The Good News Report

[KJHburg]

20% drop in workers moving to San Francisco bay area. Who cares you say well SF Biz Journal says they are moving to Charlotte!  Hello, extreme cost of living in the SanFran area and tech job opportunities across the country in more affordable places yes like Charlotte. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2017/06/02/bay-area-migration-hiring-jobs-cost-of-living.html?ana=e_me_set1&s=newsletter&ed=2017-06-05&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1496685995&j=78318471   See my link about the Credit Karma story a few days ago. The Queen City must be getting some good press in the city by the Bay. 

Edited June 5, 2017 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

Yet another local tech startup success story DealCloud receives additional $4.5 million to grow and that they are. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article154395994.html   Yes we do have a growing tech cluster here in the Queen City and as I have said it is below the radar of most. 

[Dale]

Contrary to San Francisco's reputation as a bellwether for urban design, you own a car there.

To live in.

[asthasr]

I was offered a raise to move to the south bay when I was working remotely for a company out there. They were offering me 20% more to work locally; I did the math and figured they'd have to actually give me an 80% raise to maintain mere parity, and that didn't take into account the other intangibles like horrendous traffic, the danger of earthquakes, the ugly landscape, worse food, and so on. I turned them down. I expect tech jobs will start to explode elsewhere as tech companies start to cut the fat and do the math on how much it's costing them to be located there.

[alb1no panther]

Tech scene's humble beginnings--needing cheap floorspace & years of hours of coding and living on nothing--are the antithesis to what exists now.  Now, land values reflect the IPOs.  Tech beginnings are fundamentally at odds with tech fortunes. The ability to iterate to demand in a 20 year monopoly generates $$$$$; spread over the multitude of companies there now relative to space, it creates high entry barriers that never existed before.  Combine this with the fact that youth academia has embraced coding, and that creates an entire sea of young entrepreneurs banging at the gate w/ their next big idea or line of code.  (This really is a sea-change in the history of computer science from a business pov.)  If you are one of the lucky few coders out there to get bought up by Oracle or Apple for the patent, you stay and enjoy being able to afford that cost of living.  If you're idea requires a longer gestation period, then you either move or die--competition isn't always the best driver of success; indeed, it kills.  Which brings us to Charlotte...and its leadership.  So, we are getting spill-over, but are we generating anything homegrown?  Charlotte leadership needs to put its foot on the gas IMO.  The future is here.  Right now.   

[KJHburg]

Someone mentioned a local Charlotte tech success story here is one AvidXchange raises $300 million that has to be record for a tech firm in Charlotte.  Plus a big partnership with MasterCard. http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2017/06/08/avidxchange-announces-mastercard-partnership.html?ana=e_ae_set1&s=scroll&ed=2017-06-08&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1496971960&j=78346561   I would expect to see another building started by years end at their Music factory site. 

[KJHburg]

Vanguard which is in Water Ridge Office Park off Tyvola near BG Parkway could be adding several hundred more jobs to their Charlotte office. I knew they employed more than a 1000 but not 1700 people.  And IT is major focus of this office employing 25% of them and they cite the Charlotte IT market. (Remember the article about San Francisco and how people are moving elsewhere for tech jobs to places like Charlotte) .  Charlotte continues add Fintech jobs through small startups, home grown success stories  like AvidXchange and even with Vanguard and TIAA. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/banking/article155363184.html   (not to mention our huge banks with many tech jobs) 

[KJHburg]

Cities were millennials are moving to and of course Charlotte is one of the top cities (also includes Raleigh) but Atlanta is missing from this list of the fastest growing cities for millennials. http://time.com/4797956/cities-millennials-moving/

[KJHburg]

Manpower's survey of where the top job prospects are and 2 NC metros make the list both Charlotte and Raleigh. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-labor-market-remains-optimistic-as-one-in-four-employers-plan-to-hire-in-q3-2017-300472752.html

[caterpillar2]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

Manpower's survey of where the top job prospects are and 2 NC metros make the list both Charlotte and Raleigh. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-labor-market-remains-optimistic-as-one-in-four-employers-plan-to-hire-in-q3-2017-300472752.html

That makes Charlotte number one for big cities of around a million or more. 

[KJHburg]

I would say the choices are 2 places in NC Charlotte or Raleigh Durham Cary metro.  From Triangle Biz journal 

Infosys (NYSE: INFY) is India’s second-largest IT company and is currently mulling sites for what appears to be its second 2,000-job “technology and innovation hub” in the United States. “We’re having these conversations with a number of states,” said spokeswoman Chiku Somaiya when asked about the site selection search. “But yes, Infosys is currently considering North Carolina.”

Another major Indian based tech firm HCL  is in Cary with its 1200 job expansion announced in 2014. 

Charlotte can offer both urban and suburban locations now: 300 South Brevard uptown 300,000 sq ft or this empty building in University area http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2017/06/20/vacant-office-building-in-university-city-sells.html?ana=e_ae_set2&s=scroll&ed=2017-06-20&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1497986350&j=78417081

Article from Triangle Biz Journal subscriber article http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2017/06/20/north-carolina-on-short-list-for-2-000-job-tech.html?ana=e_du_prem&s=article_du&ed=2017-06-20&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1497987780&j=78417251

 

Edited June 20, 2017 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

Good news for you Amazon Prime Now subscribers now deliveries will be in hours thanks to 2 warehouses in the area the 500K sq ft warehouse on Old Dowd Rd and Wilkinson and the 202K sq ft Concord facility. And of course Prime Air using CLT as a hub. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/whats-in-store/article157246179.html

[KJHburg]

From the Triangle Business Journal: Job growth is NC with private sector jobs with 33% of ALL of NC's job growth in the last few years took place in the Charlotte metro area in just 4 counties (Mecklenburg (state leader) and then Cabarrus Union and Iredell counties. Mecklenburg County's job creation alone was 25% of the state's average.  See my "screenshot" below. 

[videtur quam contuor]

What is the same figure for York/Lancaster SC?

[urbanlover568]

So awesome! Service is awesome! Even get a ice pack if you order cold items.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/amazon-prime-now-offering-free-2-hour-deliveries-in-charlotte/536905077

[KJHburg]

Charlotte is one the top 10 best cities for attracting and retaining talent of the larger counties in the US http://www.economicmodeling.com/2017/06/07/the-communities-winning-the-war-for-skilled-talent/

[KJHburg]

Another local tech startup success story SignUpGenius 63% growth in revenue in last year 9 million users and doubled in size since 2015. Based in Ballantyne. http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2017/06/27/signupgenius-expands-c-suite-with-cfo-hire.html

[kermit]

On 5/31/2017 at 10:38 PM, atlrvr said:

Certainly with MetLife, TIAA, and Axa, we've got to be in the mix for this:

 

RE Aetna hq relocation:

They chose NYC for the new HQ (roughly 250 jobs).

https://www.wsj.com/articles/aetna-to-move-corporate-headquarters-to-new-york-city-1498748362?mod=e2tw

[NYCLT]

Just an interesting observation - PNC Bank has posted 27 new jobs (not branch jobs) in the last week. Some have flexible location eith Charlotte as an option but some are based here. Do they have a presence here?

Edited June 29, 2017 by NYCLT

[KJHburg]

23 minutes ago, NYCLT said:

Just an interesting observation - PNC Bank has posted 27 new jobs (not branch jobs) in the last week. Some have flexible location eith Charlotte as an option but some are based here. Do they have a presence here?

Yes took over the old RBC branches in Charlotte just a saw number of branches but they are probably tapping the great banking labor pool we have here just like US Bank (no branches here but hundreds of employees) Regions which is small here but growing too. Charlotte is and will continue to be a great consumer banking town so the labor force is here and cheaper than NYC or San Fran. 

[KJHburg]

Charlotte food waste energy plant up and running and providing power to the grid. http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2017/06/29/second-blue-sphere-entropy-plant-producing-power.html  Charlotte the New Energy capital remember that tagline? 

[KJHburg]

New state budget funds Food Processing Innovation center at the NC Research Campus in Kannapolis. NC State is the lead agency on it. http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2017/06/30/north-carolina-lawmakers-fund-food-manufacturing.html?ana=e_me_set2&s=newsletter&ed=2017-06-30&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1498827228&j=78474311

[kermit]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

New state budget funds Food Processing Innovation center at the NC Research Campus in Kannapolis. NC State is the lead agency on it. http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2017/06/30/north-carolina-lawmakers-fund-food-manufacturing.html?ana=e_me_set2&s=newsletter&ed=2017-06-30&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1498827228&j=78474311

I guess I am glad that pork still exists in the state budget?

[tozmervo]

25 minutes ago, kermit said:

I guess I am glad that pork still exists in the state budget?

Unintentional pun?

[KJHburg]

Actually I dont think this should be called pork no pun intended it is to support the food processing industry in NC which is HUGE. Frito Lay, Synder Lance, Tyson, Butterball, Perdue Farms, that is just in immediate Charlotte area (Meck Union and Cabarrus counties). Go across the state and food processing is huge. We have a new South African Biltong plant opening in Goldsboro. Biltong made in the USA first ever plant! https://edpnc.com/8315-2/ 

 Here is more information on food processing in NC https://edpnc.com/industries/food-processing-manufacturing/  we make those Japanese candies here only plant in USA http://www.morinaga-america.com/ and those Belgium Biscoff cookies yep they will be soon made in NC too. https://edpnc.com/belgium-based-baker-biscoff-cookies-picks-north-carolina-first-u-s-production-facility/   62,500 people work in this industry in the state.