Economic Development - Expansions and Relocations

[Blue_Devil]

My understanding is this is a full HQ move? I think CBJ is wrong

[atlrvr]

I think the confusion is the corporate organizational structure.  Charlotte is US HQ for the Specialty Chemical business and Louisville is US HQ for their Catalyst business, so effectively 2 completely separate divisions that roll up to the Swiss parent (as opposed to a consolidated US subsidiary).

An equivalent would be Daimler Trucks US HQ in Portland, OR and Mercedes-Benz USA HQ in Atlanta, both roll up to German parent Daimler-Benz with no interaction otherwise.

Edit: Just some commentary, but this is a very "German" way to think about business rather than "American", where they are selling a highly engineered product first, and marketing and "synergies" second, which is kinda backwards from how American corporations think about distribution (which is a market first, product second approach).

 

[KJHburg]

1 hour ago, atlrvr said:

I think the confusion is the corporate organizational structure.  Charlotte is US HQ for the Specialty Chemical business and Louisville is US HQ for their Catalyst business, so effectively 2 completely separate divisions that roll up to the Swiss parent (as opposed to a consolidated US subsidiary).

An equivalent would be Daimler Trucks US HQ in Portland, OR and Mercedes-Benz USA HQ in Atlanta, both roll up to German parent Daimler-Benz with no interaction otherwise.

Edit: Just some commentary, but this is a very "German" way to think about business rather than "American", where they are selling a highly engineered product first, and marketing and "synergies" second, which is kinda backwards from how American corporations think about distribution (which is a market first, product second approach).

 

and their  Clariant Oil and Gas business is based in The Woodlands, outside of Houston. 

[Guest]

Arrival making their presence known. Second micro-factory in the area, this time by the airport.

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2021/03/17/arrival-microfactory-charlotte-meadow-oak.html

[tozmervo]

18 hours ago, atlrvr said:

I think the confusion is the corporate organizational structure.  Charlotte is US HQ for the Specialty Chemical business and Louisville is US HQ for their Catalyst business, so effectively 2 completely separate divisions that roll up to the Swiss parent (as opposed to a consolidated US subsidiary).

An equivalent would be Daimler Trucks US HQ in Portland, OR and Mercedes-Benz USA HQ in Atlanta, both roll up to German parent Daimler-Benz with no interaction otherwise.

Edit: Just some commentary, but this is a very "German" way to think about business rather than "American", where they are selling a highly engineered product first, and marketing and "synergies" second, which is kinda backwards from how American corporations think about distribution (which is a market first, product second approach).

Here's a good Charlotte example. We're the "HQ" for Rack Room Shoes and Off Broadway Shoes, located in University Research Park, but those roll up to Deichmann Group in Essen, Germany. 

[KJHburg]

1 hour ago, MothBeast said:

Arrival making their presence known. Second micro-factory in the area, this time by the airport.

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2021/03/17/arrival-microfactory-charlotte-meadow-oak.html

this is great 250 MORE jobs in addition to their HQ in Southend and their other factory in Rock Hill.  In addition to the 150 office jobs in Southend and 240 jobs in Rock Hill. 

""The city of Charlotte said Wednesday morning that the British electric-vehicle manufacturer will open a factory that produces electric delivery vans at Meadow Oak Commerce Center, an industrial development at West Tyvola Road and Billy Graham Parkway. Pennsylvania-based Exeter Property Group is developing that site, formerly the Charlotte Correctional Facility property. Arrival's facility will accommodate 250-plus jobs and the company plans to invest $41.2 million, according to the city. Arrival is taking all of the available space at Meadow Oak, according to a city source. Production at that facility is expected to begin by the third quarter of 2022.""

Arrival Announces New Microfactory Producing Electric Delivery Vans in Charlotte

 

another job announcement when I am out of town.  I should be paid to leave town more!

Edited March 17, 2021 by KJHburg

[videtur quam contuor]

That site was for years the Camp Greene Correctional Facility. Very little information is available online with my cursory search. It sits (sat) on a rise with the treatment center not far away, the landfill where the Renaissance Park is now, and high power lines above. A collection of the forgotten and unloved parts of civic necessity clustered in the countryside to avoid disturbing the citizenry. I went past it many times. It was a brother camp to the Huntersville camp on Mount Holly Huntersville Road close to Huntersville. This was a place for the non violent adult male prisoners who would serve shorter terms. There were two fences but anyone could walk up the the fence and call across to the inmates and have a conversation. No tower or armed guards patrolling the grounds at the time I recall. I have a very close family member who was in  Greene and Huntersville (see below) and Greene was a less restrictive  environment. This was before cocaine and crack and most prisoners were low level offenders of all types. When Tyvola was a-building the camp closed and inmates dispersed. 

It was nearly the same as the Huntersville Camp on Mount Holly Huntersville Road just before the Alexandriana Road intersection west of 77. There is nearly nothing online as to history of these camps, unsurprisingly so. Again, barracks housing, concrete buildings of the plainest type, no air conditioning, dirt activity yard, basketball goals and some other exercise areas and occasionally a family member talking to the inmate from the fence. Guard tower here and a more restrictive feeling for visitors than Greene. No 485, no NorthLake, No WTHarris, and a drive to Sunset Road necessary for supplies at that time. Mecklenburg County was rural enough to have several offender housing facilities then, a remnant of our past.

Story about the Huntersville facility:  I had a friend who was a horticultural landscaper and he bought a home on Mt Holly-Huntersville road near where WTHarris now intersects. This was early 1980's. It was a farm with barn, well with irrigation, and a home and perfect for his needs and family. Unfortunately there was no cable tv. The farmland around him was not densely populated enough to justify the stringing of cable and no estimate of when it would be available. A year later he has a call from Cablevision. They will be running cable on his highway and would he like to be connected? Big Yes, of course. What changed the calculation? The Correctional Camp inmates wanted something more than antenna tv which was a few broadcast channels only at the time and the prison administration approved of the connection cost. Thus anyone on the way was able to join with no special fee. Thank you to the men in the faded gray and green scrub-like uniforms.

If anyone finds more info about these two camps It would help to enlarge my picture which is from memory

 

[KJHburg]

Here is where Arrival's new plant is arriving 

Meadow Oak Commerce Center - Exeter Property Group (exeterpg.com)

 

[Blue_Devil]

12 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Here is where Arrival's new plant is arriving 

Meadow Oak Commerce Center - Exeter Property Group (exeterpg.com)

 

Given this is Arrival's second plant, and I am sure there will be a growing supply chain around that, and there is the Lithium mine Tesla is setting its sights on, I wonder if this is the start of a end to end EV Manufacturing hub here in Charlotte. We are building the supply chain, we have the lithium. Other companies will take notice. 

[atlrvr]

Is lithium -> battery an additive or reductive process?  Remembering my location planning lessons, typically additive/high value production takes place near the end-user market, while reductive/ low-value processing takes place near the source....though point taken if we start developing and end-user market here as well.

[navigator319]

British EV start-up Arrival is setting up in North Carolina to build a UPS fleet https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/22/british-ev-start-up-arrival-north-carolina-factory-to-build-a-ups-fleet.html?__source=iosappshare%7Ccom.apple.UIKit.activity.CopyToPasteboard

[RANYC]

20 minutes ago, navigator319 said:

British EV start-up Arrival is setting up in North Carolina to build a UPS fleet https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/22/british-ev-start-up-arrival-north-carolina-factory-to-build-a-ups-fleet.html?__source=iosappshare%7Ccom.apple.UIKit.activity.CopyToPasteboard

hmm, "650 jobs...as part of the corporate offices it announced in December."

In the Business Journal in December, it was reported that Arrival would hire 150 for a US HQ building in South End...some time later, 240 hires for a microfactory in Rock Hill...then this month, a microfactory off West Tyvola employing 250.

[cltbwimob]

24 minutes ago, RANYC said:

hmm, "650 jobs...as part of the corporate offices it announced in December."

In the Business Journal in December, it was reported that Arrival would hire 150 for a US HQ building in South End...some time later, 240 hires for a microfactory in Rock Hill...then this month, a microfactory off West Tyvola employing 250.

Yeah, I think they added the number of jobs announced and implied they were all corporate jobs.  Lack of proofing I suspect.

 

On 3/18/2021 at 9:32 AM, Blue_Devil said:

Given this is Arrival's second plant, and I am sure there will be a growing supply chain around that, and there is the Lithium mine Tesla is setting its sights on, I wonder if this is the start of a end to end EV Manufacturing hub here in Charlotte. We are building the supply chain, we have the lithium. Other companies will take notice. 

I’d like to see a big east coast plant for Tesla sitting right at the old Philip Morris site.

[Vitamin_N]

11 hours ago, cltbwimob said:

Yeah, I think they added the number of jobs announced and implied they were all corporate jobs.  Lack of proofing I suspect.

 

I’d like to see a big east coast plant for Tesla sitting right at the old Philip Morris site.

I'll be surprised if Tesla is still around in a few years.

[DMann]

WOW!

[Blue_Devil]

1 hour ago, Vitamin_N said:

I'll be surprised if Tesla is still around in a few years.

What?

[InSouthPark]

3 hours ago, Blue_Devil said:

What?

Most $775 billion dollar companies fold up after a few years.  "Nobody is buying those cars anymore, they're too popular" - Yogi Berra if he were still alive 

[joenc]

Tesla is famous for its # of haters. No surprise when I see one.

A lot of people think the old rules still apply to things.

[JRCLT]

Every company has a chance of failure no matter the company’s worth. Tesla isn’t unique because of its worth. It’s the nature of every company to adapt and survive to the market(natural environment) whether or not Tesla fails it won’t be apparent until it actually fails. I wouldn’t try to predict what is uncertain. It just (as mentioned above lol) makes you seem like hater basing your prediction on an opinion.

[TheMightyBK]

22 minutes ago, JeanClt said:

Every company has a chance of failure no matter the company’s worth. Tesla isn’t unique because of its worth. It’s the nature of every company to adapt and survive to the market(natural environment) whether or not Tesla fails it won’t be apparent until it actually fails. I wouldn’t try to predict what is uncertain. It just (as mentioned above lol) makes you seem like hater basing your prediction on an opinion.

They won't fail, but they will absolutely lose market share as competitors move in.  That Audi e-tron GT is a sexy beast I would prefer over any current Tesla model!  They just announced they will no longer develop ICEs (a shame, really, for fans of their motors like me).  VW Group (VW/Audi/Porsche/Lamborghini/etc.), in general, will take a big chunk of Tesla's market, and every other major manufacturer has an EV roadmap that will take more.  That said, the EV market is a baby now, and growth will be huge for all players.  Tesla is well positioned for the near term- we'll see how they play it going forward.  I kinda see them as the Microsoft of the EV market...innovators that are here for the long haul, but with some stiff competition both up and down market...

Edited March 24, 2021 by TheMightyBK

[sclark]

Charlotte Ledger reporting that Robinhood is actively scouting office space in Charlotte. Very cool! 

[InSouthPark]

13 minutes ago, sclark said:

Charlotte Ledger reporting that Robinhood is actively scouting office space in Charlotte. Very cool! 

At least we know it won't be customer service / call center jobs 

[Blue_Devil]

8 hours ago, TheMightyBK said:

They won't fail, but they will absolutely lose market share as competitors move in.  That Audi e-tron GT is a sexy beast I would prefer over any current Tesla model!  They just announced they will no longer develop ICEs (a shame, really, for fans of their motors like me).  VW Group (VW/Audi/Porsche/Lamborghini/etc.), in general, will take a big chunk of Tesla's market, and every other major manufacturer has an EV roadmap that will take more.  That said, the EV market is a baby now, and growth will be huge for all players.  Tesla is well positioned for the near term- we'll see how they play it going forward.  I kinda see them as the Microsoft of the EV market...innovators that are here for the long haul, but with some stiff competition both up and down market...

As good as the driving dynamics are for some of its competitors, range is still far  and away Tesla dominate market. Their battery tech is a good 5 years ahead of the competition. Lucid is the closest to them at 500 miles of range, but they do not have a car on the road yet. Audi and Porsche are getting 230 miles of range, even if they want to argue the EPA is wrong. Ford is getting 300. Rivian is maxing out around 400. 

Anyway, Tesla isn't going anywhere any time soon. 

29 minutes ago, sclark said:

Charlotte Ledger reporting that Robinhood is actively scouting office space in Charlotte. Very cool! 

For 300 Jobs, that is even cooler. I don't really like the company, but I want the talent here. 

[KJHburg]

1 hour ago, sclark said:

Charlotte Ledger reporting that Robinhood is actively scouting office space in Charlotte. Very cool! 

It is interesting they already have 14 jobs posted in Charlotte OR Fort Mill which leads me to believe they are trying to get incentives out of either state

Careers | Robinhood

however I think their labor pool is center city south end Charlotte location 

[KJHburg]

from the Biz Journal Robinhood may be looking at a 300 job operation here.

Sources say Robinhood is looking to add 300 jobs, open new office in Charlotte - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

""Real estate sources have indicated to the CBJ the company has been actively looking for space here and that it may still be finalizing a location. Some sources believe the current search has been limited to uptown and South End.  One source described the local search as highly confidential.""

so keep this on the down low and there might a sweet doughnut for you.