clt29301

Write to Tesla. In order to make the income, wealth, education levels and very average growth in Greenville less obvious on the proforma, you can just write a narrative about how you saw three in the DT area. And, as a footnote, you can use Gvillesc's observation of one in a parking garage. So, Charlotte has Tesla, Atlanta has Tesla, you saw three in Greenville.........not sure that is a basis for a standalone store, especially when the fastest growing demographic in Greenville is the over 65 crowd. Instead of the Tesla, maybe you should expand the Lincoln Store, they just introduced a new car today.

I don't expect either of these plants will need a large site. Neither company is a major player in the US auto market or even worldwide.

Johnny Harris is a strong Charlotte supporter and may get carried away at times........for instance, I don't see Charlotte as the new Southeastern Hub. It will be the second SE hub but as Harris notes, economic and employment growth in Charlotte has outpaced Atlanta over the past five years. More importantly in the article, Harris mentions the work SC is doing on the I77 corridor.........."Take the disfunction of the state’s leadership in Raleigh and bankrupt incentives programs — both of which are affecting North Carolina’s ability to grow and attract new industry and retail, he says. “Nikki Haley does more to bring jobs to just south of Charlotte,” Harris added, speaking of the S.C. governor." SC is wise to exploit this corridor. Nowhere in SC can you be part of a major metro with direct access to a top 10 airport, a deep labor pool and the financial resources of Charlotte. If a site is large enough, this corridor is without a doubt the best place for any new auto manufacturing plant. http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2015/03/25/johnny-harris-goodbye-atlanta-charlotte-poised-as.html

The other news for Mecklenburg is the rate of growth for this time period, over 10%...........not bad for a county of 1m residents. For other SC Counties.........the Charlotte metro counties are also "killing it". York is growing at 8.53% and Lancaster is growing at 8.5%. Metro wise, Charlotte and Charleston are both well above 7% while Greenville and Columbia are in the same 4.50% range. Charlotte is now the 22nd largest metro in the country (2.4m residents), just passing Pittsburgh. Growth in the coastal area is mainly driven by retirees.

So, you have three main arteries headed south, one an interstate, and you feel like a 6,000 car per day bridge is needed.

Don't read too much into Shania Twain and the Eagles. If you were promoting an act, would you rather play at Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Time Warner Arena in Charlotte or the Greenville Arena? Depending on the schedule, these acts may not have been able to get dates in other cities..........being the only date in the Carolinas does not mean Greenville is back on the map. The Hornets control the arena in Charlotte. The AAA Hockey Team, Charlotte Checkers, are moving from TWC Arena to the old coliseum in order to free up more dates/space in the building for the current hard to get acts. The CLA in Columbia has the same issue, Carolina controls the dates for the buildings and works concerts around the schedule. While it is nice to have the state's largest arena and one that is booked a lot, for Columbia, it also means less dates for concerts.

What is the break even point for this....I see $6.00 and $6.40. And, is that in addition to parking or total for both? Not sure GSP is large enough or busy enough to require a system like this but it makes more sense here than on Woodruff Road. Using this as a transit option is silly.

If the bridge in functionally deficient, then it should be replaced. But, at $11m in state money, I am not sure a bridge that carries 6,000 car per day needs to be expanded which may double the cost. As for the decoration, I have not seen anything yet that says companies are attracted to locating in a city because of landscaping.

its not bad, good for something quick. I doubt it will happen because Grill Marks is coming but The Cowfish in Charlotte would be great for the Vista. It would be a lot better than Grill Marks.

The design is bland. I am not sure who would want to live on an island surrounded by these streets. The only benefit is if you really want to look out your window at a unutilized arena.

Interesting.........I have never heard that.

Neither group is very interesting. Both companies are struggling to stay relevant in the luxury car market. After BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, Audi and Cadillac, there is not much left in luxury cars that would warrant a stand alone plant. Jag could leverage Land Rover to get more volume and that is still a stretch. Ford sold these brands for a reason, they are just not that good.

This is a hard site because it seems to be on an island. But, I would let it sit (if at all possible) rather than build this project.

I could see streetcars working in Columbia, especially around Carolina....Blossom Street and then out Bull St to the new development.......could replace a lot of the shuttlecocks.

I hope the state does not go overboard with Volvo. It is another auto plant but nothing on the scale of BMW and will not ever be on the scale of BMW. I know that is a strong statement but BMW produces more cars in Spartanburg than Volvo sells in the US by a factor of 8. Worldwide, Volvo is not considered a major player. So, I don't see Volvo as being a big "win" for the state. It will be nice to have at the right incentive package but with the company's low sales volume, I am not sure how large this plant could be. Here are the numbers...........year to date 2015 sales in the US for Volvo are less than 8,000 cars. Annualized, that is 50,000 cars or about 1 month's worth of F150 sales, or 1/6th of the Toyota Camry sales. BMW builds over 300,000 cars in Spartanburg which will go to over 400,000 with the expansion........that is equal to almost all of Volvo's entire worldwide sales number. The Jaguar/Land Rover Plant would be more interesting.

York is one of the fastest growing counties in SC and the growth is accelerating. It is accelerating because the county is part of Charlotte which is one of the fastest growing areas of the country. York has cheaper taxes and is able to tap into the aggressive industrial recruitment in SC. Time will tell, we'll have to look back in about 10 years.

I agree with you....this is not the upstate. York, Lancaster, Chester etc... are all part of Charlotte, I doubt a lot of folks in the upstate know where Fort Mill is located. But, the upstate does need projects like this........a 450k sq foot office building with over 3,000 employees followed by another similar project. Anyway, there is no question that York County is fast becoming another Gwinnett County.

Finally..............glad to see this corner get developed. And, not a bad tenant list, IBM & Fluor.

http://www.heraldonline.com/2015/02/28/6843121/interstate-77-corridor-in-sc-flexes.html http://www.heraldonline.com/2015/02/26/6836148/gov-haley-coming-to-fort-mill.html Good articles from the RH Herald about developments in Fort Mill and the I77 Corridor. LPL is building a 450k sq foot office building, the largest under construction in SC. With 2,000 new jobs and more on the way, this will be a great development. On the heels of this, The Lash Group will also build a large facility in Fort Mill. I would expect to see more in this area as companies leverage the resources of Charlotte with the aggressive business recruitment in SC.

In the last article that I read about this building, Harris was not too concerned with filling he space. Anyone know of potential tenants?

Are they using Greenville's 60K residents as the denominator for measuring these statistics? If so, that will distort the math compared with larger cities.

Greenville does have a lower cost of housing. But, companies researching places for relo are looking at a larger list of parameters. Sealed Air was very deliberate in saying they chose Charlotte because of the broader depth of talent and air service. Charlotte does not have a major research university but is able to attract talent due to reputation "the cool factor" and being in the center of UNC, NC State, Wake, Duke, Va Tech and USC....all great schools. Atlanta is another step up with Hartsfield and the ability to draw talent from across the south. I don't see Greenville increasing the visibility like Austin but more on the lines of a third tier city that can attract manufacturing and some on shore outsourced jobs. Attracting tech on any significant scale will be hard unless there is a lucky shot, it is just too hard to compete in an industry that is centered around a few clusters in the country and becoming a more mature industry. Greenville area still lags the other cities in SC with regards to an educated population but is attracting retirees at a faster pace. I never thought Greenville County's over 65 population would be in the same neighborhood as Charleston.

Not sure how feasible this is given the low density of Greenville or how they will make money short of government assistance or assurances. It reminds me of how the southern connector was promoted prior to construction.

Austin and Greenville are very different....Austin has a major university, is the state capital, Is a highly educated city, and has a large corporate HQ presence for companies like Dell and Whole Foods. Most cities have a list of amenities and can cite being on a "best of" magazine list, that alone will not attract companies. Being between ATL and CLT makes it harder for Greenville to attract HQ type functions, there is just not a compelling reason for a company to select Greenville over the larger cities. In a similar way, Greenville is an easier manufacturing choice because of abundant inexpensive land and cheaper labor.