The Good News Report

[ah59396]

Charlotte is apparently a finalist for Stone brewing Company's new East Coast brewery. I will post an article when I am able.

 

 

Yep, looks like we are part of the final 10...

 

 

http://norfolkmetro.com/2014/06/04/norfolk-a-finalist-for-stone-brewery/

[CarolinaCrown]

Chester and York job announcements monday from what I'm told.  

[Niner National]

The York announcement is LPL. Not really "good news" for the whole area unless they're also expanding their workforce.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

Is the Chester announcement the big fish?

[cltbwimob]

The York announcement is LPL. Not really "good news" for the whole area unless they're also expanding their workforce.

Considering LPL has less than 3000 total employees, I doubt that is the only company. There are supposed to be 5000 jobs on the York County side. Maybe LPL will move their HQ to York...

I wonder if the second part of the York announcement is the purported US HQ of the mystery manufacturer for Chester County. Anyone have any info on this?

[HopHead]

Considering LPL has less than 3000 total employees, I doubt that is the only company. There are supposed to be 5000 jobs on the York County side. Maybe LPL will move their HQ to York...

I wonder if the second part of the York announcement is the purported US HQ of the mystery manufacturer for Chester County. Anyone have any info on this?

 

I really get tired of these neighboring SC counties trying to poach Charlotte/Mecklenburg companies.... How about focusing on jobs NOT in your metro region? Nobody really wins other than ABC company getting a bunch of incentives to move 10 miles.

[ssh214]

As annoying as it is to have these companies move across the border at least they're not leaving the metro region; it could have been bad news and them moving to Texas or something... Just trying to stay positive about it.

[kermit]

^ honestly any comapny that needs lower costs than are available in Charlotte is not worth our time, effort or money to keep them around. If South Carolina costs are really that necessary to a firm's well being then they are not a significant cog in Charlotte development machine (IMO).

We need to be emulating places like Munich where economic developers ignore any firm looking to move which pays below metro average wages.

[15895]

Gov. Nikki will be in York & Chester today to announce 6,500 jobs, 3 announcements, 2 companies that will "cross the border"

5,000 of those jobs will be from Charlotte.

http://m.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/outside_the_loop/2014/06/s-c-gov-haley-bringing-news-monday-of-6-500-jobs.html

Edited June 16, 2014 by AirNostrumMAD

[ah59396]

Gov. Nikki will be in York & Chester today to announce 6,500 jobs, 3 announcements, 2 companies that will "cross the border"

http://m.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/outside_the_loop/2014/06/s-c-gov-haley-bringing-news-monday-of-6-500-jobs.html

 

 

Great news about the 1500 new jobs.  But SC can go F itself, poaching jobs from Charlotte proper.

[Niner National]

I'm cool with SC poaching jobs from Charlotte if the company is looking to expand and is also considering locations outside of the Charlotte metro regions. If it helps keep those jobs in this area, then fine. When a company is NOT looking to leave the area, SC needs to fudge off. Must be easy to be Gov. Haley. Let Charlotte make part of your state respectable, then swoop in and drop your pants.

 

Those incentive dollars could have been used to lure outside companies to the area and the area as a whole would have benefited.

[ah59396]

I'm cool with SC poaching jobs from Charlotte if the company is looking to expand and is also considering locations outside of the Charlotte metro regions. If it helps keep those jobs in this area, then fine. When a company is NOT looking to leave the area, SC needs to fudge off. Must be easy to be Gov. Haley. Let Charlotte make part of your state respectable, then swoop in and drop your pants.

 

Those incentive dollars could have been used to lure outside companies to the area and the area as a whole would have benefited.

 

 

Yeah, I agree with both your points.  IF the companies were intent on leaving completely, I'm glad to have SC incentives in place to keep them in the metro.  But if they could have been used on other companies, it just seems like dirty laundry to me.

[kermit]

Honestly, we are better off with the tire factory going to SC. IMO tire manufacturing is a waste of a good mega site due to relatively low skills (and low wages) plus the total absence of local suppliers.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/06/16/4981618/giti-a-singapore-tire-company.html#.U58HbdoaySM

Edited June 16, 2014 by kermit

[cltbwimob]

^^^I agree that while this is good news for the county, in light of what this site could have been, I am not particularly thrilled. Not that tire production plants are bad, it's just that considering this site was the runner-up for a Nissan plant that will soon employ 6,000 people, this announcement seems underwhelming. Furthermore, the Hankook plant (a tire producer I have actually heard of btw) that went to TN last year was built on 300-400 acre site, this thing will eat up the only site in the region big enough to be certified by McCallum Sweeney for automotive assembly.

Edited June 16, 2014 by cltbwimob

[ssh214]

Britt Blackwell, the York County Council chair, said South Carolina officials also recognize that their proximity to the Queen City and Charlotte Douglas International Airport helps them attract industry.

“We’ll certainly be great competitors for bringing industry to the area,” he said, “but at the same time we certainly have a lot of respect for Charlotte and what it does for the region.”

 

This is just hilarious to me. Again as I stated before and as Niner National said this is better than the company completely leaving the region. 

 

What could be some ways Charlotte can combat this, is there anything that could be done? The only comparable situation that I can think of goes on in the DC Metro area between Maryland and Northern Virginia and even DC proper. Granted these are completely different jobs and are usually higher paying jobs that are in contention between these areas but its the most similar situation that I can think of. 

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/06/16/4981618/giti-a-singapore-tire-company.html#.U58Rb_ldXHV#storylink=cpy

[Niner National]

 

Britt Blackwell, the York County Council chair, said South Carolina officials also recognize that their proximity to the Queen City and Charlotte Douglas International Airport helps them attract industry.

“We’ll certainly be great competitors for bringing industry to the area,” he said, “but at the same time we certainly have a lot of respect for Charlotte and what it does for the region.”

 

This is just hilarious to me. Again as I stated before and as Niner National said this is better than the company completely leaving the region. 

 

What could be some ways Charlotte can combat this, is there anything that could be done? The only comparable situation that I can think of goes on in the DC Metro area between Maryland and Northern Virginia and even DC proper. Granted these are completely different jobs and are usually higher paying jobs that are in contention between these areas but its the most similar situation that I can think of. 

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/06/16/4981618/giti-a-singapore-tire-company.html#.U58Rb_ldXHV#storylink=cpy

 

Kansas City is pretty similar too.

[tozmervo]

From the dredges of my memory, I remember Ron Carlee (Charlotte City Manager) discussing this issue when he first started last year. He was manager for one of the Northern Virginia burbs, so collaboration/competition within the DC metro was a major part of his life. I'll see if I can find that discussion

[atlrvr]

So....the extent of SC job announcements were

 

1,500 new tire manufacturing jobs and $565mm on a new plant

1,200 relocated Lash Group jobs and $57mm on new office space (+ value of signed lease) and a REDUCTION of 50,000 sq ft of office space at least initially, though they hinted they may double that (employees and office space)

1,000 relocated LPL jobs to consolidate into 1 building

 

I guess the real winner in all of this is????...SC gas stations and Frugal McDoogals?

[DMann]

If the total employment gets into the 7000 range, more people to go to events, games, restaurants, theatre, and telling their out of town friends that they live in Charlotte.  It is all good! 

 

We are a capitalistic society and every one (and company) looks out for their best interests (he says with his best Ayn Rand face).

 

It is not like people will suddenly like to start going to little league games or the local churches annual plays.  If'n Charlotte wasn't here, those jobs would not be coming.

[cltbwimob]

So I guess today's announcements aren't all about poaching. According to several articles, LPL intends to grow its local workforce from 1000 to 3000 people and stated that Charlotte will be the premier area for job growth over the next five years. Lash expects to go from 1200 to 2400 local employees.

On the LPL side, I am hoping that, over time, the HQ address change from Boston to Charlotte/Ft. Mill. Considering that the addition of 2000 extra employees will mean that Ft. Mill will have 3000 of the company's 5000 total employees this may be a possibility.

Still somewhat disappointed that the Chester Megasite will not be used for automotive assembly, but I am happy for the people who will find employment as a result of the GiTi plant.

[carolinagarnet]

I went to USC and I'm a big defender of South Carolina, but Haley's use of economic incentives is out of control. She was elected on the promise of bringing jobs to the state and has used free land and huge tax reductions to draw any jobs she can (she even used Walmart store additions/expansions as a jobs announcement). SC will never build the kind of momentum NC has as long as it focuses on subsidizing individual jobs rather than creating a favorable business climate. That said, I don't know that a tire factory in York County is much different than a tire factory in Cabarrus County as far as Charlotte is concerned. Heavy manufacturing seems best suited for rural or exurban counties. The important thing is that Charlotte will be the closest city and will benefit from business travel without having to sacrifice NC economic incentive funds that could be used for corporate jobs within city limits.

[videtur quam contuor]

So a governor can approve millions of dollars to give to a company in exchange for a decision that helps him/her, then that is good government.

But if a company gives hundreds or thousands to a governor to make that  same decision it is bribery.

[DMann]

I am wondering if anyone has given any thought as to how probably 12,000 total people will affect the current Fort Mill infrastructure, and who will pay for the upgrades, certainly not GiTi, Lash, or LPL.

[ah59396]

I am wondering if anyone has given any thought as to how probably 12,000 total people will affect the current Fort Mill infrastructure, and who will pay for the upgrades, certainly not GiTi, Lash, or LPL.

 

That extensive SC gas tax will surely be able to afford the improvements necessary...

[HopHead]

I'm just having a real difficult time wrapping my head around this... This would ONLY be positive if these companies were looking to relocate outside the Charlotte metro area. From what I gathered that didn't look like a strong possibility. Instead you have South Carolina throwing MILLIONS of dollars in incentives for a couple of companies to move a few miles across the state line. They will be located in an area that does not have the infrastructure to support thousands of new jobs -- 160 is a two lane road in several areas around these new locations. The city of Charlotte and neighboring counties need to work collectively together to bring NEW jobs to the area, not p1ssing away millions to hijack jobs from each other. The only thing this does is let Nikki Haley say she brought lots of jobs to her state when in reality all she did was move them across the border and used funds that could be better allocated for real job growth in the metro area. Sorry for my rant, this just irks me to no end.