Triangle Economic News

[rolly]

Wow, cool info, @KJHburg. Thanks for digging that up.  Shows how strategic use of incentives can give an area an edge over the competition.

On the Nashville forum there's a discussion that the new leadership (mayor?) does not seem to want to use incentives so much, which could lead to the loss of (Microsoft? others) if they're not careful. 

[KJHburg]

Office market report with 2019 totals is out by Avison Young showing the Raleigh Durham Cary office market absorbed close to 1 Million sq ft of office space even with lots of office completions in the last year.  I-40 and RTP was very strong as was downtown Raleigh.  

https://www.avisonyoung.us/web/raleigh-durham/research

[KJHburg]

Raleigh Durham named one of the top 10 best metros for millennials.

https://www.commercialcafe.com/blog/top-10-metros-millennials/

[KJHburg]

this is interesting from the TBJ today.

""Disney executives to land in Raleigh for March meeting.  If you see the Disney CEO at a Raleigh pizza place next month, don’t be shocked.  Bob Iger has a well-known love for pizza and prefers to pick it up himself. And he will be in Raleigh March 11 when Disney holds its annual shareholders’ meeting at the Duke Energy Center. The event comes after the company reported first-quarter revenue of $20.86 billion Feb. 4.  Disney (NYSE: DIS) has a variety of businesses, but does have a strong Triangle connection. The company owns the American Broadcasting Co. (ABC) network and local affiliate ABC 11.  It’s obviously unusual for a company the size of Disney to hold its annual meeting in a mid-sized market such as the Triangle. For example, Disney held its 2019 shareholder’s meeting in St. Louis.""

 

[Richhamleigh, DC]

Maybe they are looking for a site to build Disney America.  

LOL.

[RALNATIVE]

On 2/6/2020 at 3:40 PM, KJHburg said:

this is interesting from the TBJ today.

""Disney executives to land in Raleigh for March meeting.  If you see the Disney CEO at a Raleigh pizza place next month, don’t be shocked.  Bob Iger has a well-known love for pizza and prefers to pick it up himself. And he will be in Raleigh March 11 when Disney holds its annual shareholders’ meeting at the Duke Energy Center. The event comes after the company reported first-quarter revenue of $20.86 billion Feb. 4.  Disney (NYSE: DIS) has a variety of businesses, but does have a strong Triangle connection. The company owns the American Broadcasting Co. (ABC) network and local affiliate ABC 11.  It’s obviously unusual for a company the size of Disney to hold its annual meeting in a mid-sized market such as the Triangle. For example, Disney held its 2019 shareholder’s meeting in St. Louis.""

 

IT's clear from this move that they want to introduce this area to the Disney organization, but the question is "why?"

Maybe they are interested in developing a presence here, but time will tell.

[DanRNC]

On 2/10/2020 at 11:00 AM, RALNATIVE said:

IT's clear from this move that they want to introduce this area to the Disney organization, but the question is "why?"

Maybe they are interested in developing a presence here, but time will tell.

 

On 2/10/2020 at 9:08 AM, Phillydog said:

Maybe they are looking for a site to build Disney America.  

LOL.

They have Disney World and Disney Land, all they need now is Disney Burbia. 

[RALNATIVE]

6 hours ago, DanRNC said:

 

They have Disney World and Disney Land, all they need now is Disney Burbia. 

 

Disney City, thank you...

[KJHburg]

Disney has a data center in Kings Mountain west of Charlotte.   It is intriguing choice for annual meeting maybe a back office tech center would be a great fit for Triangle or a shared services center (accounting, HR for all their many divisions)  The locals in economic development should be calling on them while they are in town. 

[KJHburg]

Triangle named as one of the top biotech life sciences cluster in the US and in the world the 3rd lowest cost for biopharma plant after India and Israel,

https://www.wraltechwire.com/2020/02/14/report-says-north-carolina-home-to-one-of-the-most-dynamic-life-science-clusters-in-the-u-s/

[SydneyCarton]

On 2/14/2020 at 4:17 PM, KJHburg said:

Triangle named as one of the top biotech life sciences cluster in the US and in the world the 3rd lowest cost for biopharma plant after India and Israel,

https://www.wraltechwire.com/2020/02/14/report-says-north-carolina-home-to-one-of-the-most-dynamic-life-science-clusters-in-the-u-s/

The Triangle really is an amazing intellectual powerhouse.

[KJHburg]

Sanford wins a 200 employee biopharma plant over sites in California and Colorado.

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2020/02/18/north-carolina-wins-200-job-project-over.html

[rancenc]

Follow up to KJHburg's above posting concerning this economic coup for Lee County.  

https://www.nccommerce.com/news/press-releases/leading-gene-therapy-company-invest-over-100-million-sanford

[KJHburg]

Triangle firm on front lines for vaccine and test for the virus.  From the subscriber TBJ article.

""Already working on a vaccine for COVID-19, a Triangle drugmaker now says that it is developing a test for the disease that that will produce results in 30 minutes.  Morrisville-based Heat Biologics (Nasdaq: HTBX) has announced a collaboration with the University of Miami to develop a point-of-care diagnostic test for COVID-19, a potential solution to the ongoing national struggle for better testing and surveillance of the pandemic.  Heat had previously announced that it was working on developing a coronavirus vaccine in partnership with the university.   "We have a close collaboration with the university of Miami and they are leaders in the creation of these bio-assay tests," Heat Biologics CEO Jeff Wolf says. "The idea was to really leverage the work that we're doing with COVID-19 in the vaccine space into the diagnostic space."""

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2020/03/23/morrisville-firm-developing-coronavirus-test-that.html

https://www.heatbio.com/news-media/news-releases

Edited March 23, 2020 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

with so much bad news out there this is truly good news.  Pendo is full steam ahead in hiring for its expanded Raleigh office.  From the TBJ article 

Olson goes so far as to say the plan is to continue to meet milestones for its 590-job expansion, announced in 2018.  “We’re still hiring, investing heavily in products and engineering,” he says. “Even if the market slows down, it’s a great time to innovate.”  Should certain areas of the business slow down, hires allocated for those segments will just be shifted to engineering, he says.  In the meantime, Olson says he and his team are prioritizing safety and maintaining focus amid a scary news cycle.   “We’ll get through this,” he says.

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2020/03/24/whypendos-hiring-plans-are-full-speed-ahead.html

[KJHburg]

Congratulations Wake County as you are officially the most populated county in the state of NC besting Mecklenburg.   And there is no turning back Wake will be the for a very long time the most populated county in the state.  

From @QCxpat post today in Charlotte forum.  Thanks for putting this together in this manner. 

According to pop. estimates just released by the U.S. Census Bureau,  as of July 1, 2019, Wake County has surpassed Mecklenburg County to become North Carolina's most populous county.

Wake County was estimated to have 1,111,761 residents,  while Mecklenburg County was estimated to have 1,110,356 residents - a difference of 1,405 residents in favor of Wake County.

Mecklenburg County held the lead for 119 years, beginning with the 1900 census when Mecklenburg County had 55,268 residents and Wake County had slightly fewer residents 54,626.

Here are the pop. ests. as of 07/01/2019 for large urban N.C. counties:

Guilford County (Greensboro) -  537,174

Forsyth County (Winston-Salem) - 382,295

Cumberland County (Fayetteville) - 335,509

Durham County (Durham) - 321,488

Buncombe County (Asheville) - 261,191

New Hanover County (Wilmington) - 234,473

Link:  https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2010s-counties-total.html

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Comparison of Regional Peer MSA's as of 7/01/2019 - Charlotte's MSA 22nd Largest

Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX - 2,227,083 - 29th largest MSA

Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC - 2,636,883  -  22nd largest MSA

Jacksonville, FL - 1,559,514 - 40th largest MSA

Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN - 1,934,317 - 36th largest MSA

Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL - 2,608,147 - 23rd largest MSA

Raleigh-Cary, NC - 1,390,785 - 42nd largest MSA 

• N.B.: Charlotte's MSA is est. to have 1,246,098 more residents than Raleigh's MSA.

San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX - 2,550,960 - 24th largest MSA

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL - 3,194,831 - 18th largest MSA

Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va-NC - 1,768,902 - 37th largest MSA

Note:  There are 53 MSAs with 1M+ pop. in the USA.  Fresno, CA, ranked #54, just missed the 1M mark as of 07/01/2019.

Link:  https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2010s-total-metro-and-micro-statistical-areas.html

Edited March 26, 2020 by KJHburg

[rolly]

Interesting stats!  Well Wake is also a good bit larger than Mecklenburg (or Durham or Orange or many other counties - it's one of the largest in land mass).  

But Wake and Mech are what percent of all state growth? Like over 2/3's?   Impressive!

[KJHburg]

52 minutes ago, rolly said:

Interesting stats!  Well Wake is also a good bit larger than Mecklenburg (or Durham or Orange or many other counties - it's one of the largest in land mass).  

But Wake and Mech are what percent of all state growth? Like over 2/3's?   Impressive!

Yes Wake is about 50% larger and has much more room to grow that is why Wake will be #1 most populated county in the state for far into the future.   25% of the states population lives in 3 counties Wake Meck and Guilford. 

And Raleigh Durham metro areas together is larger than Nashville but not as big as Charlotte metro. 

Edited March 27, 2020 by KJHburg

[Richhamleigh, DC]

I will never understand why Raleigh-Durham were separated in the 2000 census except for political reasons when MSP, DFW, TPA, etc., are considered single MSAs.  The numbers matter for site location and research purposes.  The other point about MSA/CSA numbers are the physical size of these areas.  The geographic area of the Charlotte MSA and CSA is small compared to its peers.  This is bad/good.  A larger geographic area = higher population; on the other hand, a more compact MSA/CSA points to higher density/less sprawl.  

That said, the CSA numbers 2010 / 2019:

.Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC CSA

2,402,623

2,797,636

.Raleigh-Durham-Cary, NC CSA

1,740,185

2,079,687

.Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro, TN CSA

1,763,744

2,062,547

Virginia Beach-Norfolk, VA-NC CSA

1,801,988

1,859,197

.Greensboro--Winston-Salem--High Point, NC CSA

1,589,200

1,689,151

.Jacksonville-St. Marys-Palatka, FL-GA CSA

1,470,473

1,688,701

.Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC CSA

1,336,656

1,475,235

Attached is an Excel spreadsheet of the CSA numbers.

 

 

 

 

 

csa-est2019-annres.xlsx

Edited March 30, 2020 by Phillydog

[SydneyCarton]

I never realized that the Raleigh metro area figures didn't include Durham and Chapel Hill.  That's ridiculous.

[KJHburg]

I was saying this a couple of weeks ago.  Look for pharma plants to open even more in NC.  From Business NC daily email update

Triangle looks alluring for drug manufacturers, expert says

On the outlook for silver linings in a bleak time: North Carolina is poised to be a big winner, should pharmaceutical companies bring back production to the U.S. amid concerns raised by the coronavirus pandemic.

That’s the conclusion of veteran site-selection expert John Boyd, whose research concluded that the Triangle area represents one of the least expensive locations for pharma manufacturing. The Boyd Co. contends a major drug-manufacturing plant in North Carolina would cost about $37.3 million annually to operate, versus about $55 million in New York and $49 million in the Boston or San Francisco areas.

Lower labor and power costs and taxes make up much of the difference, he says.

He notes that federal lawmakers are crafting legislation to encourage a return to U.S. production because of fears of shortages of essential drugs, particularly if COVID-19 causes significant disruption. Legislators are particularly worried about China, which is the principal developer of generic prescriptions that make up 90% of pharmaceuticals.

“China’s chokehold on the global pharmaceutical market leaves our service members and our nation vulnerable to attack,” says U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, a California Republican who is co-sponsoring a bill to encourage U.S. drug manufacturing.

[Raleigh Walker]

On 4/2/2020 at 11:35 AM, KJHburg said:

I was saying this a couple of weeks ago.  Look for pharma plants to open even more in NC.  From Business NC daily email update

Triangle looks alluring for drug manufacturers, expert says

On the outlook for silver linings in a bleak time: North Carolina is poised to be a big winner, should pharmaceutical companies bring back production to the U.S. amid concerns raised by the coronavirus pandemic.

That’s the conclusion of veteran site-selection expert John Boyd, whose research concluded that the Triangle area represents one of the least expensive locations for pharma manufacturing. The Boyd Co. contends a major drug-manufacturing plant in North Carolina would cost about $37.3 million annually to operate, versus about $55 million in New York and $49 million in the Boston or San Francisco areas.

Lower labor and power costs and taxes make up much of the difference, he says.

He notes that federal lawmakers are crafting legislation to encourage a return to U.S. production because of fears of shortages of essential drugs, particularly if COVID-19 causes significant disruption. Legislators are particularly worried about China, which is the principal developer of generic prescriptions that make up 90% of pharmaceuticals.

“China’s chokehold on the global pharmaceutical market leaves our service members and our nation vulnerable to attack,” says U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, a California Republican who is co-sponsoring a bill to encourage U.S. drug manufacturing.

Am I reading this correctly? China manufactures 90% of the drugs in the US? That is insanity if that's the case. Whoever allowed that to happen needs to be publicly disgraced.

[KJHburg]

2 hours ago, Raleigh Walker said:

Am I reading this correctly? China manufactures 90% of the drugs in the US? That is insanity if that's the case. Whoever allowed that to happen needs to be publicly disgraced.

90% of the generic drugs yes that HAS to change and come to the USA and NC stands to benefit greatly. 

[RALNATIVE]

17 hours ago, KJHburg said:

90% of the generic drugs yes that HAS to change and come to the USA and NC stands to benefit greatly. 

Who has been the one touting the loudest and the longest that manufacturing needs to return to the USA? Not just drugs but we see the same thing with the N95 masks.

Just saying...

Edited April 4, 2020 by RALNATIVE

[KJHburg]

You will wait until this virus is over you will see manufacturing supply chains change greatly  and moving to North America and USA specifically.  China will be the big loser in all this.