Number of HQ's new to DT

[UptownJ]

Bill Gates is starting a new company that is seperate from Microsoft and they have already leased out some space and are putting a lot of money into upfitting it in a tower in downtown Charlotte.

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Where did you hear this? What kind of company?

[uptownliving]

From a friend that works for the firm that is designing the upfit for them.

[atlrvr]

Not sure how much you can tell on this one.....but this just fills me with questions.....which tower? How much space? How many employees? Will it be the HQ? Will I have the chance to run into Bill Gates at lunch and annoy him until he pays me $10,000 to leave him alone?

[monsoon]

Any significant announcement would have made it into the local news by now. No doubt it won't replace the 2000+ employees that MS placed out into the suburbs.

It is interesting that if First Union (aka Wachovia) had placed their employees downtown instead of building a facility for 15K employees in their sprawling campus on Harris Blvd, they most likely would have had to build another tower. Even the banks are not into supporting the CBD when it is cheaper to place people elsewhere.

Even worse, BofA has been quietly shifting high paying white collar DT jobs to its new subsidary in India. These are loses that you never hear about.

[atlrvr]

Details like this possible new company are always well along in the process before the press gets wind of it. Typically a letter of intent has been signed on a lease for a few months before the news is released and I can think of plenty of cases in downtown where a news announcement isn't made until the company is occupying the space.

[monsoon]

Huntersville, Davidson & Cornelus just announced they are going to jointly purchase land on Hwy 115 to develop a Corporate Business Park that will presumably compete with DT Charlotte for the same type of businesses. i.e. Corporate HQs, Professional Offices, etc. Ironically, BofA is providing the financing.

This is one of the first examples of the 3 Northern towns banding together for their common interests. The State of NC and Mecklenburg county are also contributing to the project.

[UptownJ]

Huntersville, Davidson & Cornelus just announced they are going to jointly purchase land on Hwy 115 to develop a Corporate Business Park that will presumably compete with DT Charlotte for the same type of businesses.  i.e. Corporate HQs, Professional Offices, etc.  Ironically, BofA is providing the financing. 

This is one of the first examples of the 3 Northern towns banding together for their common interests.  The State of NC and Mecklenburg county are also contributing to the project.

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This is great for those small towns surrounding the area and that are trying to grow but this is just one more way to lead great companies from a great dt location and city to promote sprawl into the burbs... it sucks in a way

[monsoon]

The 3 towns don't see themselves as "burbs" but rather independent communities that do not want to become a bedroom for workers in Charlotte. I personally don't see the advantage in having every business that comes to town go into the CBD.

Most successful urban cities, have the idea of business nodes surrounded by retail & residential. The nodes are then connected together by transit. This particular location, Brookwood, will be on the North rail line if and when it is built.

[UptownJ]

The 3 towns don't see themselves as "burbs" but rather independent communities that do not want to become a bedroom for workers in Charlotte.  I personally don't see the advantage in having every business that comes to town go into the CBD. 

Most successful urban cities, have the idea of business nodes surrounded by retail & residential.  The nodes are then connected together by transit.  This particular location, Brookwood, will be on the North rail line if and when it is built.

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Oh don't get me wrong... Im not saying that every HQ needs to be in DT. But I do feel we need a greater group of them than we have now and I really don't see that happening as quickly as I wished or maybe as it should.

Once we grow our core, all of the small nodes will benefit from that as well... as well as grow. It would be win... win. But with so many business going to these surrounding smaller cities or nodes... and burbs of charlotte our DT is hurting because it is growing at a snailes pace in compairison because companies like TIAA-Cref, Microsoft, Wachovia (first union), and others are staying or choosing to go to the burbs but are still within the city limites. Thats what I don't like.

[monsoon]

More information on the Brookwood project. Mecklenburg county has become a partner. While it won't help the CBD of Charlotte it is certainly good for the metro.

Brookwood Development