The Good News Report

[Urbanity]

This is great news!   Here's the press release

 

Where is the quote from regarding real estate transaction?   Areva currently has a whole campus in University City which I understand they are happy with so I'm curious the source of that quote.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Urbanity

[kermit]

^ The RE quote above was from the Chamber press release:

 

http://charlottechamber.com/index.php?src=news&refno=4447&category=Economic+Development+News

[atlrvr]

I'm surprised to see any mention of Real Estate come up.  Back in 2009, they signed a long-term (10-year I'd guess) lease in Univ City (Innovation Park campus) for 180,000 sq ft.  That is plenty big enough for current staff and 130 more people.

 

It's possibible the will look to relocate somewhere higher profile, but was not the old CEO's way, who knows about the new guy they hired last year.  That said, Siemens Nuclear relocated to Innovation Park to be next to Areva several years ago.

 

I'd love to see something high-profile (dream scenario is they have enough room to accomodate this growth, but sign as an anchor tenant for a new Uptown office tower and sub-lease their current space once they move), but I'm not holding my breath.

 

An additional positive (I was wrong about current HQ, it is apparantly Bethesda) is that with Areva in Paris, this I would think should drive more Charlotte-Paris air passenger traffic, and reinforce AA keeping the route.

 

Now if we could only get Seimens Energy HQ to relocate here.

[kermit]

The Observer story says: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/03/04/3893037/mccrory-announces-130-jobs-in.html

 

Areva ... plans to add the jobs as it relocates its North American headquarters from Bethesda, Maryland, to a site in University Research Park.

 

I don't think I have enough faith in the Observer to parse that statement literally (particularly after a press release says that they are looking for RE, I don't think that Areva (or the broker) would want the neighborhood released).

 

EDIT: Perhaps the press release didn't get a sufficient proofread? The CBJ story reports: 

Rencheck says the immediate impact on Charlotte will be 20 executive office staff members moving from Maryland to AREVA’s current Charlotte campus. Those will all be transfers.

 

I guess the word "current" could be interpreted in a variety of ways.....

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/power_city/2013/03/areva-moves-north-american-hq-to.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2013-03-04&u=jDmEk+CKbYnAvaVfOFOlFGXcGSC&page=all

Edited March 4, 2013 by kermit

[HopHead]

I swear, every time there has been one of these jobs announcements lately, my anticipation for Crescent's uptown project grows. Hopefully, we get some more news on that front in the not too distant future. 

[Urbanity]

Regardless of them staying in University City or moving elsewhere - as long as it's in the city!   

I know ENN Group is in practical matters not going to be a large employer, but I still hold out for them only because I think it adds to our international hub status.   

[15895]

I would LOVE for an energy HQ to anchor the Crescent site!

Right beside Duke Energy. Imagine if the crescent tower were to be funky like Duke Energy. I'd have to say thatd be very symbolic as our city being an energy hub.

[kermit]

RE Areva:

 

The Mecklenburg Times is reporting that:

 

Areva, an energy company based in Paris, will occupy more space at Innovation Park when its North American headquarters completes its move to the Queen City by 2017.

 

http://mecktimes.com/news/2013/03/05/breaking-areva-bringing-headquarters-to-innovation-park/#ixzz2MhXLcfDP

[Niner National]

2017? Seems like a long time.

[kermit]

Metlife is now semi-official. 1300 jobs here, 1300 in Cary. The article is not specific about how many of the jobs are new.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/03/07/3899423/metlife-to-bring-2600-jobs-to.html

The article is clear on their defaulting to a Ballantyne location since that is the only block of large contiguous office space left.  We clearly need more office space downtown.

Edited March 7, 2013 by kermit

[RVA2CLT]

^^ Great for Charlotte! Terrible for my commute to/from Ballantyne since my office is right next to those new buildings.

I loath the design of Ballentyne so much; I wake up angry in the middle of the night wondering what Bissell Co. development visionary thought:

"Hey lets build an office park designed for thousands of employees with road infrastructure & highway access that can't even effectively handle dozens of vehicles. Perfect!"
 

[nowensone]

Metlife is now semi-official. 1300 jobs here, 1300 in Cary. The article is not specific about how many of the jobs are new.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/03/07/3899423/metlife-to-bring-2600-jobs-to.html

The article is clear on their defaulting to a Ballantyne location since that is the only block of large contiguous office space left.  We clearly need more office space downtown.

So then still no solving of the Crescent site mystery, excellent.

[ssh214]

Is it bad that I'm somewhat mad about Cary getting 1300 jobs seemingly out of nowhere? 

[nonillogical]

It might just be that they have the next best spot for contiguous office space, probably in Regency Park, and a lot of nearby talent. After all Cary is kind of Raleigh's Ballantyne. I grew up there so I'm not really complaining, though I don't mind anyone ripping on it because it really is just a big gated community to live work and die in 

[ah59396]

^per wfae, it's a bunch of MetLife tech jobs. Which makes sense as Raleigh is more IT oriented than Charlotte.

[southslider]

^Ditto for the actuaries and accountants moving to Bank Town.

[atlrvr]

It's pretty exciting that a #2 executive will be based in Charlotte (Head of US Retail).  I definitely see them growing beyond 1,300 over time.

 

Raleigh wins IT because it already has Tech Ops for Credit-Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity, BB&T and a couple of others I can't remember.

 

Charlotte I guess has plenty of it's own (BofA, Wells, TIAA-CREF, and LPL) but those are more by-products of large offices here, as opposed to Tech Ops outposts.

 

Too bad we couldn't get the tech jobs too, as those jobs are conducize to start-ups when people leave/get laid off.

 

All in all, this is major.

 

Bloomberg had an article with additional details.  They are closing offices and relocating some jobs from a variety of offices in Mass, Conn, California, NJ, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania.  They are seeking to have fewer locations, and groups centralized.  I'm sure the huge NC subsidy didn't hurt.

 

Also, the BBG article said that AIG was looking to do a similar relocation, though it did not imply AIG was specifically considering Charlotte or even NC.

[cltbwimob]

http://www.wsoctv.com/gallery/news/local/10-recent-businesses-announce-relocation-expansion/g8Kq/#3177311

A cool snapshot of recent relocations and expansions

[HopHead]

Great news for the state of NC on the Metlife relo. Though, it will be interesting to see how many people from the other cities will relocate here (and Cary) versus locals getting the jobs. It would be nice to see some organic growth too. 

 

I think this jobs announcement REALLY highlights the need for new office space to be built, specifically in uptown. It would be hard to accommodate another jobs announcement this size without large blocks of space.

[atlrvr]

http://obsbankwatch.blogspot.com/2013/03/baird-could-make-charlotte-regional-hub.html

 

Baird is looking at moving people here as well as expanding organically.  They are a wealth management and investment banking firm.  The most exciting thing was the "research" jobs that might move here, which I assume are primarily based in Milwaukee now.  Those should be the jobs that give buy/sell recommendations on stocks, and strangely one of the few types of capital markets positions that are mostly non-existant in Charlotte.

[HopHead]

Not a jobs announcement, but Dice.com had a piece on "Redefined Tech Hubs". IT job postings for Charlotte are up 22% year over year. The article points out that the city's increased investment in the Energy sector may lead to even more technology and engineering jobs for the area. We've seen some of that already (e.g. Areva HQ relo)

 

http://media.dice.com/report/march-2013-tech-hubs-redefined/

Edited March 13, 2013 by wend28

[Guest]

Woah! That was under the radar! Boom town is back. Suntrust to anchor new office building in SouthPark and it will be their Regional HQ.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/03/13/3912204/suntrust-to-open-regional-headquarters.html

[tozmervo]

Occupy by Q2 of 2014? I hope they're moving dirt by tomorrow, that's just a year away.

[Guest]

Occupy by Q2 of 2014? I hope they're moving dirt by tomorrow, that's just a year away.

Its already under construction. 

http://www.clearskyimages.com/4500-cameron-valley-022113-helicopter-aerial-photos/h5672e322#h5672d850

[DCMetroRaleigh]

Handsome building