Writer: Liz Palmer
4 min read December 2022 — Bolstered by careful planning among local public and private leadership, Charlotte appears to have strong momentum leading into the new year. While 2022 brought exciting announcements to the region, collaborative thinking and continued opportunity have positioned 2023 to potentially be Charlotte’s best year yet.
While Centene’s decision to back out of its headquarters relocation shocked Charlotte’s business community, companies continue to flock to the Charlotte Metro, including Columbus McKinnon, Charlotte FC’s training facilities and headquarters, Albemarle Corporation’s technology park, Fontaine Modification, Microsoft and the ACC.
Chairman of the Board of Commissioners for Catawba County Randy Isenhower told Invest: Microsoft’s investment is a testament to the region’s attractiveness for internationally-known companies. Looking ahead, he says the county will serve as a beacon of continued economic growth. “I predict our automotive industry will grow, and we will see the impacts of the investments already made by Microsoft and Apple. We may see spinoffs as a result, and we will continue building on our manufacturing legacy,” he said. “The region is positioned as an economic engine, and Catawba County adds to that with our growing economy and population. We are becoming a regional commercial, medical and housing hub. We will also continue to have an impact on retail sales; we have great options that attract those living in other areas to come shop here, which generates a significant amount in sales taxes.”
The region’s academic ecosystem has also contributed to the flow of relocation announcements, including work being done by leaders at UNC-Charlotte and Central Piedmont Community College. UNCC recently announced its Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, an integrated initiative toward regional workforce development with involvement from the university’s entrepreneurship certificate programs, Ventureprise and the Small Business and Technology Development Center. It will begin work in Jan. 2023.
Similarly, Central Piedmont announced multiple workforce development partnerships in 2022 with companies such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Coca-Cola Consolidated, Duke Energy, Honeywell, the City of Charlotte and more. The college’s economic impact to Mecklenburg County is $827.7 million per year, equating to over 11,000 jobs, according to its recent study. Opening this year, the Parr Center is already proving to be a significant community asset, as well as a virtual health clinic available to the wider community through a partnership with Atrium Health and Bank of America.
“We understand our mission of being Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s primary workforce development partner, and through this work we are helping to transform the community. Everything at Central Piedmont is about opportunity. We don’t like to think of things as challenges. We are looking at future partnerships and significant announcements we will unveil in 2023,” Kandi Deitemeyer, president of Central Piedmont Community College, told Invest: this month. “We will continue to build capacity and get our message out to every individual who needs and wants to be here. Our community has needs and opportunities. We need more talent, affordable quality housing, enhanced public transportation and the ability to meet these needs. But when you stop for a minute and look, you see how blessed this community is with access and opportunities other communities don’t have. My outlook is positive. There has been a reshaping over the past few years in collaboration, relationships and partnerships across groups and entities. My outlook is not limited and sees more possibilities. I’m grateful to our partners for the ways they contribute. Charlotte-Mecklenburg is a unique, unstoppable place.”
Charlotte’s leadership made some important decisions in 2022, including a partnership with CPCC to fund city employees’ four-year degrees up-front as a tool for economic and social mobility. Transit has also been top of mind for awhile, and voters reflected the same in November by approving bond packages that will dedicate $146.2 million of the $226 million allocated to the city’s transportation infrastructure.
In a November interview, Mayor Vi Lyles said updates to not only light rail, but all modes of transportation are on the table for 2023. “Transit can be bikeways, it can be greenways, all of these opportunities that we have. And so we are trying to make sure we progress along our infrastructure, so that we can build some of those things out,” she said. Overall, her third term will be focused on transit, and she is looking at ways to redefine the transit plan unveiled two years ago that was to be funded by a penny sales tax. “What we’ve got to debate is what is the best and most efficient way for the customer to use the system and that is what we need to reexamine,” she told WSOC-TV in September. “It’s not going to be about the money. We have to pursue the money and that is because the infrastructure bill is a 2024 bill and I don’t want to leave one Charlotte dollar in Washington DC for another city to come for it.”
Exciting development projects already defining Charlotte’s 2023 include the Ballantyne Reimagined Project, whose goal is to position Charlotte’s Ballantyne neighborhood to represent a modern, urban community that will soon unveil a luxury hotel, greenway connection, amphitheater and entertainment hub to be added in 2023 and 2024. Residential development will begin in 2025.
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