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Regional Business Reports for June
2003
Charlotte
Posh new hotel wows the locals
and boosts tourism
Last month’s opening of the $143 million Westin Charlotte is expected to
provide more than just posh accommodations to guests visiting the Queen City.
From the trademarked Heavenly Bed with white duvet to the martinis at the sleek
Bar 10 lounge to the Jerusalem sandstone in the lobby floor, the hotel’s
management has set its sights on stamping its brand on a city that has lacked a
convention hotel. “I think we will raise the bar for the whole city,” says
Jon Kimball, the hotel’s general manager.
Across the street from the Charlotte Convention Center, the city’s largest
hotel will dispatch flocks of visitors from its 700 rooms to the new shops and
restaurants emerging at the nearby Ratcliffe on the Green condominiums. It
eventually will connect patrons to an uptown arena under construction to the
north and the entertainment and shopping district of South End, once a trolley
is running.
To some degree, the hotel has already been a success. The Westin has enabled
Visit Charlotte, the former Charlotte Convention & Visitors Bureau, to
recruit larger meetings in the past year. Statistics show that the average size
of a convention booked in the city is up 21 percent year-to-date, to about 1,253
room-nights at a convention’s peak, and is growing.
For uptown, conventions and business travel may pose the most tourism potential.
The city doesn’t boast the usual tourism draws found in other large
metropolitan areas and thus has less immediate appeal to vacationers. But as
home to two of the nation’s top five banks in Bank of America and Wachovia,
and as home to US Airways’ largest hub, it is an ideal business location.
The city made the hotel a priority in 1999, after losing a bid to lure the 2000
Republican National Convention, in part because of the lack of nearby hotel
rooms. City officials wanted the project enough to even contribute $16 million
toward its construction.
Long before it welcomed its first guest, the hotel was enhancing the city’s
appeal as a drawing card. “This gave us something else to talk about,” says
Rex White, national director of sales for Visit Charlotte. The bureau’s
nine-person sales force, White notes, has been revisiting groups that overlooked
Charlotte, explaining how much easier it is to get conventioneers to and from
events and to book large blocks of rooms.
Those interested in just a weekend getaway will discover that standard rooms go
for around $149 per night, while the rate for the two 25th-floor corner
presidential suites, named Polk and Jackson, is $750 per night. — Kevin
Brafford
Triad
Survey ranks Metro area cheapest
for corporate offices
A national study shows the Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point area offers
Fortune 500 companies the lowest costs to operate a corporate headquarters among
30 major U.S. metropolitan areas. The Boyd Co. of Princeton, N.J., ranked the
Triad first in its survey, projecting it would take $32.3 million annually to
operate a business. The study done by the site consulting firm researched metro
areas with major concentrations of Fortune 500 headquarters sites in the United
States based on rankings compiled by Fortune magazine. The Triad serves as home
to four Fortune 500 companies: BB&T and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in
Winston-Salem and Jefferson-Pilot Corp. and VF Corp. in Greensboro.
“This ranking is significant for the Piedmont Triad because companies are
continually searching to lower operating costs,” says Don Kirkman, president
and CEO of the Piedmont Triad Partnership, which is the 12-county region’s
economic development and marketing organization. “Companies that have cut
costs in their manufacturing, distribution and back office operations are now
looking for cost-reduction strategies for their headquarters facilities.”
San Antonio, Texas, ranked second in the Boyd study with annual costs of $33.3
million, followed by Richmond, Va. ($33.5 million), Fort Worth/Arlington, Texas
($34.5 million) and Charlotte ($34.8 million). On the other end of the scale,
the most expensive metro areas to operate corporate headquarters included San
Jose, Calif. ($45.7 million), San Francisco ($45 million), New York ($44.1
million) and Los Angeles ($42 million).
Business leaders and officials in the Triad hope the positive publicity will
boost recruiting areas. “The Piedmont Triad is a viable alternative for
corporations seeking a value location for their office locations,” Kirkman
says. “The region offers the combination of lower costs and a very attractive
location for companies and their employees.” — Jim Buice
Cary
World's best women soccer players
meet for All-Star Game
The world’s most popular sport has taken a foothold in the Triangle, thanks in
large part to the world’s largest privately held software company. The
marriage between soccer and SAS has spawned a sparkling, state-of-the-art
7,000-seat stadium in Cary and last year brought a championship women’s
professional team as its primary tenant. This month, more recognition is
forthcoming when the best women’s players in the world converge on June 19 at
7:30 p.m. for the WUSA All-Star Game.
This second annual all-star get-together will feature the WUSA’s American
stars competing against the WUSA’s world stars and will provide a look at all
of the top players who are expected to compete in the World Cup in China in
September and October. Seven different countries were represented in last
year’s inaugural game in Portland, Ore.
“We are proud to showcase the world’s best female players and one of the
finest soccer stadiums in the country during this World Cup year,” WUSA
President and CEO Lynn Morgan says. “The inaugural All-Star Game in Portland
last summer was a tremendous event, and we believe this year’s celebration of
soccer will be even better.”
In conjunction with the agreement to purchase naming rights, SAS is also a
presenting sponsor of the defending WUSA champion Carolina Courage. SAS
maintains a skybox at the stadium and uses it, plus premium and general seating
tickets in the venue, to host community gatherings, employee events, and to
entertain customers.
Tickets for the All-Star Game are priced at $35 and $25 and can be purchased
through Ticketmaster at 919-834-4000 or at www.ticketmaster.com.
-- Kevin Brafford
Norlina
Transportation museum opens in a
town created by travel
Since its earliest times, travel has played a key role in the history of
Norlina, the tiny Warren County town near the Virginia state line. So it is
fitting that the town’s new museum resides in a vintage rail car. More than a
hundred guests recently joined local, state and regional officials in
celebrating the grand opening of the Norlina Museum. “It’s our way of giving
something back to the people of Norlina,” says Clyde Smith, president of the
Norlina Community Development Association, which created and operates the
museum. The attraction, which is open to the public free of charge, details the
town’s evolution from a Native American trading post to a bustling stopover
for highway and rail travelers in the first half of the 20th century. Exhibits
also highlight the community’s agribusiness heritage.
But it’s the extensive collection of memorabilia from the Seaboard Air Line
Railroad that makes the museum a must-see for train buffs. Rail passengers
from across the eastern U.S. would transfer at the company’s Norlina depot for
passage to Portsmouth, Va. Seaboard retirees, many of whom had donated items to
the museum, were among those in attendance at the ribbon-cutting. “This town
was built on the railroad,” says Allen Kimball, executive director of the
Warren County Economic Development Commission. During Norlina’s zenith, 18
passenger trains and 24 freight trains rolled through each day, according to
Kimball.
By the early 1930s, Norlina was a popular stopping point for motorists traveling
U.S. 1, which cut through town. Three decades later, the completion of
I-85 and I-95 diverted traffic east and west, taking much of Norlina’s economy
with it. “Transportation created Norlina, and changes in transportation really
hit the town hard,” says Charles Hayes, president of the Research Triangle
Regional Partnership and a Norlina native.
With plans for high-speed passenger trains connecting Washington and Atlanta,
there is now hope that rail may be part of the town’s future. “Service will
go through Norlina, just a few yards from the museum” says Patrick Simmons,
director of the rail division at the North Carolina Department of
Transportation. -- Lawrence Bivins
Brunswick County
DOT considers new expressway to
ease access from Grand Strand
North Carolina transportation officials are considering extending a South
Carolina expressway built to relieve traffic congestion along the Grand Strand
into growing Brunswick County. The six-lane Carolina Bays Parkway, which opened
late last year, parallels U.S. 17 just west of the Intracoastal Waterway. South
Carolina officials believe the initial 20-mile leg of the limited-access
roadway, which runs from S.C. 9 near Little River to Myrtle Beach, will draw
traffic off congested and highly developed U.S. 17.
But the infant parkway, also known as S.C. 31, is already changing traffic
patterns north of the state line. Hickman Road, once a quiet two-lane road that
runs from the parkway’s terminus on S.C. 9 to U.S. 17 in Brunswick County near
the Brunswick Plantation Golf Resort, already is feeling the effects.
To help handle the expected traffic growth tied to the new freeway, North
Carolina is proposing to piggyback on South Carolina’s plan to extend the
parkway five miles north to the state line. “We don’t want South Carolina to
build a highway to the state line and just have it dead-end there,” Mike Bruff,
manager of DOT’s statewide planning branch, told the Wilmington Star-News.
The proposed parkway extension would have the highway link up with U.S. 17 in
the vicinity of Hickman Road. “We’re essentially looking somewhere in there
to find a logical corridor to extend the parkway and tie it back into U.S.
17,” Bruff said, adding that the DOT will probably share the consultant South
Carolina hires for its highway segment to save time and provide continuity.
Such a study likely will be more extensive than a typical feasibility study and
will include public hearings and some environmental review, according to Lanny
Wilson, who represents Southeastern North Carolina on the N.C. Board of
Transportation. The North Carolina portion of the feasibility study is expected
to cost around $185,000 and take about a year. The findings should help
establish a rough cost estimate for the highway, which would be built to
interstate standards for possible future designation as part of Interstate 74.
— Kevin Brafford
Hickory
Expanded airport will great pro
golfers at new tourney
When golfers and guests fly into Hickory for the inaugural Greater Hickory
Classic in September, a Champions Tour event featuring the best 50-and-older
players in the world, the airport will be showing off a new face. As corporate
jets and private planes touch down at the Hickory Regional Airport, the first
sight passengers will see is a brand new $1.2 million terminal, which is
scheduled for completion just prior to the tournament week of Sept. 22-28.
“The first thing they will see is a first-class building,” says Tom Carr,
the city’s executive assistant for development. “It is also a way to sell
the fact that Hickory is a first-class community.”
The championship will be played at Rock Barn Golf & Country Club in nearby
Conover. Because Hickory is the largest city in the tri-city area of Conover,
Newton and Hickory in Catawba County, is the only one with an airport, and
houses the largest number of restaurants and hotels, it is likely to benefit
most from the thousands of people expected to attend the tournament.
Tournament organizers are anticipating that the event will pump $25 million to
$50 million into the area economy, according to Millie Barbee, president of the
Hickory Metro Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Profile Aviation is building
the new terminal with some help from the City of Hickory, which owns the airport
and contracts with the company for fixed-based services to the approximately 150
corporate and private aircraft based at the airport. The city renegotiated its
contract with the company to earmark about $580,000 in funds for construction of
the new terminal. The city also has agreed to lease 3,000 square feet in office
space on the second floor, adding an additional $300,000 in city funds.
US Airways ran a commuter service between Hickory and Charlotte for years, but
discontinued it last year. The city currently is negotiating with a commercial
carrier that has proposed providing service from Hickory and five other smaller
airports to Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Hickory and the other five
cities — Southern Pines, Fayetteville, New Bern, Wilmington and Kinston —
are seeking federal funding to defray some of the costs of such a service. The
city also is expanding the airport’s passenger holding area and making
improvements to the runway. As one of the smaller airports to have its own
tower, it also is replacing 25-year-old radio equipment in the tower.
“We are doing all this for four reasons,” says Carr. “One is to meet FAA
requirements. Two, we have a lot of corporate jets flying into the airport and
we have to maintain the facilities for them. Three, we want to attract a
commercial air service. And, four, we want to make the community more attractive
to businesses.” -- Charlene H. Nelson
Charlotte
Belk Foundation grant boosts
international business programs
The Belk Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Belk department store
organization, has pledged $1.5 million to the Belk College of Business
Administration at UNC Charlotte. The gift, made at the direction of Belk
chairman and former Charlotte mayor John M. Belk, will support the college’s
international business programs, including the development of courses taught
with faculty from foreign universities, international study and travel exchanges
for students and faculty and a new MBA curriculum in international business.
“In today’s global business environment, it is critical that students have
an understanding not only of international practices, but of the cultural and
historical factors that influence the way business is conducted around the
world,” says Claude Lilly, dean of the Belk College. “We are extremely
grateful to John Belk and the trustees of the Belk Foundation for their support
of our international efforts.”
This recent gift continues the Belks’ strong legacy of generosity at UNC
Charlotte. Members of the Belk family have served in volunteer leadership
positions at the university since its founding and have contributed to numerous
projects on campus. Johnny Belk, president of finance, systems and operations of
Belk, currently serves as chair of the college’s Business Advisory Council.
UNC Charlotte is in the midst of the most ambitious and successful fund-raising
campaign in university history. H.C. “Smoky” Bissell, who chairs the
campaign as well as the university’s board of trustees, says the Belk
Foundation gift commitment comes at critical juncture. “John Belk’s
philanthropic leadership, as well as that of the Belk Foundation, provides a
significant boost to the campaign in addition to providing instrumental support
for the university’s international business programs.”
To date, the university has secured more than $82 million in campaign gifts and
commitments. The campaign goal is $100 million. “This gift will extend and
enhance the university’s intellectual capital, which is so important for the
Charlotte region, our students and alumni,” says James Woodward, the
university’s chancellor. “We are honored to have earned John’s and the
Belk Foundation’s continued confidence.” — Natasha Ashe
Raleigh
Top-10 ranking bestowed on
chamber's growth efforts
Wake County Economic Development (WCED), a program of the Greater Raleigh
Chamber of Commerce, has been designated as one of the top 10 non-state economic
development agencies in the country by Site Selection magazine. The ranking
recognizes agencies that excelled in their efforts to attract business expansion
activity relative to other groups throughout the country. The top groups were
selected based on four categories: new jobs; new jobs per 10,000 residents; new
investment amount; and new investment amount per 10,000 residents. They were
ranked according to their scoring in these categories and then evaluated
according to more subjective criteria, including innovative programs, leadership
and customer service.
“We have instituted an aggressive and innovative, technology-focused marketing
campaign that combines e-mail and video to spread our message to these potential
companies, both nationwide and internationally,” said Ken Atkins, executive
director of WCED.
Corporate site selectors often tap economic development agencies to provide
information and assistance during the lengthy process a company undergoes to
relocate or expand. The top-10 economic development groups’ ranking appeared
in the May issue of Site Selection. — Kevin Brafford
Cary
German semiconductor maker gets
first job development grant
Infineon Technologies North America Corp., a German company that is the
world’s sixth-largest semiconductor maker, is the first company to receive a
grant under the state’s new Job Development Investment Grant program. The
grant was authorized last month by the state Economic Investment Committee.
The company, which plans to create as many as 400 new jobs over five years at a
new $8 million facility it’s building in Cary, could get as much as $9.5
million from the state over the coming 11 years. Estimated salaries for the new
positions are more than $75,000.
For each year the company meets job-creation targets, the state will provide a
grant equal to 65 percent of the state income taxes generated by the new jobs.
“The availability of the job development grant was a key factor in our
decision to locate in North Carolina, along with the state’s pool of trained
high-tech workers, outstanding education institutions, reasonable cost of living
and quality-of-life considerations,” said company president Robert LeFort.
Under the new program, which was strongly supported by NCCBI, qualifying
companies can get back up to 75 percent of the state income taxes paid by
workers in new jobs the companies create. The program is targeted at industrial
projects whose benefits exceed their costs to the state and which would not
locate in North Carolina without the grant.
The N.C. Department of Commerce estimates the project will generate a cumulative
gross state product increase of about $620 million and a cumulative net state
fiscal impact of $10.3 million over the life of the grant, as well as 668 jobs
from all sources.
Infineon employs more than 30,000 people in 22 countries and has operated an
R&D operation in RTP since 1999. Infineon’s 70 RTP employees will move to
the new Cary facility when it opens early this fall. The company reported second
quarter revenues of $1.69 billion, up 13 percent from the year-ago period, and a
net quarterly loss of $374 million.
Seagrove
Food processing plant to grow
dozens of jobs
The southern Randolph County town of Seagrove has been buoyed by the
announcement that Yankee Commodity Foods Inc. plans to locate a new
manufacturing operation in the former Luck’s Foods facility. The Norfolk,
Va.-based company is acquiring the 188,000-square-foot facility and existing
equipment from ConAgra Grocery Products to open Seagrove Foods Inc., a
processing plant that will produce canned greens, apples, green beans and sweet
potatoes. The company will invest $3.4 million in the project and create 94 new
jobs within two years.
President Gregory Allen says the Seagrove operation is a major growth step for
his company and will serve as the only minority-owned canner of fruits and
vegetables in the United States. “We’re excited about this opportunity to
expand our business and meet the growing needs of our customers for processed
and unprocessed foods,” he says.
Yankee Commodity Foods Inc. supplies more than 100 food commodities to domestic
and international customers, including state and federal government departments.
The new operation will be the company’s first manufacturing plant and first
operation in North Carolina.
“This is a great project for our area,” says Bonnie Renfro, president of the
Randolph County Economic Development Corp. “It’s a win-win situation for
everyone. Greg and his team get a turnkey facility and equipment and have
well-experienced quality workers ready to start. For the community and
residents, we gain a new corporate citizen, job opportunities and state support
for infrastructure.”
The town of Seagrove expects to use state grants to fund upgrades to its new
sewer system. The sewer system is the first for Seagrove, made possible through
the purchase of the private system operated by the Luck’s plant. Seagrove will
use a grant from the North Carolina Rural Center to purchase the system and
additional grants to fund its expansion. Allen said he is working with Seagrove
government officials and Renfro to secure grant funds to upgrade the system and
build additional capacity. -- Kevin Brafford
Pinehurst
16 executives named to U.S. Open
council
Sixteen of North Carolina’s leading corporate executives have been named to
the President’s Council for the 2005 U.S. Open Championship as the drive
begins to generate corporate support for the men’s tournament’s return to
Pinehurst No. 2. The council is chaired by First Citizens Vice Chairman and COO
Jim Hyler, who recently completed a year as chair of NCCBI. Other members of the
council, listed alphabetically, are: John Belk, chair and CEO of Belk Store
Services Inc.; Bob Brown, founder, chair and CEO of B&C Associates; Bill
Cavanaugh, chairman, president and CEO of Progress Energy; Mac Everett, senior
executive vice president with Wachovia Corp. and a past chair of NCCBI; and
Peter Foss, director of corporate accounts for General Electric.
Also, Bob Greczyn, president and CEO of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North
Carolina; Johnny Harris, president and CEO of Lincoln Harris; George Henderson,
chairman and CEO of Burlington Industries; Peter Karmanos, CEO of the Carolina
Hurricanes; former Gov. Jim Martin, vice president of research for Carolinas
Medical Center; Steve Parrott, state executive for North and South Carolina for
Sprint; Rick Priory, chairman, president and CEO of Duke Energy; Dean Smith,
former head basketball coach at the University of North Carolina; and Gene
Taylor, president of consumer and commercial banking with Bank of America.
The council, originally created for the 1999 U.S. Open, plays a key role in
generating corporate support. That year’s Open set records for corporate
hospitality sales and contributed an estimated $180 million to the state’s
economy. In January 2000, the United State Golf Association announced the return
of the Open to Pinehurst after only six years — the quickest return of the
event to a site in more than six decades.
“The U.S. Open at Pinehurst is clearly an opportunity to invest in the growth
of our state and in your best client relationships,” says Hyler. “Companies
who participate in the 2005 U.S. Open are some of our best ambassadors. They
recognize what the Open means to our state and what the business development
opportunities mean to our economy in general.”
Wilmington
Port's new grain facility boosts
commodity imports
The North Carolina State Ports Authority and Wilmington Bulk LLC have opened a
new facility that will facilitate large shipments of grain and other commodities
through the Port of Wilmington. The semicircular facility, as tall as a
six-story building, occupies just less than three acres and can house up to
62,500 tons of wheat.
Construction of the concrete and galvanized steel structure began in July 1999
and was financed in large part by an $11 million “special user” bond issued
by the Ports Authority and repaid through revenues from the operation.
“This is the biggest joint-venture partnership in over 30 years for the
authority and the most significant new construction investment in the Wilmington
port in at least a decade,” says Eric Stromberg, executive director of the
Ports Authority.
The Ports Authority will operate the dockside conveyor and hopper systems, which
handle product from a vessel to a state-of-the-art circular bin. “The partners
in this project have been working on this for the past eight years,” says
Jimmy Kissner, president of Wilmington Bulk. “This import facility at the Port
of Wilmington will allow us to smooth out our animal feed distribution cycle
when supplies might be limited.”
Other partners in the Wilmington Bulk facility are Warsaw-based Murphy-Brown,
LLC, the livestock production subsidiary of Smithfield Foods Inc., and Prestage
Farms, a hog and poultry production company in Clinton. “This is the
culmination of the team approach we like to use to meet our customers’ needs
as well as the state’s business and industry,” says Stromberg.
Adds Louise McColl, vice chair of the Port Authority’s board: “These
opportunities are being made available for the first time to our agribusiness
sector through a permanent infrastructure at the Port of Wilmington. The Ports
Authority is honored to serve as the gateway of new global access for this
significant segment of our state’s economy.”
In addition to soy meal, it is anticipated that corn, salt, limestone, wheat and other ingredients will be imported through the Wilmington facility. --
Karen Fox
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