CHARLOTTE — Amazon nixed Charlotte’s $270 million economic incentives package, snubbing the Queen City in the process.  But with the announcement of four major economic development initiatives in the past four weeks that are set to add as many as 2,715 good paying jobs to the economy, the Queen City intends to cultivate a strong workforce to attract and retain companies and skilled individuals.

Companies expand in locations where they can either find talent or attract talent to join the region, said Tracy Dodson, assistant city manager for the City of Charlotte.

“If you build a great city, and you build a great region, you attract the talent and you retain the talent,” said Dodson.  “When there’s a city within a region where people want to live, companies can thrive, and their employees can thrive.”

And Charlotte appears to be attracting and retaining talent, with the region growing at nearly 14 percent since 2010, ranking among the top 35 fastest-growing cities by population in 2017 by the U.S. Census Bureau.

That’s more than 300,000 people that have relocated to Charlotte in seven years, and the Queen City nets roughly 60 new residents per day.  And that’s good for Charlotte, said Dodson, and good for companies that are expanding or looking to relocate to the region.

“People want to be here,” said Dodson.  “We’re trying to leverage that with companies.”

Cognizant expands, adding 300 jobs

In the latest economic development announcement, Cognizant and North Carolina Govenor Roy Cooper announced the expansion of the software company’s Charlotte headquarters yesterday.  The company plans to add 300 additional jobs, bringing their employee workforce to around 3,000 total jobs in North Carolina.

Cognizant plans to fuel its expansion in partnership with Charlotte startup Tech Talent South, a coding bootcamp, and the North Carolina Community College System as well as local universities in the Queen City.

Average salaries for the 300 new jobs will be $68,317, and the company will invest $5 million in Mecklenburg County, according to the terms of the deal.  The State of North Carolina, through a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG), will reimburse the company more than $2 million as it meets job creation and investment targets.

AvidXchange to expand corporate headquarters in current location

Charlotte’s fast-growing financial technology firm AvidXchange this week announced plans to expand their Charlotte headquarters location and add 1,229 jobs, increasing the company’s total workforce to 1,800 full-time employees.

“The current building is almost at capacity,” said AvidXchange CEO Michael Praeger in an interview with WRAL Tech Wire.  “We’ll expand our current campus to accommodate the growth.”

The company says it will invest $41 million as a part of their growth commitment, and North Carolina will reimburse AvidXchange nearly $20 million in payroll tax rebates throughout a span of 12 years if all new job commitments are met.

Praeger intends to meet these commitments by hiring and retaining great teammates who are passionate about the business and about customer success.  Though the company considered opening an office in another city, said Praeger, the company chose to remain in Charlotte.  A more formal plan for the expansion will be unveiled in early 2019, said Praeger.

Honeywell moving headquarters to Charlotte

Fortune 100 technology company Honeywell announced their intention to relocate their global headquarters to Charlotte in 2019, moving or creating 750 jobs that average a projected $85,000 in salary to the Queen City by the end of 2024.

The State of North Carolina will rebate nearly $42.5 million in taxes as a part of the incentives package that lured the company to relocate to Charlotte.  The decision came after the North Carolina General Assembly upped the cap on annual incentive packages to businesses through the Job Development Investment Grant program.

The cap increased from $6,500 per job per year to $16,000 per job per year, and the reimbursements are rebates of state withholding taxes that are otherwise paid by companies.

Honeywell plans to invest as much as $248 million in the Charlotte region by 2023, including basing the senior management team and the sales and productivity solutions group.  The company plans to operate a hangar at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport that will house and support the company’s aircraft.

LendingTree expanding, planning new office

LendingTree, founded in Charlotte, is set to expand their operations in the Queen City with a new state-of-the-art workspace in a location that is still yet to be determined.

The expansion is set to bring 436 new jobs to the region during the next seven years, and the company plans to invest more than $26 million in the local economy to grow.

“I’m thrilled that this city and the state of North Carolina will remain the indisputable location for our corporate headquarters,” said Doug Lebda, founder and CEO of LendingTree in a statement announcing the company’s intentions.

Perhaps the fintech company will consider growing into the newly proposed 39-story Duke Energy tower or the redevelopment of the former Charlotte Observer location.  Or perhaps it will decide to expand in a neighborhood outside of Uptown

The expansion of the company is supported by the City of Charlotte and by Mecklenburg County through a Business Investment Program (BIP) grant worth $1.4 million over seven years.

It’s about talent and quality of life

“For the first time, one of the things that we are doing is thinking collectively,” said Dodson about the economic development of the region.  “We’re trying to break the silos.”  Having a regional focus and working in conjunction with one another is a winning strategy, said Dodson, as there is a war for talent.

Charlotte’s Sonic Automotive announced this month that it will move or create 500 jobs in Gaston County, which borders Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.  Some of those 500 positions will be moving across the Catawba River and the county line out of Mecklenburg County and into Gaston County.  But the expansion is still a net win for the region, said Dodson.

“We’re really trying to have a regional focus,” said Dodson.  “So that we can try to demonstrate to the State of North Carolina and to legislators that it is not just about the City of Charlotte.”

“Charlotte is at the intersection of financial services and technology,” said Praeger.  The Queen City was recently named to the top spot on a CompTIA list of most desirable cities for IT professionals, beating out the Triangle region, which took the number two spot.

Charlotteans were, for the most part, not surprised at the recognition or the award.

“An affordable cost of living, great climate, excellent schools and a government that wants to make business work,” said Praeger, “It’s a great place to be, attracting talent from all over the country.”

It’s not just about the job market, either.

“We have a vibrant, growing economy that is attracting folks to the city, and setting the foundation for future growth,” said Keith Luedeman, founder of Good Mortgage and interim executive director at Innovate Charlotte. “It’s not just jobs, it’s what you can do after work that is attractive to a lot of tech workers.”  Amenities matter.

“Talent is going to go where you have a great quality of life, where there are great amenities,” said Dodson.  “And we’ve evolved into the type of city that has major city amenities.”