Editorial

Bill Cavanaugh

Today you can see the reflections of Hugh McColl, Bill Lee, C.C. Cameron, John Belk, Alan and Stuart Dickson and many other forward-thinking business leaders in the Charlotte skyline. The same is true in Greensboro and Winston-Salem, where civic-minded business people — the Wachovia bankers, the RJR executives, Jefferson Pilot and the textile barons — grew their downtowns while growing profits.

But Raleigh — dominated as it is by its universities and state government — has had far fewer captains of industry to stand up for its downtown. And now one of those is retiring.

Bill Cavanaugh steps down as CEO of Progress Energy on March 1 after turning 65 and will relinquish the chairman’s role in May when he officially retires. He’s run the big utility since 1996 and took it national with the acquisition of Florida Progress in 2000.

When he wasn’t focused on making Progress’ nuclear plants the most efficient in the nation, which they were last year, Cavanaugh devoted considerable time and $100 million in company resources to rebuilding Raleigh’s urban core. The two new office towers Progress is constructing adjacent to its current headquarters, which also will contains hundreds of condos and thousands of square feet of retail space, is fueling a broader renaissance in downtown.

Since Progress made its commitment to downtown two or three years ago, a small trickle of redevelopment has turned into a steady stream. A new civic center will rise near the towers, a major convention hotel is planned, the Fayetteville Street Mall will become a street again, and the list goes on.

Cavanaugh received the Raleigh Chamber’s top award last fall, the A.E. Finley Distinguished Service Award. That occurred at about the same time Site Selection magazine – for the second year in a row — named Progress as among the nation’s top utilities for economic development. The Progress Energy Foundation doled out $9 million in grants last year.

But Cavanaugh’s lasting legacy undoubtedly will be a more vibrant downtown, and one that’s smarter, too. As perhaps his parting gift to the city, Cavanaugh more recently announced that Progress will build a third new office building downtown, with the first two floors to be occupied by a branch of the Wake County Library. Wake County, which does not now have a downtown library, is contributing $2 million to $3 million to staff and equip the facility, but Cavanaugh must raise between $10 million and $11 million in private money to build it.

In the paper the other day Cavanaugh said he will stay dedicated to the project after retirement. “I have a very keen interest in the library, but it was a priority of the company as well.”

Raleigh owes a big debt to Bill Cavanaugh. Hopefully, one of the small number of the city’s Fortune 500 types will fill his shoes.-- Steve Tuttle