The Good News Report

[atlrvr]

Some random notes I've seen from other  threads.

1 - Desire for more tech jobs

2 - Austin being most overpriced housing market in country

3  - Surprise/skepticism at number of new office buildings planned here Charlotte

4 - Likely imminent recession

Putting that all together, I actually thought responding here in the good news thread made the most sense.  

The likely cause of a recession in this economic cycle is the Fed raising rates high enough to kill demand (bring down inflation).  Rising rates really impacts availability of capital for "speculative" investments such as tech that takes years to become profitable.  Rising rates however positively impacts banks and insurance companies.  Financial institutions right now are significantly lowered levered than in 2008, and all could withstand a severe recession.

The good news in all of this is Charlotte, as a function of it's job base, is well positioned to outperform most other cities I would think, and probably continues to attract financial services jobs as a lower cost market, in a sector that overall likely doesn't see huge job cuts.

 

[Zeitgeist_4131]

ACC is coming to town. #gopack

ACC Board of Directors Announces Relocation of League Office to Charlotte - Atlantic Coast Conference (theacc.com)

[rancenc]

Great article on North Carolina's economic transformation over the last decades.

https://innotechtoday.com/north-carolina-where-innovation-begins/

[KJHburg]

Well from what I saw on TV and comments made by players and announcers the Presidents Cup was a Major success for Charlotte.  

From their Twitter account

https://twitter.com/i/status/1574195917959401472

 

[go_vertical]

I don't follow golf, but yesterday I was near some footage playing and the commentator was briefly speaking on the whole LIV controversy and that the President's Cup was a shining example of how it should be done.  He couldn't praise it enough. 

[KJHburg]

Catching up on all my Biz Journals from my trip and found several nuggets of good news in the Power 100 list in the Charlotte Business Journal.

in a profile about Malcomb Coley Charlotte head of Ernest and Young says his firm wants to add 500 jobs in the next few years in Charlotte.

Haley Gentry of CLT Airport reports traffic first half of this year is 91% of what it was in first half of 2019 meaning CLT has recovered much more than most US airports

Sharon Gaber of UNCC reports record enrollment in 2022 at 30.500 when many universities nationwide are still below pre Covid numbers

Marvin Ellison of Lowes states 1200 of the projected 2000 tech employees for their Southend tower have been hired meaning 800 more on the way.

Nucor's Leon Topalian wants Nucor to be more active in the Charlotte community as the nations largest steel producer.

Darius Adamczyk of Honeywell states local HQ employment is 1200 vs 750 when they announced 

Ashleigh Anderson states Credit Karma's office in Ballantyne is now at 500 employees

Michael Bell of Corning Optical states NC has 5000 employees mainly in Charlotte and Catawba County, Cabarrus and a plant in Wilmington.   (maybe Corning Corp. should be move HQ here just saying)

Page Castrodale of Cabarrus EDC states $2 Billion in new investment in Cabarrus County since 2019 with Red Bull, Rausch, Eli Lilly etc

Cary Euwer of Metropolitan Partnership says 7th and Tryon should start this Year! 

Tom Murry of CRVA states tourism employment in Charlotte is back near its pre pandemic levels of 147,000

 

[Reverie39]

Do we have any metrics on what the top tourist attractions in Charlotte are?

[KJHburg]

3 hours ago, Reverie39 said:

Do we have any metrics on what the top tourist attractions in Charlotte are?

I think the Biz Journal prints a list I will check my Book of Lists Carowinds,  Speedway  are top attractions.  

[kermit]

4 hours ago, Reverie39 said:

Do we have any metrics on what the top tourist attractions in Charlotte are?

The data are kinda flawed for this. The state's definition for attraction has long been "number of people crossing a county line to visit." Unfortunately this inevitably means that Concord Mills is always listed as the top area attraction simply due to its location in 'almost Meck'

[CLT2014]

5 hours ago, Reverie39 said:

Do we have any metrics on what the top tourist attractions in Charlotte are?

The three attractions with the most reviews on TripAdvisor for Charlotte are (and far ahead of any other):

Carowinds

Billy Graham Library

NASCAR Hall of Fame

Edited October 3, 2022 by CLT2014

[Temeteron]

3 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

The three attractions with the most reviews on TripAdvisor for Charlotte are (and far ahead of any other):

Carowinds

Billy Graham Library

NASCAR Hall of Fame

That’s cuz there are only certain types of demographics that use Trip Advisor. Usually people who are clueless of what to do. (Although I wouldn’t put Carowinds  in that category)

[CLT2014]

19 minutes ago, Temeteron said:

That’s cuz there are only certain types of demographics that use Trip Advisor. Usually people who are clueless of what to do. (Although I wouldn’t put Carowinds  in that category)

Yeah totally agree... Just not sure more visitors go to Optimist Hall than Billy Graham. Like locals know what to do in Charlotte, but TripAdvisor is a decent representation of the most popular spots for mass tourist appeal.

Edited October 3, 2022 by CLT2014

[RANYC]

TripAdvisor matters for those who are casual travel planners looking to explore a new city over a weekend. 

Charlotte's top to-dos could use some work on that site.  I think we already have the amenities, they just need to be packaged & presented a bit better (for instance, why i Hendricks Motorsports Complex listed, is that even a thing?).  I don't know if there's any South end amenity I'd tout to my out of town guests besides a curated tour of beer gardens/breweries.

At any rate, here's what's missing at first glance, or could be played up more effectively:

• As lovely and tree-lined as our city is, there's absolutely no reason Charlotte shouldn't have at least one double-decker sightseeing tour bus
• Hiking Crowders Mountain
• Whitewater Center
• Are any of our creeks kayak-worthy?
• Curated walking and trolley tours - breweries/beer gardens.
• Curated trolley tour - murals
• Once the freakin' XCLT Greenway is done, I think a cross-city greenway bike or e-bike ride/tour might be compelling?
  • Signature public art and monuments along the greenways, like massive fountains and arches, statues/sculptures
• Is there enough to see to boast a Fourth Ward Historic District walking tour to my out of town guests?
• Paddle Boat Riding in Freedom Park Lake
• Dinner Cruises on the Catawba
• Charlotte needs a Music Hall of Fame, hell, why not Gospel Music Hall of Fame...don't see that having a physical presence anywhere as far as I can tell
• Turn Uptown's Tryon Street into a Pedestrian Mall Saturdays and Sundays featuring an active concentration of traditional activities by storytellers, musicians and performers
• Maybe Epicenter becomes a tourist attraction soon
• museum of illusions (although this is morphing into an edutainment chain and won’t be original enough)
• Rail Trail Bridge - once built

Edited October 4, 2022 by RANYC

[Reverie39]

Dinner cruises on the Catawba sound great. Lake Norman could also use more public access and tourist style things like a dinner cruise. 

I would really love to see the Rail Trail bridge have a very iconic and unique design (lit up queen crown would be awesome). I think it's a great chance to install a landmark that people know about even outside of Charlotte. It can happen with smaller artistic features like Chicago's bean and Philly's LOVE sculpture.

[RANYC]

13 minutes ago, Reverie39 said:

Dinner cruises on the Catawba sound great. Lake Norman could also use more public access and tourist style things like a dinner cruise. 

I would really love to see the Rail Trail bridge have a very iconic and unique design (lit up queen crown would be awesome). I think it's a great chance to install a landmark that people know about even outside of Charlotte. It can happen with smaller artistic features like Chicago's bean and Philly's LOVE sculpture.

Just checked and apparently there is a boat called Queens Landing that offers Lake Norman sightseeing tours and dinner cruises.  Hadn’t seen any marketing for it anywhere before now.  Unfortunately, doesn’t appear that there’s any way to access a cruise like this from the river somewhere in Charlotte.

[tozmervo]

21 hours ago, RANYC said:

Just checked and apparently there is a boat called Queens Landing that offers Lake Norman sightseeing tours and dinner cruises.  Hadn’t seen any marketing for it anywhere before now.  Unfortunately, doesn’t appear that there’s any way to access a cruise like this from the river somewhere in Charlotte.

I know some folks that have done the Lake Norman dinner cruise. They said it was nice enough and a bit of a novelty. Not a rave review, but they enjoyed it.

[videtur quam contuor]

I was on a moonlight dance/music cruise once with another couple. With the moon it was a superb experience. Not something I would do repeatedly but the once was a good time. Like your acquaintances perhaps

[CLT2014]

The location of our bodies of water for a dinner cruise is not appealing to most tourists in the CBD planning a vacation. You definitely need a rental car or a long Uber ride. If your hotel is Uptown... you have a lot of planning to get up to Lake Norman for dinner and it will consume most of your late afternoon (Get dressed at your hotel at 4:45PM, be in the car by 5:30PM for possible hour long drive in traffic to Lake Norman for 6:30PM boarding). This contrasts to dinner cruises in waterfront cities like Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Tampa, Seattle, San Diego, et.... where the dinner cruises depart just blocks from your hotel  at the docks in the central business district. This is the standard / expectation for most tourists that do things like dinner cruises (skews older as well). 

Charlotte somewhat has the same problem as cities like Los Angeles and Houston that are tough to get to know as a tourist. Attractions are spread out, require a rental car, and consume your limited vacation time getting around. That's why people love compact cities like Boston, Charleston, Savannah, San Francisco, et... where they can be on foot most of their trip and see the sites. In Charlotte though (say from Uptown), you got attractions from the Whitewater Center 12 miles west and completely car dependent, Lake Norman 18 miles north, our main shopping mall 6 miles from the CBD, Crowder Mountain 28 miles away, et.... locals are used to driving but this is not the ideal way most people like to spend their vacay in a city. Because people tend to cast a radius around their hotel during a city trip.... many never make it much further than the Uptown area.

Austin has become a hot spot for tourists and has just built in advantages... The river and Lady Bird Lake are right there in downtown. You can walk from your hotel to Stand Up Paddle Board for two hours, change for lunch and head to South Congress, and walk to botanical gardens without getting in the car. You can get outdoors at Barton Springs Pool and their flagship public park that is at the edge of downtown (versus Freedom Parks isolation from Uptown). Everything is much more central located in Austin which has helped the city become popular to explore on foot despite limited public transit.

Edited October 5, 2022 by CLT2014

[rancenc]

6 hours ago, tozmervo said:

I know some folks that have done the Lake Norman dinner cruise. They said it was nice enough and a bit of a novelty. Not a rave review, but they enjoyed it.

There are actually two types of cruises on Lake Norman that are dinner related.  Listed below is the link.

https://queenslanding.com/catawba-queen-buffet-cruise/

 

[KJHburg]

JLL released their 3rd quarter 2022 office market reports.   (I can't get this spreadsheet to line up but I think you will get it) 

Here is the good news Charlotte is the best performing market out of its peers I look at (Atlanta, Austin, Nashville, Raleigh Durham)

 

MARKET NAME         1. SIZE OF TOTAL OFFICE MARKET        2. TOTAL VACANCY INCLUDES SUBLEASE                    3. YEAR TO DATE ABSORP-TION %         4. AVG. YEARLY PER SQ FT RATE         

                                              1.                        2.                            3.                  4.                                                                           HIGHEST PRICED SUBMARKET                CENTRAL BUS. DIST VS SUBURBS 
                                                                    
CHARLOTTE        65.209 M            17.60%                1.00%        $34.45                                                               SOUTHEND AT $42.43 SQ FT                45/55
ATLANTA        176.3 M            21.40%                0.40%                 $32.63                                                                          MIDTOWN AT $43.60 SQ FT                37/63
AUSTIN        70.6 M            17.90%                -0.40%                   $54.78                                                                                DOWNTOWN AT $65.87                20/80
NASHVILLE        47.3 M            19.10%                -0.10%            $35.87                                                                       DOWNTOWN AT $43.11                39/61
RALEIGH DURHAM        58.0 M     13.20%                0.20%        $31.45                                                      DOWNTOWN RALEIGH AT $37.98                16/84
                                                                    
Year to date Charlotte is the best performing market in terms of absorption of office space as percentage of the market size.                                                                       
Charlotte is the most urban market in terms of its Uptown, Midtown, Southend all being part of the urban market.                                                                     
Then Nashville is 2nd most urban centric with Atlanta being the third.  (Atlanta urban market includes downtown, Midtown and Buckhead)                                                                    
Austin is by far the most expensive office market.  Raleigh Durham is the cheapest office market but does reflect that it has the most suburban office space as part of the total market.                                                                    
Highest vacancy is in the Atlanta market and all figures include sublease space.  Raleigh Durham has the lowest vacancy rate.            

Atlanta market is by far the largest in size at 176,300,000 sq ft with Austin 2nd largest and Charlotte 3rd but pretty close in market size of total square footage of office space.                                                          
 

[KJHburg]

Big win for the tourism business and hotels and restaurants from the Presidents Cup so reports the Biz Journal.

""A combination of increased demand for rooms and hotels charging higher rates pushed revenue to $24.3 million for the week, or 113% above the comparable period in 2021, based on STR data and analysis by the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority.  

Over the six-day period, 145,147 rooms were sold — an increase of 38.5% over the previous year, according to STR. The comparable figure in 2021 for rooms sold was 104,804.  

Tom Murray, visitors authority CEO, told CBJ, “Those numbers are really impressive — and it goes beyond hotels to people spending money across the community.”

Murray added that mega-events like the Presidents Cup are important beyond visitor spending because their prominence attracts people who may not otherwise have come to Charlotte for multiple days.   On Sept. 24, the Saturday of Presidents Cup week, hotel occupancy reached 89.1%, or 27,318 rooms. There are 31,000 hotel rooms in Mecklenburg County, according to the visitors authority.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/10/07/quail-hollow-club-pga-tour-presidents-cup-hotels.html

 

[KJHburg]

Mr Tepper has had some missteps this past year but two things I will congratulate him on his the Charlotte FC team and his concert lineup both of which brought more visitors and excitement to uptown Charlotte this past summer than ever.  

From the Ledger on Friday

""Charlotte FC’s rally from two goals down to tie Columbus Wednesday night 2-2 left the expansion franchise just shy of reaching one of its audacious goals for its first MLS season — making the playoffs. Charlotte FC was eliminated from contention by tying instead of winning their makeup game against the Crew, falling what felt like five minutes short of scoring again. 

The Bank of America crowd of 34,122 there not just to witness it, but to participate in it, helped Charlotte achieve another of their goals for 2022: eclipse 30,000 fans per game. Charlotte FC averaged 35,244 fans per game this season, which was second only to Atlanta United’s 47,353.  

Charlotte FC finished 10-6-1 at Bank of America this season.""

 

[Reverie39]

Wouldn't be surprised if that 34,122 was more home team fans than the Panthers attracted yesterday. Thankfully Tepper has also done the right thing and fired Rhule this morning.

[kermit]

On 10/8/2022 at 10:54 PM, KJHburg said:

Mr Tepper has had some missteps this past year but two things I will congratulate him on his the Charlotte FC team and his concert lineup both of which brought more visitors and excitement to uptown Charlotte this past summer than ever.  

From the Ledger on Friday

""Charlotte FC’s rally from two goals down to tie Columbus Wednesday night 2-2 left the expansion franchise just shy of reaching one of its audacious goals for its first MLS season — making the playoffs. Charlotte FC was eliminated from contention by tying instead of winning their makeup game against the Crew, falling what felt like five minutes short of scoring again. 

The Bank of America crowd of 34,122 there not just to witness it, but to participate in it, helped Charlotte achieve another of their goals for 2022: eclipse 30,000 fans per game. Charlotte FC averaged 35,244 fans per game this season, which was second only to Atlanta United’s 47,353.  

Charlotte FC finished 10-6-1 at Bank of America this season.""

 

Agree. I think MLS exceeded expectations for new activity uptown. Its also super nice and shockingly novel to have a pro team you can kinda be proud of.

Edited October 12, 2022 by kermit

[KJHburg]

Charlotte has gained another publicly traded company and its HQ.  From the Biz Journal today

""Charlotte will add a new publicly traded company on Nov. 1. That's when XPO Logistics Inc. spins off its proprietary tech-enabled truckload brokerage as a separate company named RXO Inc.

This week, RXO priced a debt offering at $355 million in notes due in 2027 that will be used in the spinoff. RXO will use that money, $100 million in term loans and cash on hand to pay $554 million to XPO to repay existing indebtedness incurred while it was part of the original company.

RXO will be the fourth-largest broker of full-truckload freight in the United States and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “RXO.” All stock will be owned by XPO (NYSE: XPO) shareholders, who will receive one share of RXO for each XPO share they own as of Oct. 20.

RXO’s headquarters will be in Ballantyne’s Woodard Building at 11215 North Community House Road. XPO has had its North American Transport headquarters there since 2018. The company occupies just over 113,000 square feet there.

Charlotte to be home to most its North Carolina employees
RXO will have 750 employees in Charlotte and 1,100 across North Carolina, including a small operation in Statesville.""
 

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/10/14/xpo-logistics-rxo-inc-digital-truck-brokerage.html