The Good News Report

[videtur quam contuor]

If I read the Observer story correctly it confirms the general opinion that traditional insurance products such as life, annuities, casualty and others will suffer in the near future as this very low interest environment for long term investments of certain, safe origin (US treasuries, large corporate bonds) will hamper insurers as they have promised cash value and payouts from policies sold in the past with actuarial standards based on greater historic returns. The longer this low rate environment persists the greater the risk for those that adjust their assets to equities or other higher risk investments. Large multi line firms are interesting in separating their insurance arms to reduce contamination to the bottom line of the combined company. A macro economist may chime in here to add or correct this view.

[Deleted.]

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/print-edition/2016/02/26/office-vacancy-down-to-prerecession-level.html 

Surely, this is good news? Especially for new towers!

[kermit]

anyone know who the new industrial user at the Metrolina Expo site is going to be?

[dcharlotte]

20 minutes ago, kermit said:

anyone know who the new industrial user at the Metrolina Expo site is going to be?

Probably multiple warehouses. It is an A+ location. 

[tozmervo]

That's a good thing, it doesn't get discussed here much but Charlotte is dramatically short on industrial space across the whole city.

[SgtCampsalot]

26 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

That's a good thing, it doesn't get discussed here much but Charlotte is dramatically short on industrial space across the whole city.

Yeah? An industrial engineer I know, of the old guard, who does consulting, who does actually love South End, did once bemoan to me its trend of pushing out industrial companies due to property tax increases; a perspective I've rarely heard (the movement/displacement of industrial properties doesn't get much emotion in the circles I'm around). So there really is a lack?

Edited March 3, 2016 by SgtCampsalot

[CLT2014]

35 minutes ago, SgtCampsalot said:

Yeah? An industrial engineer I know, of the old guard, who does consulting, who does actually love South End, did once bemoan to me its trend of pushing out industrial companies due to property tax increases; a perspective I've rarely heard (the movement/displacement of industrial properties doesn't get much emotion in the circles I'm around). So there really is a lack?

The industrial space vacancy rate is around 5-6% in the Charlotte market. Its really low and there is demand for space, especially considering distribution is one of the most important backbones of Charlotte's economy. 

A snapshot of some Charlotte employment sectors per the Census:
Manufacturing: ~103,000 workers
Transportation, Warehouse, and Utilities: ~49,000 workers
Wholesale trade: ~31,000 workers

Finance, insurance, real estate, leasing: ~92,000 workers
Professional, Scientific, Admin: ~103,000 workers

[KJHburg]

Most new distribution facilities or light industrial space want high ceilings like 30-36 feet. The new Amazon warehouse in Concord has 36 feet high ceilings and many older buildings are 18-24 feet tall. These lower ceiling buildings have higher vacancies than the newer construction. Warehouse space is tight in Charlotte especially for class A warehouse space (newer buildings with higher ceilings). I love to see new warehouses going up because they mean jobs and look around the area they are rising all over. A California based company that custom prints drinkware leased 152,000 sq ft in Concord for an operation that will employ up to 200. These buildings are not as glamorous as office towers but as pointed out they employ a whole lot more people. Check this out in Concord http://www.cabpnc.com/   The 400,000 sq ft building is where Amazon is among other tenants.

Here is another new warehouse park rising and half of it is already leased buried in the Arrowood industrial area.

http://www.childressklein.com/property_profiles/ridge-creek-west-distribution-center 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2016 by KJHburg

[southslider]

Charlotte has a prime area for the region's much needed industrial warehouse expansion just west of 485 and the Airport.  But for some reason, Lincoln Harris wants this to be the next Ballantyne instead.

[Silicon Dogwoods]

10 hours ago, southslider said:

Charlotte has a prime area for the region's much needed industrial warehouse expansion just west of 485 and the Airport.  But for some reason, Lincoln Harris wants this to be the next Ballantyne instead.

I thought it was going to be a mix of the two. Industrial closer to the airport and retail/residential closer to the river.

[Nick2]

That amazon warehouse was such a win for Concord. It seems like a lot of industrial development is going on in the South Carolina part of the Charlotte metro. I agree that Charlotte should work to develop a major industrial area. And that undeveloped land near i485 and the airport seems like a good opportunity. 

[Windsurfer]

13 hours ago, Nick2 said:

That amazon warehouse was such a win for Concord. It seems like a lot of industrial development is going on in the South Carolina part of the Charlotte metro. I agree that Charlotte should work to develop a major industrial area. And that undeveloped land near i485 and the airport seems like a good opportunity. 

I disagree. It's still urban sprawl.  Meanwhile, the north end of Charlotte where my 150k warehouse is located in a prime I-1 area, sits empty. Statesville Ave, and Graham Streets are devoid of anything but spotty left-over warehouses, section 8 apartments and homelessness. It's cheap land, already has the 'infrastructure',has many areas already properly zoned, has somewhat of a working force within walking distance, and yet we mow down beautiful countryside in the name of progress. Okay, I'll go back to my little corner of the 'hood' where everyone is afraid to go and shut up.

[KJHburg]

Good news report you probably haven't heard of because not much media attention. Walmart Global Shared Services has opened or is opening its new 107,000 sq ft office in Water Ridge Office Park off Tyvola. This is anywhere from 500-1000 new jobs but for some reason no big media attention other than the Business Journal story about the lease. This is the payroll, back office division of Walmart not hourly retail jobs. This was the Biggest lease of a new company to Charlotte last year and no one is really talking about it. Does anyone have any insight on this? Here is a couple photos of the new office. They have an option to buy the building and even had the landlord build them a parking deck for their employees.

Here is the Business Journal story from June but I think they recently just moved in

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/real_estate/2015/06/wal-mart-signs-12-year-lease-for-office-building.html

 

[CLTProductions]

http://m.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/bank_notes/2016/03/four-massmutual-affiliates-including-babson.html

welp. Called this and saw it coming. This is huge huge huge news for the city 

Edited March 9, 2016 by Jayvee

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Jayvee said:

http://m.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/bank_notes/2016/03/four-massmutual-affiliates-including-babson.html

welp. Called this and saw it coming. This is huge huge huge news for the city 

Took everyone long enough to post this. I've been sitting here waiting. LOL

[CLT2014]

23 minutes ago, Jayvee said:

http://m.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/bank_notes/2016/03/four-massmutual-affiliates-including-babson.html

welp. Called this and saw it coming. This is huge huge huge news for the city 

Awesome news that they kept Charlotte as the headquarters and we will have one of the top 100 asset managers in the WORLD in Charlotte to complement our banking presence. Got to get used to the name Baring! 

[urbanlover568]

15 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

Awesome news that they kept Charlotte as the headquarters and we will have one of the top 100 asset managers in the WORLD in Charlotte to complement our banking presence. Got to get used to the name Baring! 

I would go as far to say that Charlotte is Dubai of the SE(negating TX), in terms of growth and construction. All the buildings in uptown are pretty new compared to places like Atlanta or Jacksonville or even Miami. 

[HopHead]

13 minutes ago, mpretori said:

I would go as far to say that Charlotte is Dubai of the SE(negating TX), in terms of growth and construction. All the buildings in uptown are pretty new compared to places like Atlanta or Jacksonville or even Miami. 

I have a feeling that Atlanta would disagree with that notion...

[dcharlotte]

This is great news. Will help the airport, Uptown business community, and overall office and apartment market. Wins like this are how long growth spurts sustain themselves. 

13 minutes ago, mpretori said:

I would go as far to say that Charlotte is Dubai of the SE(negating TX), in terms of growth and construction. All the buildings in uptown are pretty new compared to places like Atlanta or Jacksonville or even Miami. 

Exclude Miami and you'd be correct. Miami has more towers going up within two blocks of my house than all of Charlotte. 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, dcharlotte said:

This is great news. Will help the airport, Uptown business community, and overall office and apartment market. Wins like this are how long growth spurts sustain themselves. 

Exclude Miami and you'd be correct. Miami has more towers going up within two blocks of my house than all of Charlotte. 

I don't think Nashville should be excluded either. I was in Nashville in february. Its like they have a Crane Epidemic. 

[urbanlover568]

8 minutes ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

I don't think Nashville should be excluded either. I was in Nashville in february. Its like they have a Crane Epidemic. 

They are growing pretty fast, but are ranked below charlotte. 

I have a feeling that Atlanta would disagree with that notion...

 Atlanta also grew at a slower pace last year than charlotte. 

Edited March 9, 2016 by mpretori

[Deleted.]

Well I'm happy because it will ensure more corporate contracts on the 2x daily CLT-London service! I wonder if they will lease more space in 300 ST?

Off topic, but is the 300 South tryon working for anyone? It's not for me!

Edited March 9, 2016 by Piedmont767

[KJHburg]

This is good news about Babson and Baring and MassMutual. their website for 300 South Tryon is down but before it went down it showed 200,000 sq ft for Babson and another 100,000 sq ft leased right under them to an unknown tenant. Wonder if that lease has something to do with this?  If so that would be approx. 50% preleased.  As for the building itself, I prefer to see any type of office building go up because it means one thing JOBS.     Atlanta has very little spec office construction except for one tower in Buckhead going up and a couple of built to suit towers for State Farm in Perimeter Mall area and the Comcast tower at new SunTrust Ballpark in Cobb in their sprawling suburbs.  Nashville does have some towers going up but if you look at total count of high rises versus Charlotte we have double the tall buildings they do. Nashville is going through an building boom too but their highways are more congested than Charlotte's and no mass transit options which is a problem for them.  Miami has more high rises than any city in the south and yes that includes Atlanta but most are all residential with their condo boom. Very little new office construction in Miami though their high rise condo towers are all world class for sure. Miami and Dade county has much less office space than Charlote Mecklenburg. In terms of office market size in the southeast Atlanta number one and Charlotte is number 2.   My favorite Miami project is this one http://brickellcitycentreconnect.com/project-description/   But Charlotte has a lot going on right now with 2 high rise office towers downtown and numerous hotels and apartment towers.

Edited March 10, 2016 by KJHburg

[RaleighHeelsfan]

Will any jobs be coming to Charlotte with this merger? Or is it mainly more about three companies merging and choosing Charlotte as HQ's for asset management firm? Big new either way!

[Silicon Dogwoods]

Charlotte home prices are at an all-time high:

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-10/americans-housing-wealth-recovers-7-trillion-as-prices-firm