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Charlotte Business Journal
More workers are staying with their current employer in 2024
Most U.S. employees are now choosing to stay with their jobs instead of looking for new ones, a sharp turnaround from the job reshuffling that was common during the Covid-19 pandemic. <\p> A new survey by global advisory firm WTW found 72% of employees are choosing to stay with their employer — up substantially from the 53% who said the same thing in 2022. Back then, about 25% of workers were open to job offers, compared to just 11% now.<\p>
Prospective homebuyers are missing out as sellers cut their prices
The chronically troublesome housing market is seeing more price drops, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into relief for homebuyers.<\p> Data from real estate firm Redfin Corp. shows 6.4% of active listings on the platform had a price drop through the week ending May 26. While that's not a massive portion of listings, the percentage is substantially higher than the 4.4% of listings with price drops recorded during the same time in 2023.<\p>
A rising cost for companies and employees takes hold as summer arrives
Editor's Note: Welcome to The Playbook Edition, a look at stories, trends and changes that could affect your business and career. Want more stories like this in your inbox? Sign up for The Playbook newsletter. <\p> In the coming weeks, schools around the nation will be out, and many employees will find themselves scrambling for child care options.<\p>
Luxury rideshare service revs up expansion
Goldsainte, a luxury rideshare startup based in Charlotte, is planning to stretch its footprint to 38 states over the next five years. <\p> Founded in 2021, the company utilizes only franchisee-owned Bentley, Rolls Royce, Maybach and Infiniti QX80 vehicles. As part of its expansion, Goldsainte aims to leverage a new, franchise-centric growth strategy by establishing 300 rideshare territories within its targeted states.<\p>
Big shift ahead for Charlotte apartments
Charlotte’s decade-long apartment boom is coming to an end. Sort of.<\p> Developers will continue to pump out projects underway or deep in the planning process across the region over the next 12 months. After that, the high-interest-rate environment, slowing demand and falling rents will put a collective halt to a building boom unmatched in decades.<\p>
PHOTOS: Old West-style venue up for sale
Weddings and the Old West collide at this property in Monroe on the market for $2.9 million.<\p> The Charlotte office of Premier Sotheby’s International Realty is marketing the sale of The Seed Mill Event Barn and Huckleberry Creek Western Town Event Venue at 4601 Griffith Road. Todd Wise and Blake Benfield are overseeing those efforts.<\p>
Bankrupt builder's home portfolio for sale
The single-family residential assets of Charlotte-based homebuilder Arbor Construction are up for sale after the company filed for Chapter 7 liquidation earlier this year.<\p> Iron Horse Auction Co. and Great Neck Realty Co. have begun marketing 26 single-family homes built by Arbor. The assets made up most of Arbor's portfolio at the time of its bankruptcy filing, court documents show. The portfolio up for sale includes completed or nearly finished homes in Lancaster, Waxhaw, Indian Land and Fort Lawn. <\p>
SouthPark office building gets upgrades
Charlotte-based Big V Property Group is investing several million dollars to renovate and upgrade a SouthPark office building.<\p> The commercial real estate firm is planning to spend more than $3 million at 6201 Fairview to upfit the entire fourth floor, which will become its new headquarters, said Scott Cozzali, Big V vice president of construction. The space is expected to deliver in September, and Cozzali said the company's 40 employees will move in before the end of 2024.<\p>
ACC baseball tourney nears record turnout
The return of the ACC Baseball Championship to Charlotte last week was a home run for organizers. Attendance for the 15-game, six-day tournament totaled 71,118, second highest in the event’s 50-year history.<\p> Truist Field, home of the Charlotte Knights, hosted the tournament, as it did in 2021 and 2022. The Knights are the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.<\p>
Northlake Mall lands new concept
Belk Outlet is expanding to Charlotte’s Northlake Mall — the first location of that concept in the Tar Heel State.<\p> The Charlotte-based retailer will convert the second floor of its 180,000-square-foot store at Northlake Mall into a Belk Outlet location. Work on that project is slated to begin in June, with the outlet site opening in September.<\p>
Company creating 170 local jobs
A manufacturer of waste collection trucks and equipment will more than triple the footprint of its local operations in Rowan County.<\p> Amrep, a subsidiary of Charlotte-based Wastequip, is creating 170 jobs with the expansion of its East Coast manufacturing facility in Salisbury. The $21 million project calls for more than 80,000 square feet of new building space adjacent to its facility at 1405 Julian Road. <\p>
Law school upfit to cost $2.2M
Elon University is investing more than $2 million to upfit the South End space that will house its regional law school program.<\p> Janet Williams, Elon vice president of finance and administration, told Charlotte Business Journal that construction on the university's 14,000-square-foot space at 330 W. Tremont Ave. will begin this summer. Edifice Construction is the project's general contractor.<\p>
PHOTOS: $34M museum unveiled
Five years after closing, Charlotte’s aviation museum returned this week with a new $34 million home. And a new name. <\p> The Sullenberger Aviation Museum opens June 1, just off the runway at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in the northeast corner of the airport property. <\p>
New Charlotte unicorn making growth moves
A clean-tech unicorn based in Charlotte is folding its solar construction arm into a subsidiary, it said today. It's aimed at enabling the firm to boost investments in its digital platform and expand its product line. <\p> Palmetto, a clean-energy software company, plans to shift its solar installation business to PlugPV, a solar energy and battery storage provider wholly owned by the firm. The consolidation increases investment opportunities in high-growth areas at Palmetto such as its core platform that markets, finances, delivers and services solar energy products for customers all in one place. The transition is expected to be complete in six months, said Chris Kemper, Palmetto's founder, CEO and chairman.<\p>
Deal struck to advance Red Line?
City leaders reportedly have reached an agreement with Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) that would allow a long-planned commuter rail line to move forward.<\p> CBJ news partner WSOC-TV reports that an email from Charlotte City Manager Marcus Jones confirmed a nonbinding agreement to acquire rights to use existing railroad tracks owned by Norfolk Southern. That would be a key step in advancing the Red Line Commuter Rail, which would run from uptown Charlotte to suburban towns in the Lake Norman area. <\p>
Can MTC overcome internal battles?
The Metropolitan Transit Commission approved Charlotte Area Transit System’s budget Wednesday, avoiding potential delays for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.<\p> But the quick discussion and approval of CATS’ budget quickly devolved into a discussion of the lingering mistrust and dissatisfaction among the transit commission members from Charlotte city government, Mecklenburg County and the six neighboring towns.<\p>
Uptown project spurs incentives debate
For more than an hour today, Reed Kracke and Welch Liles took a small group of reporters through the former Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) headquarters on South Church Street.<\p> Kracke and Liles of locally based Asana Partners showed off the 50-year-old property, touting its ready-made conversion features. Asana is a real estate investment firm focused on retail, reuse and urban areas. Along with partner firm MRP Realty of Washington, D.C., it bought the 778,000-square-foot building in December 2022.<\p>
PHOTOS: Inside uptown's newest restaurant
Kitchen + Kocktails by Kevin Kelley is almost ready for its debut.<\p> The 3,500-square-foot restaurant is slated to open in uptown on June 1. It is at Queen City Quarter, formerly the EpiCentre. It’s snagged a corner spot, opposite the Omni Charlotte Hotel and The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte.<\p>
Pharma giant doubles local investment pledge
Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) is moving closer to a production start at its massive manufacturing campus in Concord. The pharmaceutical giant has also shattered its investment pledge there and already filled hundreds of jobs. <\p> Lilly is planning to begin medicine production in Concord by the end of this year, a company spokesperson confirmed to the Charlotte Business Journal. The company's total investment in the site surpassed $2 billion, which is more than double its initial investment pledge of $1 billion. <\p>
New details on massive uptown project
Asana Partners and MRP Realty today revealed detailed plans for the $250 million redevelopment of Duke Energy Corp.'s former headquarters at Brooklyn Village Avenue and Church Street in uptown Charlotte.<\p> The Brooklyn & Church project will be a complete overhaul of the 800,000-square-foot corner building and Charlotte's first office-to-mixed use conversion. The plan includes converting the 1970s-era office tower into 448 luxury apartments with 25,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and demolishing the front lobby and atrium. That would reduce the total square footage by about 230,000 and make way for a three-story, 30,000-square-foot retail building. <\p>
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