Regional Business
Reports
Charlotte
15,000
Architects Coming to City's Biggest Convention
Charlotte
and the surrounding region will show off what makes the Carolinas such
a livable place when as many as 15,000 architects, designers,
engineers, developers and builders converge in Charlotte on May 9-11
for the national meeting of the American Institute of Architects. The convention is one of the largest to be held in the Queen City this
year. And the festivities hardly stop at the Charlotte city limits.
Attendees will have the opportunity to take part in about 50 tours
that will take them to destinations such as Old Salem, pottery
galleries in Seagrove, Biltmore Estate in Asheville and historic
Charleston, S.C. In Charlotte, attendees will tour the 100-year-old
neighborhoods of Myers Park and Dilworth, see adaptive reuse projects
in the city’s trendy SouthEnd district, and view Lowe’s Motor
Speedway and Ericsson Stadium, home of the Carolina Panthers. The AIA chapters of North Carolina and South Carolina are jointly
hosting the meeting. People from around the globe are expected to
attend, says Erica Rohrbacher, executive director of AIA Charlotte.
The convention’s organizers are looking for ways to draw the
community — not just architects — to the event. The three-day
convention will include a Saturday morning 5K run in downtown
Charlotte that is open to the public. Local school children will trace
stencils of famous monuments to architecture, such as the Roman
Coliseum, on the sidewalks outside the Charlotte Convention Center.
Hugh McColl, retired chairman and CEO of Bank of America, and
management guru Tom Peters will deliver keynote addresses during the
convention. McColl is widely revered for the commitment of his
personal time and bank resources toward redeveloping Charlotte’s
center city, which now includes a thriving arts district and several
new skyscrapers.
Peters is the author of many business management books, including his
most famous, “In Search of Excellence.” “This really is a wonderful convention for the city of Charlotte,
and there’s a lot of pride in having it here,” says Molly Hedrick,
director of public relations for the Charlotte Convention and Visitors
Bureau. — Laura
Williams-Tracy
Greensboro
Guilford's
'Time in History' Writes a Bold New Chapter
Guilford College didn’t waste any time reaching a $50 million
goal for its capital campaign. In fact, school officials announced in
late January that the fund-raising drive had received gifts and
pledges of $50,147,689. That total was actually reached by the end of 2001, a full year before
the expected conclusion of the campaign, but not announced until a
trustees’ meeting on Jan. 25. “To reach the goal a year ahead of schedule and to be poised to
continue the campaign and take it well beyond the original goal is
exciting news to us at Guilford,” says Don McNemar, president of the
college. “It’s fantastic to be at this point in the campaign.”
The campaign, “Our Time in History,” will pay for building needs,
scholarships and faculty development. It started in 1995, with the
public phase beginning four years later. McNemar, who announced last fall that he will step down as
Guilford’s president on June 30, says he’s especially pleased that
he will have several more months to raise additional funds for these
projects. The campaign received a significant boost in December with $3,592,758
in cash gifts. That total included a $2 million grant gift from the
Lilly Endowment Inc. of Indianapolis to fund a new initiative on faith
and practice.
Serving as co-chairmen for the campaign are M.L. Carr of Weston,
Mass., a former player, coach and executive with the pro basketball
Boston Celtics; Bob Ingram of Durham, chief operating officer and
president of pharmaceutical operations for GlaxoSmithKline; and Seth
Macon of Greensboro, a retired executive with Jefferson-Pilot Corp. Ty Buckner, director of college relations, says the focus moving
forward will be to continue to surpass a goal that seemed lofty at the
start. “From the outset, $50 million seemed ambitious for a small
college such as Guilford,” he says. “No new goal has been set.
We’ll just see where it ends up on Dec. 31.”
-- Jim Buice
Raleigh
N.C.
State Launches Plans for Hotel, Conference Center
File this under the heading of “where there’s a will,
there’s a way.” Several top officials from N.C. State University
have filed papers to form a charitable organization so that a $65
million hotel, conference center and golf course planned for
Centennial Campus can be operated without paying state and federal
income taxes.
James N. Greene III, a Charlotte lawyer representing the organizers of
N.C. State Conference Center LLC, says the limited liability company
would not be responsible for federal income taxes on revenues unless
the IRS unexpectedly rules otherwise. The LLC became necessary after a
plan fell through for the joint projects to be owned and operated by
Benchmark Hospitality, a Texas-based company, and Hines Interests,
headquartered in Chicago.
The university projects revenues of $21.8 million during the initial
year of operations for the hotel, golf course and conference center.
By the fifth year, projected annual revenues are $33.5 million. The
university’s five-year pro forma for the project estimates revenue
after expenses of $3.2 million during the first year of operation, a
figure that rises to $9.1 million by the fifth year. That money would
be applied to pay down the debt for building the facilities. All told,
in its first five years the project should bring in more than $140
million in revenue, with $31.8 million to service the debt.
In order to run the LLC as a charity, the school must demonstrate a
charitable purpose, which Greene says is “relatively broad.”
Geolas notes that the project’s completion will benefit the
university. “The priority for this project is to build and enhance
the research and academic programs at the university,” he says. N.C. State would not be alone in operating facilities such as hotels,
golf courses and conference centers. The University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill owns the historic Carolina Inn, which is leased to
Doubletree Hotels to manage. --
Kevin Brafford
Lexington
Lexington
Home Brands Splits from Parent Company
One of Davidson County’s top employers is being taken over by
its own management. Lexington Home Brands announced plans to break
away from Lifestyle Furnishings International, which was once one of
the nation’s largest furniture manufacturers. A group of executives arranged the buyout from the parent company.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but the transition was
expected to close by March 31.
Lexington Home Brands employs 3,500 workers at seven plants in
Davidson County, one in Hickory and another in Mocksville. Company
officials say they don’t expect to reduce the workforce. “This is the beginning of a new chapter in the 100-year-old legacy
of Lexington Home Brands,” says Bob Stec, president and CEO of the
company.
Lexington Home Brands, which got its start in 1901 under the name of
Dixie Furniture, was the last manufacturing division of LifeStyle to
be sold. In December, Lifestyle unloaded Henredon Furniture
Industries, Drexel Heritage Furnishings and Maitland-Smith.
Speculation had been swirling for months about the future of Lexington
Home Brands as LifeStyle, saddled with debt, sold off its divisions.
LifeStyle will shut down its High Point headquarters within a year.
Lexington Home Brands is recognized for name brands such as Bob
Timberlake, Henry Link Trading Co, Nautica, Palmer Home, Southern
Living and Tommy Bahama. The company will retain its showroom in
Thomasville.
The first visible test for the new-look company will be this month
during the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point. — Jim Buice
Charlkotte
Economic
Doldrums Delay Two Big Business Expansions
Two major building projects planned for the Charlotte region have
been put on hold until better economic times return. A year ago, North Carolina was heralding its role as a leading
producer of optical fiber when New York-based Corning Inc. announced
plans for a $450 million expansion of its Cabarrus County plant,
making it the world’s largest fiber optics manufacturing operation.
Demand for optical fiber dropped off radically last year as the
economy weakened and financing for major fiber network projects dried
up. By last October, Corning’s Cabarrus County plant had halted
production and furloughed 800 employees. A fraction of those employees
were called back to work in January. “Our plan is to continue with the expansion at a time when the
market demands it,” says Corning spokeswoman Beth Dann.
Another major building project in the region — this time in Gaston
County — has also been put on hold. Atlanta-based Mirant Corp., a global competitive energy company with
operations in North America, Europe and Asia, has delayed plans for a
$500 million merchant power plant in Gastonia.
Gaston County, which has lost at least 5,000 jobs in the past five
years from mill closures and other layoffs, was looking to get a
temporary boost of up to 300 construction jobs from the plant
construction. The company plans to continue its pursuit of regulatory
approval for the 1,200-megawatt plant, but it’s re-evaluating all of
its building projects. The company had announced in August 2001 that it would build the plant
on 120 acres adjacent to Interstate 85. Construction was to begin in
March.
The plant is what’s called a merchant power plant, which sells
energy in the wholesale market to other utilities. The wholesale
energy market is where prices have soared in California, but in North
Carolina, retail power sales remain regulated. The plant would have
been one of the largest recent industrial investments in the state. Mirant develops, constructs, owns and operates power plants and sells
wholesale electricity, natural gas and other energy commodities.
--
Laura Williams-Tracy
Hickory
City
Teaching Recycling as a Second Language
Hickory
is one of the first cities in North Carolina to undertake
the task of educating minority members of its population about
recycling and waste reduction practices, and the first to address the
issues with the Hmong population. The city has received a $12,000 state grant to implement a marketing
campaign aimed at educating non-English speaking citizens about the
recycling and proper waste disposal practices. The area is the home of
the largest Hmong population in North Carolina with census figures
showing about 900 living in Hickory and 3,000 living in Catawba
County.
The grant awarded by the North Carolina Division of Pollution
Prevention and Environmental Assistance will be used to publish
written materials and run radio spots explaining proper recycling and
waste disposal. The publications will be trilingual — published in
English, Spanish and Hmong. The radio spots will run on the local
Spanish radio station. Hickory will join a handful of other cities in the state that have
published educational materials in Spanish, but will be the first to
publish in Hmong.
“This is a pretty progressive thing to do — to reach out to these
populations,” says Kim Fenton of the N.C. Division of Pollution
Prevention and Environmental Assistance. “It is nice to see cities
like Hickory doing this. This is a growing segment of the population,
and cities are realizing that in order to ensure compliance and proper
waste reduction, it is important to reach out to them in their
language.”
The division administers the Solid Waste Management Trust Fund, from
which Hickory’s grant was awarded. Money is available to local
governments that support waste reduction efforts, and Hickory’s
grant is the largest educational grant ever awarded by the fund. It
comprises nearly 10 percent of the total grants funded by the trust. “Only the most worthy proposals were funded,” explains Fenton.
“We are delighted to have the opportunity to support such a worthy
effort and one that we’re certain will have a real and lasting
impact on the community.”
The Hickory area has seen a major boom in its minority population
during the last decade with the Catawba, Caldwell, Alexander and Burke
counties outpacing statewide growth in Hispanics and Hmongs. That
growth has been attributed to the availability of manufacturing jobs
that require little or no mastery of the English language. --
Charlene
H. Nelson
Raleigh
CP&L
Parent Puts a Charge in Downtown Revitalization
Progress Energy has purchased additional property in downtown
Raleigh from First Citizens Bank is what’s being viewed as a win-win
transaction for the energy company, the bank and the city.
Progress Energy, the parent company of Carolina Power and Light, has
placed under contract the majority of the property bounded by East
Davie, South Wilmington, East Martin and South Blount streets and an
adjoining parcel fronting on the mall. This marks the second major
investment Progress Energy has made in the downtown area in the past
two years, with both acquisitions earmarked for mixed-use development.
“There are a number of great projects under way downtown and
Progress Energy wants to play a role in sustaining the momentum to
create a commercial, civic and cultural center for the city,” says
Bill Cavanaugh, the company’s chairman, president and CEO.
The site is slightly larger than four acres and is centrally located
between City Market, the future Progress Energy mixed-use development
announced just two months ago, and new residential and office space
that is being developed on the Fayetteville Street Mall. “First Citizens agreed to sell this property to Progress Energy
because they have plans for its best and highest use,” says Alex
MacFadyen Jr., group vice president and manager of government affairs
for the bank, which is headquartered in North Raleigh. “We believe
the sale is in the best interest of downtown Raleigh’s future,
because the bank was viewing the property’s development from a much
longer perspective.”
Financial terms of the sale, which is scheduled to close in August,
were not disclosed. —
Kevin Brafford
Winston-Salem
Minority
Health Center Named for Poet Angelou
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center hopes to address
minority health issues through the formation of the Maya Angelou
Research Center on Minority Health. Officials from the medical center hope to raise a $20 million
endowment to operate the center, which will explore the causes of
minority health problems, recruit and train minority faculty and
students, and broaden student education.
The center is named for Angelou, a poet, author, civil rights activist
and Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest. She will
serve on the steering committee along with Robert J. Brown, chairman
and CEO of B&C Associates Inc., an international public relations
company in High Point; and Eldridge C. Hanes, vice chairman of the
Encore Group, a giftware company with administrative offices in
Winston-Salem.
Brown and Hanes will serve as co-chairs for the center’s national
advisory board, which also includes Coretta Scott King, the widow of
civil rights leader, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; and Andrew
Young, the former ambassador to the United Nations.
Studies reveal that minority Americans — African Americans,
Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans — are less likely than white
people to live long and healthy lives and that physicians have less
data about the prevention or treatment of diseases in these groups. Researchers will focus on six major areas in minority health: infant
mortality, cancer screening and management, cardiovascular diseases,
diabetes, HIV and AIDS, and immunizations for children and adults.
“Wake Forest University School of Medicine is refocusing its efforts
to address these health issues,” says Dr. Richard H. Dean, president
of Wake Forest University Health Sciences. “In establishing the Maya
Angelou Research Center on Minority Health, we will create a model
that can be replicated to serve the health needs of other communities
across the nation.”
The medical school recently received two grants to assist in funding
the center: $500,000 from the Duke Endowment and $80,000 from the
Winston-Salem Foundation. — Jim Buice
Durham
Bulls
Celebrate 100th Anniversary of Baseball's Birth in City
There have been thousands of both wins and losses, hundreds of
good old-fashioned brawls and at least a dozen or so promotions that
have gone sour. Those are some of what’s marked professional
baseball in Durham, which was born in the Bull City 100 years ago this
month. The Durham Bulls, now the Class AAA affiliate of the American
League’s Tampa Bay Devil Rays, will celebrate the occasion with a
series of special Friday night game promotions during the season. The
club, which has been owned since 1990 by Jim Goodmon’s Capitol
Broadcasting Co., are coming off a year in which a franchise record
505,319 fans went through the turnstiles. The 2002 home opener is set
for April 9 at 7 p.m. against Louisville.
Pro baseball originated in the city on April 24, 1902, when the Durham
Tobacconists played an exhibition game against Trinity College — now
Duke University. Eleven years later, they were renamed the Bulls and
have remained so since, save for 1971-80, when minor league baseball
didn’t exist in Durham. Here are some of the more memorable moments in Durham baseball
history:
 June 2, 1951: Danville
shortstop Mike Romello slugs umpire Emil Davidzuk after being called
out for leaving third base early. A judge in the Durham Athletic Park
arrests him on the spot, and he’s later fined $25.
April 6, 1995: Seven years
after then-owner Miles Wolff’s original proposal, the Durham Bulls
Athletic Park opens its gates. A crowd of 10,886 turn out, and the
first Bulls batter is an outfielder named Wonderful Terrific Monds
III.
April 9, 1980: Two days
before the season opener, the Bulls uniforms are stolen. Atlanta
Braves minor league director Hank Aaron sends the team a set of old
Braves uniforms to wear on the road, and the team wears its road
uniforms at home.
May 28, 1982: Durham manager Bobby Dews loses his composure while
arguing with the umpires. He removes second base and hurls it into the
stands, then takes off his jacket and jersey and leaves them on the
mound. He then powders his underarms with the rosin bag and punts it
into the air.
May 22, 1995: On “Strike
Out Domestic Violence Night,” 10 players are ejected following a
brawl that takes more than 30 minutes to sort out.
For more information about the Bulls,
call 919-687-6500 or visit www.durhambulls.com. -- Kevin
Brafford
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