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atlrvr

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CBJ reports Chiquita is expected to move into NASCAR tower with possible rebranding of tower. (Edit: atlrvr beat me to this!)

In other related (potential) good news - this could be very good for the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis as well. I can see a tie in to establishing research facilities there.

Edit: I thought the Cincinnati news summed up the key point of the move well:

A move to Charlotte would mean quicker air access for executives to get to key locations in Latin America and Europe, something the company has said is important to its business.

Chiquita executives have in recent months expressed discontent with the decline in nonstop and international flights out of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

As of July, the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport had 697 daily departures with nonstop service to 138 destinations, making it the seventh-highest trafficked airport in the United States. It also offers nonstop international travel to 36 destinations, including London, Madrid, Mexico City, Munich, Paris and Rome.

The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport offers nonstop service only to Paris, down from five European destinations in 2005. Nonstop flights to U.S. cities have shrunk to 52, down from 130 in 2005. Daily departures are down to 191 flights from more than 600 six years ago.

http://news.cincinna...{sodEmoji.|}text{sodEmoji.|}FRONTPAGE

Edited by Urbanity
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What fantastic news. Not only is this great for Charlotte in terms of it's economy, I think it also sends a couple other messages.

1. We are a city that can diversify our economy beyond banks (I know energy is also in place but I don't think the word is out quite yet)

2. Charlotte can and will take your company

3. In a battle of Queen City's, Charlotte makes another stride towards taking the crown (I swear there is no pun intended there).

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Quote of the day: We are Charlotte, We will take yo Mutha F*#kin Company!

What fantastic news. Not only is this great for Charlotte in terms of it's economy, I think it also sends a couple other messages.

1. We are a city that can diversify our economy beyond banks (I know energy is also in place but I don't think the word is out quite yet)

2. Charlotte can and will take your company

3. In a battle of Queen City's, Charlotte makes another stride towards taking the crown (I swear there is no pun intended there).

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It is nice to have more high-paying jobs, but I am relunctant to claim a win at another city's expense. Just remember the karma Charlotte ultimately suffered on Wachovia. Be humble, fellow QC.

Yeah, my statement came off a little brash. Didn't mean it as a kick in the face to Cincinnati as much as a "hooray, we are appealing enough to fight it out with others and win" type of thing. Honestly I thought Cincinnati was probably going to lose it anyways, I don't know if there was much they could do. Chiquita wanted out bad. I took it more as a win over the other suitors.

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At least we don't gotta hear people from Raleigh whining about us stealing their hq's this time. I'm picking, ha ha. For real though , this is a nice treat. I'm so bitter everyday I see a wells Fargo red bus.... this Chiquita announcement takes away some of that resentment.

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I am from Charlotte and have to say I'm absolutely blown away at the diversity of well known companies that either call us home or do significant business here in the region. Chiquita, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Siemens, Duke Energy, Goodrich, Family Dollar, Lowes, Electrolux and so on and so forth to name a few. We may be known for banking, but with all of the expansions and announcements recently it is beginning to feel like Charlotte has finally grown up. Fortunately, we continue to be seen as a place that is on the move and rising and that is a good thing. I'd love to see additional home grown companies pop up too so that we aren't always poaching business from other cities. I guess what I'm saying is that I was tired on the "one horse town" comments about Charlotte. I really look forward to Chiquita hopefully becoming a big community player as I'm sure Wells just will not be the same as having Wachovia here.

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While I understand the gist of what some are saying, I do wish people wouldn't use the term "poaching" as it relates to Charlotte landing this and other corporate relocations. It's not as if Mayor Foxx flew up to Cincinnati to actively search for companies to lure to Charlotte. Chiquita wanted to leave Cincinnati and had Charlotte not landed them, it would have been another city. Plus Chiquita isn't exactly a Cincinnati homegrown company either; they moved there from New York several years ago. That's just the way business is done in many cases, but the point is well-taken about the need for more homegrown businesses. What I like about Charlotte is that it was the homegrown businesses and local businessmen that played a huge role in establishing the city as a significant business center in the first place.

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Less dramatic than Chiquita but interesting none the less:

North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue announced today that Karl Marbach GmbH & Co. KG, the world’s leading manufacturer of steel rule dies for the packaging industry, will establish its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Charlotte.

Marbach will create 30 new jobs and invest $3 million in its new U.S. operation. The company is in the final stages of negotiating a leased space in southwest Charlotte and expects to be fully operational by the end of the second quarter 2012. Charlotte will serve as Marbach’s headquarters for the Americas.

all quotes from the non-copyrighted Chamber press release

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I guess gaining another corporate HQ is Good News. But at what cost. I see no mention here of the $5,000,000 the city is giving Chaquita for moving expenses. Really! Are we (meaning any city) so desperate for relocations that we help them move. I am constantly stunned by the amount of money cities and states give away for this. What's next? Do we buy them some nice homes or condo's (got plenty of those). Some one please enlighten me how pitting cities against each other for these relo's is a good thing.

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Yes. This brings several hundred new people to the area (and employs our current residents) enabling the sales of new homes and generating significant sales taxes and property taxes for the city. I can't say that I necessary like the way cities have to attract businesses these days, but it is how the game is played. We offered a lot, but the money will certainly be recouped in a relatively short number of years.

I do think we may have set a bad precedent by giving money up front though. That seems to be a new thing.

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What I hate even more is that this is only a 10 year agreement. You better bet they will be lining up for more handouts after the 10 years is up and threatening to move if we don't pony up more cash. Chiquita better be a heck of a good corporate citizen to make up for the handouts they are wrangling from taxpayers.

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Maybe this (incentives for relocating somewhere) has been taking place longer than I know about it. I live in Nashville & TN is by no means innocent in doing this, the Volkswagon plant in Chatanooga, for example. That may be a bad example, since it was not a relocation. I think when a company is looking to relocate or build new, for whatever reason, the city definitely should present to the prospective company the reasons why they should choose us, but, to constantly offer money seems wrong. Do cities such as New York, Boston, San Francisco or Chicago have to do this? Sorry, Very much off topic. I lived in Charlotte for 20 years & will move back when I retire. I loved watching the city grow and prosper. And now starting to deversify into other buisnesses is very much a good thing for the city. So, I will not continue to rant. Congrats on the win.

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Would someone here please do the math..? The last time I checked, 400 Employees at an average of 100K per year brings in 40 Million, over 10 years is 400 Million. I would think spending 20 dollars to get 400 dollars would be a sweet return on an investment. Now stick a bunch of zero's behind these numbers....

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Plus multipliers on the spending of those 400 people, plus the overhead such as the leasing of 150ksf uptown, plus benefits, plus a lot of times once a company establishes itself in a location it will grow in that location in the long term, etc. etc. Incentives are smart as long as you don't overpay and include clawbacks. We did overpay for DELL, but the clawback required them to pay them back when they left Winston.

http://www.bizjourna...orth-price.html

However, don't forget that the taxpayers are fronting the incentives, so it is more about the revenue back to the tax rolls that matters rather than the income. According to this article, a study says it will bring $9m annually. So we're giving $22m back on $90m in revenue for the decade.

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/real_estate/2011/12/more-details-on-chiquita.html

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