atlanta which is where Ponce City Market is among others.

Someone mentioned safety issue uptown and people seem to think more people working back at the office will help that (which is true but so is more enforcement in uptown hot spots) 

Anyway that is my random notes I took.  The good the bad and ugly.  

photo I took in front of Mint around lunch time it was quite busy on the street.
 

[JRNYP2C]

On 6/30/2022 at 9:47 PM, KJHburg said:

Random notes from the Bisnow event today and things I heard mostly good but a few bad news items.  These are from my copious notes I took today.

52% of the absorption of office space in the Charlotte market has been from out of state firms in the last 5 years

Many of the panelists felt Charlotte has better infrastructure than our peer cities those being Nashville, Austin specifically.   Our airport, highways, and public transit all superior than those 2

Someone mentioned that Centrum out of Chicago might be doing a 40 story apartment tower on South Blvd in upper south end area.

Hines out of Houston is interested and getting closer to a deal locally.  They are active in Durham and Cary and they pointed out to me they will pay cash and have great backing.

Someone who attended a NY office real estate conference felt the NY centric audience there was much more negative to office space going forward as people have longer commutes into the city being a factor.  However even there is a flight to quality.

28 towers planned for Southend quipped someone in attendance. 

Some developers felt the ones who develop something and quickly sell it after lease up might be the ones not doing deals in a more difficult environment of the next 12-18 months.  But those who long term hold feel much more confident. 

Those with financing and cash equity will be the ones building and starting in the next months.
Most agreed there is a flight to quality spaces and or creative office space 
Valuations are correcting in multifamily meaning selling something for much more after completion or with a few years of ownership is harder to do.
European money is very interested in US real estate so that might be a new capital source
Not everything announced recently will be built several said this.
Barings has 750 employees now in Charlotte random fact heard
The UDO is designed to create predictability and lessen need for rezonings.
Construction pricing seems to be flatlining but not dropping. 
Portman guy told story a building in Austin that was budgeted at $150M seeing $1 M price increases a month. 
A few thought we are recession now based on what they see on the ground.
Consumer confidence is shaken and that is 2/3 of the economy.

Sublease space is 2.5% of the Charlotte office market which means 2.3 M sq ft.  Since the pandemic 800K sq ft of sublease space was occupied by  other tenants (but of course that means they did not lease new space)

Your office space now needs to be commute worthy. Something that people will want to come to frequently. 

I said this during the breakfast to someone then a panelist said it out loud any recession will bring workers back into the office as the labor market loosens up.
Overall 44% of the office workers are back in the office.  Lowest percentage is NY City and highest percentage is Dallas.  Charlotte is around 50 or percent I recently read.  In the local submarkets Southpark has the highest number of workers back into the office at over 70%.  Reason suspected is the office size is smaller and when your CEO is in the office in a smaller office most likely the workers will be as well. 

Someone noted the recent McKinsey survey  58% of the jobs will be flexible work hours, 35% remote only and rest in the office only.  One developer felt only 60% of the office space going forward will be needed by that was his guess.  Others I talked to disagreed.

The planning director did mention she laughs when she reads on social media about making 277 a river!

Indoor and outdoor amenities are important in office developments going forward and the trends we were seeing before Covid only accelerated during and after Covid.
Travis with Portman said Southend is one of the top 5 submarkets in the country in his view.  Likens it to the east side of the Beltline in Atlanta which is where Ponce City Market is among others.

Someone mentioned safety issue uptown and people seem to think more people working back at the office will help that (which is true but so is more enforcement in uptown hot spots) 

Anyway that is my random notes I took.  The good the bad and ugly.  

photo I took in front of Mint around lunch time it was quite busy on the street.
 

 

Could you expound on the sentence "Your office space now needs to be commute worthy."  I am extremely interested in that entire prospect.

TIA!

[KJHburg]

34 minutes ago, JRNYP2C said:

Could you expound on the sentence "Your office space now needs to be commute worthy."  I am extremely interested in that entire prospect.

TIA!

what Virginia Luther was saying as I understood it was that your office needed to offer more than just run of mill office space.  Needs outside space,  I would describe it as more of a Wework model with large open kitchen coffee bars and sitting areas for people to work in instead at always at their desk.  Also be in a location with lots of amenities like retail and food options nearby and places to sit and meet outside.  I would say she was talking about Vantage Southend but other projects fit this mold as well.    Truist new tech center that is 2 stories inside their tower would fit this description.  The office is not as much about the physical space as much as how you connect with people.  Meetings outside,  In living room type area instead of conference room.  On a balcony.  I think the Riverside project and the Crescent project proposed across the street all this requirement.  Outside space is big now whether balconies, decks or parks on the ground floor.  

One thing I can tell you people have come back en masse at Wework in the Railyard people all in the common areas, balconies etc.  

Hope that helps. 

[rancenc]

Great news for the film industry in the state!

https://www.nccommerce.com/news/press-releases/five-new-projects-approved-nc-film-entertainment-grants

[kayman]

11 minutes ago, rancenc said:

Great news for the film industry in the state!

https://www.nccommerce.com/news/press-releases/five-new-projects-approved-nc-film-entertainment-grants

I'll be happier when there's at least one or two motion picture filming soundstages developments are constructed in the Charlotte area.  Metro Charlotte is the best place with the highest number of different landscapes within its metro to take the motion picture industry to the next level in the Carolinas.  The Charlotte Regional Business Alliance needs to be aiming to land these filming soundstages here to further diversify the region's economy even more. 

[elrodvt]

A new Hallmark movie actually belongs in the bad news thread. :-)

[J-Rob]

Note:  Sorry - I see this was posted in economic expansion thread at the same time I was summarizing.

---

This could go a few places, but I will leave it here.  For the first time, North Carolina rose to the top of CNBC's list of America's Top States for Business.  Interestingly, they cite the state legislature's ability to set partisanship aside as a driving factor.  North Carolina finished #2 last year.

VinFast and Apple were mentioned as expansion projects.  

The most interesting part to me? NC attracted $3.5 billion in venture capital investments last year, which is huge. That was 6th highest in country.  Charlotte gets its due for having two Top-10 financial institutions.  Hopefully keep both and add another (not WF - maybe as a result of another merger of smaller banks).

North Carolina ranks No. 1 in America’s Top States for Business

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/13/north-carolina-is-no-1-in-americas-top-states-for-business.html

Edited July 13, 2022 by J-Rob

[turbocraig]

This seems like a bit of good news.  Hotel occupancy on the rise.  Interesting that the Embassy Suites downtown says pre-Covid their makeup was about 75% business and now it’s 90% leisure.  Neither of those numbers really mean much without the added perspective that they are having their best year since they opened.  
 

https://charlotte.axios.com/303466/charlotte-hotels-are-rebounding/

[kayman]

9 minutes ago, turbocraig said:

This seems like a bit of good news.  Hotel occupancy on the rise.  Interesting that the Embassy Suites downtown says pre-Covid their makeup was about 75% business and now it’s 90% leisure.  Neither of those numbers really mean much without the added perspective that they are having their best year since they opened.  
 

https://charlotte.axios.com/303466/charlotte-hotels-are-rebounding/

The urban core is becoming more leisurely & tourist focused which means there should be more focus on touristic attractions. I've been of the opinion we need a regional aquarium displaying our various bio/ecosystems. It is an absolute must for the downtown area. 

[Mezzatorre87]

Long time viewer perhaps second post ever (maybe 15 years ago!). Relating to both Economic Growth and a development we are all curious about:

 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/charlotte-pipe-and-foundry-acquires-neenah-enterprises-inc-301586100.html

I see ‘Neenah’ manholes all over the country- that’s a significant manufacturing win for a CLT company. regarding their land downtown- what’s the plan? These guys appear to be family owned- do they have the financial strength to really develop this on their own? Very hard to get a clear picture- also saw they bought near an old building in Myers Park- maybe getting into the development arena?

[urbanlover568]

1 hour ago, kayman said:

The urban core is becoming more leisurely & tourist focused which means there should be more focus on touristic attractions. I've been of the opinion we need a regional aquarium displaying our various bio/ecosystems. It is an absolute must for the downtown area. 

Whenever my colleagues have to go to Charlotte for business they are always excited. The enthusiasm Charlotte brings is phenomenal. 

[RANYC]

1 hour ago, urbanlover568 said:

Whenever my colleagues have to go to Charlotte for business they are always excited. The enthusiasm Charlotte brings is phenomenal. 

can you share what they do when here and what they get excited about?