North Carolina Biotech Research Campus

[DanRNC]

Article

Good article on Murdock. I wouldn't trust this guy as far as I could throw him.

[dubone]

He is spending hundreds of millions of his own private money on this endeavor. In part, I believe it is because he feels guilty for his part in the business decisions that lead to the demise of Cannon Mills/Pillowtex.

You shouldn't throw billionaires, but I'd say that Kannapolis will be in much better shape economically as a result of Murdock than without him.

[QueenCityBobcats]

You shouldn't throw billionaires, but I'd say that Kannapolis will be in much better shape economically as a result of Murdock than without him.

You're very right. Even though he helped to ruin the manufacturing in Kannapolis, the project will help Kannapolis become the next RTP and one of the state's Bio leaders. Hopefully the progress will help out the entire Charlotte area to recieve a couple large Biotechnology firms.

[dubone]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/14009689.htm

Murdock's cache and cash will really get NCRC off the ground, and provide a major impact. I don't think any project in Kannapolis would otherwise get so much international exposure. Usually, people internationally don't know the difference between Kannapolis and any other place, so to they don't have any preconceived notions and immediately assume great things seeing a famous billionaire tied to the project.

I think this will end up be pretty successful.

[dubone]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/14041504.htm

It seems that a million square feet of industrial space will crash to the ground this month. That is incredible.

[Spartan]

I have skimmed most of the posts here, and I am fairly certain that I have not seen this link yet. The City of Kannapolis has some good info, and more importantly, renderings. I won't post the large copies that they have available for download, because they are too large. Here are some smaller ones though (links are at the bottom):

Core Laboratory

Central Campus

Theater & Retail Plaza

Residential

Master Plan

Links:

City of Kannapolis- http://www.ci.kannapolis.nc.us/NCRC_0.asp

Renderings- http://www.ci.kannapolis.nc.us/NCRC_3.asp

[dubone]

Great find, Spartan! I am one who appreciates classical brick architecture for education campuses, so I really love these renderings. I think the designs incorporate many sound principals for both urban design and university design. This campus is dense, with buildings with short setbacks, with a street design that allows for very short walking distance from almost any point to any point. The design plugs neatly into the existing downtown street network almost like these streets were there for a century.

Much of the campus is residential or office over retail. I mean, they are even incorporating a movie theatre into this design. Not only will be be providing jobs and revitalization to this town, but it is creating a significant portion of downtown living, shopping, etc.. People who otherwise might be hesitant to live in a downtown almost certainly would not hesitate to live on a research campus.

I also like how they have labelled the train station (Rail/Transit Station), as I'm sure the city will almost certain try to get transit to extend out out from Charlotte, or become part of the SouthEast High Speed rail, which uses that corridor.

It is worthy of being most of Kannapolis's downtown.

[Miesian Corners]

The bleachery came down this morning just after 7. Over 1 million square feet gone in 11 seconds. 75% of the former Pillowtex complex has now been demolished.

[DigitalSky]

That was quite an implosion.

Video:

http://www.wcnc.com/news/topstories/storie...x.56d3f5f7.html

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/8226434/detail.html

http://news14charlotte.com/content/top_sto...asp?ArID=116262

[dubone]

It's like urban renewal, only with the renewal actually taking place.

They are building a great new downtown in the place of those huge buildings, so this is great news.

[redjeep77]

^ yeah it may be "good news" to some, but I find it really sad. I mean this meant so much to the region for so many years. Textiles built NC. My family is from Belmont (small town in gaston county), and it was bad when the 2 big plants went out in the mid 90's (Beltex and Knitcraft). Those plants were nowhere near the size of this one. I really hope that the new research center there helps the town out. Changes are inevitable, but towns are defined by how they adjust to these changes. I am glad K-town is "shifting gears and moving on" cause that's the best thing it could be doing right now.

On the other side of the picture, you could be like so many of these rust belt towns and cities who never redistributed their manufacturing, and dried out. I certainly don't want that to happen anywhere in NC.

[Creasy336]

Will the research campus be within walking distance to the Kannapolis Amtrak station?

[orulz]

^ Yes. Although at the moment only 6 Amtrak trains pass through there daily, and only 4 actually stop. It's a long time off, but I'm looking forward to the day when I can travel by train, and choose my schedule based on when I want to travel rather than when the trains run. NCDOT is supposedly going to add another round-trip between Raleigh and Charlotte within a couple of years, but I'm talking about hourly service here!

[dubone]

Will the research campus be within walking distance to the Kannapolis Amtrak station?

It is across the street. You can see where the train station is with regard to the campus in the master plan image here: http://www.ci.kannapolis.nc.us/NCRC_3.asp .

Right now, there may only be a few trains, but this station is on the planned high speed passenger rail system, so it'll help to connect it quickly to the Research Triangle.

[dubone]

As for the Redjeep's comments, I completely understand that sad aspect of this. But the textile history of this town died with Pillowtex's collapse, bankruptcy and sale. In the business analysis, many consider Walmart Corporation's role in that collapse to quite significant. Many more blame Murdock himself for removing the financial cushion of the company by selling off the company's assets in the 80s.

Either way, the business and the jobs are gone. This was just a building that was demolished, and there was little or no chance that it could ever be put back to use. And the buildings that replace it will have a chance of creating more of an economic benefit to Kannapolis in the 21st century than Cannon Mills provided in the 20th.

[Noneck_08]

I saw that implosion this morning on fox 8. Brought back memorys of Burlington Industries knock down. But with the old comes the new and this is a great example. As earlier stated urban renewal is really kicking in to effect and it also shows how NC economy is changing. Wish something like that could happen here in Lexington. Wishfull thinking.

[MZT]

I drove by there recently and didn't think the mill housing near Pillowtex is as run down as I would have expected. (Parts of Gastonia and Rock Hill look sadder, I think.) The opportunity to create a walkable community may be pretty good if people give the existing housing stock a chance.

I can think of opposite examples such as Arrowood road in Charlotte-- where the residential is kinda slummy. Just because we have office parks near residential areas, does not necessarily help them.

[dubone]

Well, considering this campus includes many dormitories, apartments, townhomes, and community services, I would expect to see a resurgence of renovation/expansion of the housing stock in downtown Kannapolis.

[davidals]

I drove by there recently and didn't think the mill housing near Pillowtex is as run down as I would have expected. (Parts of Gastonia and Rock Hill look sadder, I think.) The opportunity to create a walkable community may be pretty good if people give the existing housing stock a chance.

I can think of opposite examples such as Arrowood road in Charlotte-- where the residential is kinda slummy. Just because we have office parks near residential areas, does not necessarily help them.

Kannapolis' housing stock is definitely an asset; there's great potential to reshape it into a unique town; it's much smaller, but look at the old mill neighborhoods in Carrboro. I hope they don't let that NW corner of Cabarrus turn into a maze of cul-de-sacs though.

I don't know about Murdock's "greatest concentration of scientists" aspirations - he may pull it off, but I don't know, and I think it would be a success even at more attainable levels. Still, all the big science-and-tech urban areas (Bay Area, Boston, Triangle, Austin, Seattle, Toronto) have distinct personalities of their own, so - even if a spectacular success - it would definitely (especially in Cabarrus) generate an ambiance unique to the area, and very different from anything out there now.

[monsoon]

When I heard about this deal and knowing Murdock's past history in this area, I thought a surprise might be coming and it has. Apparently he will not invest the money in the campus unless the county goes into tens of millions of debt, (maybe $100M or more) to pay for infrastructure improvements in the area that he says are needed to make the project viable. Of course these improvements also make his property more valuable regardless if he decideds to complete the project or not. What better way to get an investment in property to pay off. Buy it after it has gone bankrupt and then make promises about it so millions of dollars of public money is spent in improvements on it.

I guess more is to come but I hope the Cabarrus commisioners, the Kannapolis city council, and the state of NC do their homework on this deal or the public could be left holding the bag while Murdoch walks away with millions. Sounds like a re-run to me.

[DanRNC]

I hate to say I predicted this but I did. The money he wants the public sector to pump into this is absurd. $25 million per year from the state plus $160 million from Cabarrus County and this is just the start. I have talked to a lot of people that say they can't find any tenants interested in the project so this may be a way of Murdock slowly backing out or scaling down to virtually nothing. If the research was done earlier this project should have been a no-go. Instead the money from NC should have been used to lure a larger manufacturing plant to the area. Don't expect to see close to $1 billion in investment (although the numbers originally never added up to that). Bottom line is that this whole thing is a real estate deal to boost the value of the land he owns as metro pointed out. Like I said before, this is just the beginning-wait to see what else this lunatic wants.

[AuLukey]

You know it's really messed up what some people will do to make a quick buck. He's basically holding an entire city hostage. Kannapolis is in pain and they would like nothing better than to change their city's image and get jobs back into the area. Cabarrus County would like nothing better than to revive Kannapolis and get growth headed in both directions again.

The money being asked for infrastructure sounds like the man wants an interstate and a light rail put onto the property. The amount is ludicrous. What kind of infrastructure needs $347 million? They are calling for 14 parking decks? I mean, how many people do they actually expect to be going there? In comparison, UNCC, with a population around 20,000, has about 5 major decks with a sixth under construction. Additional surface lots equal themselves to another deck, making 7. So, if I'm doing math right, these decks will be serving 40,000 people, or roughly the 2000 census population of Kannapolis? Despite all this, quotes from the county legislature seem positive that they can afford this and should afford it.

If you think about the money asked from the state, that's really not that much. This is a research campus after all. I wonder how much money goes from the state into other campuses around the state anyway.

The city and county will eventually make their money back with property taxes and the influx of higher salary jobs brought on by the campus and related businesses that would potentially move into the area. It's just a matter of the present and the potential that this whole ordeal was put in place just to make Murdock money.

[dubone]

I hate to say I predicted this but I did. The money he wants the public sector to pump into this is absurd. $25 million per year from the state plus $160 million from Cabarrus County and this is just the start. I have talked to a lot of people that say they can't find any tenants interested in the project so this may be a way of Murdock slowly backing out or scaling down to virtually nothing. If the research was done earlier this project should have been a no-go. Instead the money from NC should have been used to lure a larger manufacturing plant to the area. Don't expect to see close to $1 billion in investment (although the numbers originally never added up to that). Bottom line is that this whole thing is a real estate deal to boost the value of the land he owns as metro pointed out. Like I said before, this is just the beginning-wait to see what else this lunatic wants.

You are very cynical, but it does seem to ring true as a possible explanation for what is going on.

The only counterpoint I can think of is this, a majority of the public funds he is seeking will be in the form of Tax-Increment Financing Bonds (aka Self-Financing Bonds). That means that financial industry would buy bonds from the city/county based on a portion of new tax revenue created by the project. If the reason that this public money is being asked for is that the project is faltering, then it seems to me that a state review (part of NC's more conservative TIF law) would identify this, and would not allow TIF bonds to be issued. It would also seem to me that the Wall Street would post a higher risk rating for those bonds, making them inadequate as a tool for funding the public portion of the project. If there an analytical assessment that the tax revenues will not be there in the future from this project, there is no secured way to pay back the bonds, thus, they are high risk.

So I guess we'll see how that plays out.

[DanRNC]

I consider it realism rather than cynacism. It sounded great at first and everyone was so hyped up that reality was lost. Why was there such a rush tp push this through? The studies of the viability of this projecy are just now being done. Extensive studies of infrastructural needs should have been done ahead of time. There is no guarantee that this project will bring anywhere near the jobs Murdock says it will so why should a county be burdoned (at the last minute) with this debt. Murdock has shown his true colors on this one.

[ElricSeven]

I consider it realism rather than cynacism. It sounded great at first and everyone was so hyped up that reality was lost. Why was there such a rush tp push this through? The studies of the viability of this projecy are just now being done. Extensive studies of infrastructural needs should have been done ahead of time. There is no guarantee that this project will bring anywhere near the jobs Murdock says it will so why should a county be burdoned (at the last minute) with this debt. Murdock has shown his true colors on this one.

He's certainly a clever businessman, getting them emotionally committed and then holding them for ransom. Our governments invite this type of behavior with all of the subsidies they throw at big businesses. Look at what was given up for the Dell plant. At least this place could result in dozens of spin-off businesses. My guess is that politics will dictate some response as it would be deadly to abandon all of those "poor textile workers" without jobs. It would be like refusing to rebuild New Orleans, which arguably shouldn't be done because it is unsustainable, but such a refusal would be met with charges of...well, we won't get started on that. Of course, unlike New Orleans, again, we're talking about fostering future high-growth industry which is something CLT does a lousy job of and no one ever questions such efforts up at the Triangle region. We only want to attract big businesses for some reason.