Articles
Raleigh/Durham in the News
Raleigh, Cary among fastest-growing cities in U.S.
Triangle Business Journal - June 21, 2006
Fresh statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau place both Raleigh and Cary among the top 25 fastest-growing cities in the country. The government agency on Wednesday released the latest population figures for cities with populations of 100,000 or more. With an annual growth rate of 4.3 percent between July 1, 2004, and July 1, 2005, Raleigh ranked 14th on the list.
Raleigh also was the second largest city to make the top 25 list of fastest growing cities. The Capitol City boosted its population from 327,547 on July 1, 2004, to 341,530 on the same day a year later, an increase of nearly 14,000 in one year. The data pegged Cary at 22nd, with a population growth rate of 3.3 percent over the same period. Cary's'pulation grew from 103,013 to 106,439. Charlotte ranked 40th on the annual list of fastest-growing cities with populations of 100,000 or more. Elk Grove, Calif., claimed the distinction of being the fastest growing city on the list, pumping its population from 100,686 to 112,338 in a single year - an increase of 11.6 percent.
Forbes: Raleigh-Cary is nation's best for jobs
Triangle Business Journal - February 19, 2007
The Raleigh-Cary metropolitan area is the best place in the country to get a job, according to a study released by Forbes.com. In choosing Raleigh-Cary No. 1, Forbes praised the area for having "low unemployment, strong income and job growth, and high incomes." Raleigh-Cary,Forbes said, is an area with "good weather, a relatively low cost of living and a highly educated population" - thanks to the three major universities in the Triangle - Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.
"There isn't much of a negative in Raleigh," says Steven Cochrane, an economist with Moody's Economy.com, which provided Forbes with the data for its study. The Raleigh-Cary MSA, which comprises Wake, Johnston and Franklin counties, moved up from No. 7 last year. It beat out second place Phoenix-Mesa- Scottsdale, Ariz. Jacksonville and Orlando-Kissimmee, Fla., finished third and fourth, respectively, with the Washington, D.C., metro area fifth. Forbes assessed the largest 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the country - a grouping that does not include the Durham metropolitan area. Forbes ranked the metros in five categories: unemployment rate, job growth, income growth, median household income, and cost of living. Forbes ranked the 100 metros in each of the five categories. Raleigh ranked 10th best in job growth, 12th in income growth, 13th in unemployment, 30th in median household income and 45th in cost of living. Among other North Carolina metros, Charlotte came in 36th, while Greensboro-High Point was 89th. Detroit was No. 100, just behind New Orleans.
Study ranks Raleigh-Cary, Durham among Sunbelt's hottest markets
Triangle Business Journal - November 3, 2006
by Chris Baysden
CARY - It didn't take Tar Heel native Heather Bunn long to realize that she and her family share different backgrounds than their neighbors in Cary. "We are the anomaly (in) that we are from North Carolina," says the 37-year old Bunn, director of marketing at residential real estate firm Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston. "To be a native in Cary is not normal." Bunn, a Clinton native who is familiar with the Triangle from her days at Meredith College in Raleigh, and her husband spent the past six years living in Dublin, Ohio. While they liked the Midwest, they missed their family and found that they preferred the Old North State's mix of Southern charm, high quality of life and career opportunities. As all their relocated neighbors illustrate, the Bunn family certainly isn't alone.
A new study by American City Business Journals, the parent company of Triangle Business Journal, has found that the Raleigh and Durham metropolitan statistical areas are two of the top hot spots in the Sunbelt. The Raleigh-Cary MSA ranked No. 3 on ACBJ's list of America's most attractive warm-weather metropolitan areas located below the 37th parallel. Numbers from Johnston and Franklin counties were embedded in the Raleigh-Cary MSA numbers. The Bull City MSA clocked in at No. 8 in the study, which examined 77 MSAs with a population of more than 250,000. The Durham MSA also includes Orange, Chatham and Person counties. Huntsville, Ala., was the top-ranked MSA, followed by Naples, Fla. The MSAs around Fayetteville, Ark., and Sarasota, Fla., rounded out the top five. The study ranked the areas based on 10 economic and quality-of-life statistical indicators. Those factors included population growth, per capita income growth and employment growth from 2000 to 2005. Other factors examined were commute times, real estate taxes, education levels and the share of all jobs that are classified as management or professional.
Raleigh achieved its No. 3 ranking thanks to strong population growth, an extensive supply of management and professional jobs and a large share of adults - 38 percent - who hold college degrees. Durham's strengths also included a large share of adults (39 percent) with college degrees, a very good high school graduation rate and an extensive supply of management and professional jobs.
Michael Helmar, an economist at Moody's Economy.com, says there's a lot to like about the Triangle. The area has low business costs, especially when it comes to labor. It also features three major research universities that can provide new technology for commercialization and train workers for the technology and biotechnology sectors. Throw in the proximity to the mountains and the beaches, and the Triangle's got nearly everything companies and their workers want. "Businesses want to move there. Their people (employees) want to move there," Helmar says. "And they do."
One such example is financial services firm Fidelity Investments, which earlier this year announced plans to build a $100 million campus in Research Triangle Park that would employ 2,000 people. While the Triangle seems poised for continued growth, challenges lie ahead. Per capita income growth in Raleigh is up just 4.6 percent over the past five years, considerably less than other hot spots in ACBJ's top 10. Congestion also hurt Raleigh's ranking, with just 23 percent of commuters living within 15 minutes of their jobs. Durham also suffered from lower personal income growth (11.7 percent) than most of the top 10 hot spots. The city also had high property taxes compared to most Sunbelt metros. One major factor that wasn't considered in the study is weather. That's important to 42-year-old Tammy Coolidge, an account manager at insurance firm Carpenter, Cammack & Associates who recently moved to the Triangle from Homer, N.Y. "The skies are gray 95 percent of the time in New York," she says of her old home. And how does Coolidge and her husband react when they're enjoying warm, sunny weather in late October?"We brag," she says.
Forbes: Raleigh, Durham both top 10 for biz climate
Triangle Business Journal - May 5, 2006
Both Raleigh and Durham placed among the top 10 metros in Forbes magazine's annual rankings of the "Best Places For Business and Careers." The Raleigh-Cary Metropolitan Statistical Area finished second only to Albuquerque, N.M., and the Durham MSA landed eighth, according to the annual list posted on Forbes' Web site. The annual rankings take into account three main factors - the cost of doing business, job growth and educational attainment. With a listed population of 934,200, the Raleigh MSA finished 43rd for the cost of doing business, 52nd for job growth and 11th in education attainment. Durham, with a population of 457,500, ranked 24th, 117th and sixth, respectively.
Also among the top 10 communities were Houston; Boise, Idaho; Knoxville, Tenn.; Phoenix; Nashville, Tenn.; Fayetteville, Ark.; and Indianapolis. Overall rankings were compiled using a number of different sources, Forbes says. Criteria included living expenses, housing, transportation, food, household expenses, job and income growth, migration trends, crime data, arts and leisure, education and the work force and the presence of top colleges and universities.
Slower escalation in price of materials boosts outlook
Triangle Business Journal - March 9, 2007
by Ken Simonson
North Carolina is kicking off 2007 with a combination of strong commercial activity and a lull in the rise of material costs, interrupting the steady upward march in prices of the past three years. The good news is commercial construction should be strong through the year. The state may have less of a housing slump than the country as a whole, thanks to a surging population. But the pause in materials cost increases is likely to be short-lived. Seasonally adjusted statewide construction employment increased 4 percent in 2006, triple the national rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. North Carolina also outpaced most of the nation on population growth. The state's population swelled by 2.1 percent for the year ending in July, seventhfastest in the country and more than double the national pace. That growth will sustain demand for new housing - either owner-occupied or rental - as well as numerous types of nonresidential construction.
Nonresidential construction spending nationwide jumped 13 percent in 2006, more than enough to offset a 1.7 percent decline in residential spending, according to Census Bureau figures. Although North Carolina construction project awards values tracked by the Carolinas Associated General Contractors were stable overall from 2005 to 2006, many of the construction categories that did best nationally are particularly important in North Carolina. The biggest increase in U.S. construction spending, a 53 percent gain in 2006, occurred in lodging. Hotel chains continue to enjoy high occupancy rates and rising room rates. That combination suggests more construction in 2007. Private hospitals boosted construction spending 25 percent last year. As they race to catch up with new technology in diagnosis, treatment and recovery rooms and to locate near new population centers, hospitals appear poised to keep building for years to come. This activity will be concentrated around teaching hospitals and growth areas of North Carolina.
There was a 15 percent upswing in highway and street construction nationally in 2006. However, only about half of that translated into more pavement or bridges. The rest went for higher materials costs, particularly for asphalt, diesel fuel, concrete and steel. For 2007 and beyond, North Carolina will have a hard time keeping up with the need for more road capacity and for fixing the existing, aging highway system. The state can't count on much help from the federal government. The budget President Bush sent to Congress on Feb. 5 calls for only a 1.7 percent rise in federal highway spending.
A wide variety of energy and power projects will fuel more construction. Depending on local resources, the projects include traditional coal- or natural gas-fired plants, wind farms, solar installations, and ethanol and biodiesel plants. In addition, existing refineries and power plants will be spending billions of dollars in the next few years on environmental retrofits and upgrades. One big challenge for the industry, and for public agencies that budget for construction, will be materials costs. Ever since steel and lumber prices spiked in early 2004, the construction industry has struggled with price increases that are much higher than the rate of inflation.
While the Consumer Price Index has been rising at about 3 percent each year, the producer price index for construction materials and components shot up 10 percent in 2004, 6 percent in 2005 and 4.3 percent last year. Aside from those exceptions, most construction inputs still had hefty yearover- year increases. For instance, there was a 44 percent increase last year for copper and brass mill products; asphalt paving mixtures and blocks rose 27 percent; aluminum mill shapes and steel mill products were up 12 percent each; and cement increased 10 percent. Although materials extensively used in home building, notably gypsum and copper products, should fall sharply in price as housing starts keep sinking, the tab for most other construction materials costs isn't likely to fall. Two factors make construction materials costs susceptible to steeper increases than the overall rate of inflation. First, construction requires generally fixed quantities of materials, unlike industries that can substitute cheaper materials or can design products to be smaller or lighter than their predecessors. Many materials used in construction are also in demand from other sectors, both in the United States and in countries with fast-growing economies, such as China and India. Yet supplies of some materials expand only slowly. Second, materials must be delivered over a transportation network that is often stretched to its limits. Transport costs are high and bottlenecks frequent.
In addition, fuel-price spikes add to transport costs as well as the direct costs of operating equipment. As a result, construction materials may show a year over- year cost increase of as little as 2 percent to 4 percent for the next few months, matching the overall inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index. But a year from now, construction materials are likely to resume their recent 6 percent to 8 percent cost increases, with higher spikes possible.
Simonson is chief economist at the Associated General Contractors of America in Arlington, Va.
Even if you're out of the Loop, I-540 helps
The News & Observer, newsobserver.com, Feb 06, 2007
Bruce Siceloff, Staff Writer
Now that the Interstate 540 Outer Loop reaches all the way to Knightdale in eastern Wake County, you can see a difference in western Wake, 26 miles away. If you're one of those North Raleigh commuters who had I-540 pretty much to themselves after the first section from I-40 to U.S. 70 opened in January 1997, those six lanes feel less roomy these days. But if you're among the throngs crawling home on I-40 every afternoon to West Raleigh and points farther east, you may notice that the ride lately is less stop and more go.
The I-540 semicircle around North Raleigh is beginning to ease the traffic that frequently jams I-40 and the I-440 Beltline at rush hour. Since the opening three weeks ago of the new nine-mile arc from Triangle Town Boulevard in northeast Raleigh to U.S. 64/264 in Knightdale, more Research Triangle Park workers have begun trying I-540 as an alternative route home. Every workday afternoon, as the winter light dims and the commuter stream thickens, Archie Wells sees this traffic shift on highway video monitors. Wells, a state Department of Transportation engineer, oversees drivers who patrol I-40 in yellow pickups, speeding the cleanup of wrecks to help keep traffic moving. At DOT's Triangle Traffic Management Center in West Raleigh, he flicks a joystick to zoom in on a video picture of cars crowding the I-540 onramp from eastbound I-40. "Based on my experience, that's more traffic than we've generally seen taking the flyover and going up 540," Wells said. "It was not near that much, prior to 540 opening all the way over to [U.S.] 401 and 64. "That's a good thing. It's relieving 40."
That means fewer afternoon delays on I-40. The regular backups from the Wade and Harrison exits have diminished noticeably. Meanwhile, the usual morning jam at the western tip of I-540 has gotten worse. "I find myself driving I-540 amidst much heavier traffic than I used to," Warren Kurtzman of North Raleigh said by e-mail. Mark McFarland, who drives I-540 from Six Forks Road to RTP, said he used to see the morning traffic stop as far north as Aviation Parkway, waiting to squeeze onto the exit ramp to westbound I-40. Now, the stop-and-roll is more likely to start farther north, at Lumley Road. This hassle is expected to diminish when DOT opens the next stretches of I- 540 southwest from I-40, reaching to N.C. 54 this spring and to N.C. 55 this summer. The I-540 difference reaches beyond western Wake and RTP workers. "North Raleigh no longer seems like it's such a far trip," said Cathy Gusta of Clayton. Tammy Wiles said her husband no longer travels a maze of back roads from their home off Durant Road to his job in Knightdale. "He went through seven school zones in the mornings," Wiles said by e-mail. "His commute was 25-30 minutes. Now he's on I-540 from U.S. 1 to [U.S.] 64 and his drive is 15-20 minutes." James Parkhurst of North Raleigh has a zippier trip to work in Cary each morning on the northern Beltline. He credits I-540. "This morning was a perfect example," Parkhurst said Monday. There were a couple of wrecks near Glenwood around the busiest time of the morning. Normally, that would have been enough to cause big backups, with lots of drivers braking and changing lanes. "But it was smooth as silk," Parkhurst said. He hasn't found much improvement in the afternoon drive home on the Beltline, so he is experimenting with a different way via I-540. That adds a few miles but, so far, no extra time. "I'm willing to go the extra distance just for 65 mph of smooth driving," Parkhurst said. Ten years and 22 miles after the first four-mile arc of I-540 opened to traffic, Triangle drivers are really discovering the difference an Outer Loop can make.
RBC Centura breaks ground on downtown HQ
Triangle Business Journal - September 26, 2006
RBC Centura broke ground Tuesday on its downtown Raleigh headquarters, a 33-story tower expected to reach completion in late 2008. Triangle officials including Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, RBC Centura Chief Executive Officer Scott Custer and Highwoods Properties CEO Ed Fritsch attended the groundbreaking ceremony, at which the new facility was named RBC Plaza. Highwoods (NYSE: HIW), a Raleigh-based commercial real estate investment firm, is managing the development of the tower - a project that carries a total pricetag of more than $100 million, according to Fritsch. At 540 feet tall, the RBC Plaza will be the tallest building in downtown Raleigh and will contain more than 730,000 square feet of space, including office and retail space, parking and 11 stories of residential condominiums.
RBC will be the building's main tenant, leasing about 130,000 square feet of space. The bank will occupy floors 10 through 14 and 21, in addition to having a 4,000 square-foot banking center on the first floor. The building's residential section will include 139 condominiums ranging from 800 to 2,000 square feet. One-, two- and three-bedroom condo units are already for sale starting at $200,000. An eight-level parking deck opening onto Wilmington Street will provide about560 controlled-access parking spaces, and an additional 500 parking spaces will be available in a parking deck to be developed by Highwoods across Wilmington Street from RBC Plaza.
RBC Centura is the U.S. banking subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY). It has more than $21 billion in assets and more than 3,700 employees in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Florida, including about 300 workers in Raleigh. The company's Raleigh headcount is expected to reach 500 by 2009.
Fidelity picks RTP for 2,000 jobsbr /> Triangle Business Journal - December 29, 2006
Research Triangle Park in August received arguably its best single piece of good news in more than 40 years when executives with Fidelity Investments confirmed the Boston financial giant would build a regional campus employing 2,000 people in RTP. It was the largest single commitment of jobs announced in the Triangle since IBM bought 400 acres in RTP for its campus in 1965.
Fidelity's growth in the Triangle probably won't stop at 2,000, though. The Research Triangle Foundation, which markets and manages RTP, projects the company could invest as much as $300 million in the campus over time and create as many as 4,000 jobs. The initial investment will be $100 million to start building on 268 acres on the Wake County side of RTP. Because the new buildings won't open before 2009, Fidelity has leased more than 500,000 square feet in existing buildings in and around RTP.
The courtship with Fidelity by state and local recruiters began in November 2005, when the company sent out a request for information to states where italready had a presence, including Florida, Texas and Kentucky in addition to North Carolina. The competition was intense, and to seal the deal North Carolina put together an incentives package valued at $69 million over 12 years if Fidelity follows through with its 2,000-job promise.
The package includes a Job Development Investment Grant valued at $54.6 million, the largest JDIG ever offered by the state, a $2 million grant from the state's One North Carolina Fund, $3.88 million in corporate sales tax rebates, and a training, recruiting and screening program valued at $4 million. Wake County government pitched in with a tax grant worth $3.24 million over eight years and $1 million in infrastructure improvements to the RTP property. The cost per job - if 2,000 are created - works out to be $34,500. Fidelity says the jobs will pay an average annual salary of $58,400, plus benefits. Many of those working at the RTP campus will be involved in Fidelity's human resources consulting service.
In an ironic twist, it was IBM that brought Fidelity to the Triangle in the first place. That was in 2002, when Big Blue decided to outsource its health care and pension management services and hired Fidelity to do the work. Fidelity opened offices in the Triangle and hired about 450 former IBMers to staff them. It consolidated its local offices into a building at the Imperial Center corporate park in Durham in 2004 and had grown to almost 1,000 employees by 2006 as it added Bank of America and others to its client list. Don Haile, senior vice president and site manager for Fidelity North Carolina, said at the August announcement that the combination of the company's "positive experience" in North Carolina and the incentives package helped sway the company's decision.
Raleigh, Cary among fastest-growing cities in U.S.
Triangle Business Journal - June 21, 2006
Fresh statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau place both Raleigh and Cary among the top 25 fastest-growing cities in the country. The government agency on Wednesday released the latest population figures for cities with populations of 100,000 or more. With an annual growth rate of 4.3 percent between July 1, 2004, and July 1, 2005, Raleigh ranked 14th on the list.
Raleigh also was the second largest city to make the top 25 list of fastest growing cities. The Capitol City boosted its population from 327,547 on July 1, 2004, to 341,530 on the same day a year later, an increase of nearly 14,000 in one year. The data pegged Cary at 22nd, with a population growth rate of 3.3 percent over the same period. Cary's'pulation grew from 103,013 to 106,439. Charlotte ranked 40th on the annual list of fastest-growing cities with populations of 100,000 or more. Elk Grove, Calif., claimed the distinction of being the fastest growing city on the list, pumping its population from 100,686 to 112,338 in a single year - an increase of 11.6 percent.
Forbes: Raleigh-Cary is nation's best for jobs
Triangle Business Journal - February 19, 2007
The Raleigh-Cary metropolitan area is the best place in the country to get a job, according to a study released by Forbes.com. In choosing Raleigh-Cary No. 1, Forbes praised the area for having "low unemployment, strong income and job growth, and high incomes." Raleigh-Cary,Forbes said, is an area with "good weather, a relatively low cost of living and a highly educated population" - thanks to the three major universities in the Triangle - Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.
"There isn't much of a negative in Raleigh," says Steven Cochrane, an economist with Moody's Economy.com, which provided Forbes with the data for its study. The Raleigh-Cary MSA, which comprises Wake, Johnston and Franklin counties, moved up from No. 7 last year. It beat out second place Phoenix-Mesa- Scottsdale, Ariz. Jacksonville and Orlando-Kissimmee, Fla., finished third and fourth, respectively, with the Washington, D.C., metro area fifth. Forbes assessed the largest 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the country - a grouping that does not include the Durham metropolitan area. Forbes ranked the metros in five categories: unemployment rate, job growth, income growth, median household income, and cost of living. Forbes ranked the 100 metros in each of the five categories. Raleigh ranked 10th best in job growth, 12th in income growth, 13th in unemployment, 30th in median household income and 45th in cost of living. Among other North Carolina metros, Charlotte came in 36th, while Greensboro-High Point was 89th. Detroit was No. 100, just behind New Orleans.
Study ranks Raleigh-Cary, Durham among Sunbelt's hottest markets
Triangle Business Journal - November 3, 2006
by Chris Baysden
CARY - It didn't take Tar Heel native Heather Bunn long to realize that she and her family share different backgrounds than their neighbors in Cary. "We are the anomaly (in) that we are from North Carolina," says the 37-year old Bunn, director of marketing at residential real estate firm Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston. "To be a native in Cary is not normal." Bunn, a Clinton native who is familiar with the Triangle from her days at Meredith College in Raleigh, and her husband spent the past six years living in Dublin, Ohio. While they liked the Midwest, they missed their family and found that they preferred the Old North State's mix of Southern charm, high quality of life and career opportunities. As all their relocated neighbors illustrate, the Bunn family certainly isn't alone.
A new study by American City Business Journals, the parent company of Triangle Business Journal, has found that the Raleigh and Durham metropolitan statistical areas are two of the top hot spots in the Sunbelt. The Raleigh-Cary MSA ranked No. 3 on ACBJ's list of America's most attractive warm-weather metropolitan areas located below the 37th parallel. Numbers from Johnston and Franklin counties were embedded in the Raleigh-Cary MSA numbers. The Bull City MSA clocked in at No. 8 in the study, which examined 77 MSAs with a population of more than 250,000. The Durham MSA also includes Orange, Chatham and Person counties. Huntsville, Ala., was the top-ranked MSA, followed by Naples, Fla. The MSAs around Fayetteville, Ark., and Sarasota, Fla., rounded out the top five. The study ranked the areas based on 10 economic and quality-of-life statistical indicators. Those factors included population growth, per capita income growth and employment growth from 2000 to 2005. Other factors examined were commute times, real estate taxes, education levels and the share of all jobs that are classified as management or professional.
Raleigh achieved its No. 3 ranking thanks to strong population growth, an extensive supply of management and professional jobs and a large share of adults - 38 percent - who hold college degrees. Durham's strengths also included a large share of adults (39 percent) with college degrees, a very good high school graduation rate and an extensive supply of management and professional jobs.
Michael Helmar, an economist at Moody's Economy.com, says there's a lot to like about the Triangle. The area has low business costs, especially when it comes to labor. It also features three major research universities that can provide new technology for commercialization and train workers for the technology and biotechnology sectors. Throw in the proximity to the mountains and the beaches, and the Triangle's got nearly everything companies and their workers want. "Businesses want to move there. Their people (employees) want to move there," Helmar says. "And they do."
One such example is financial services firm Fidelity Investments, which earlier this year announced plans to build a $100 million campus in Research Triangle Park that would employ 2,000 people. While the Triangle seems poised for continued growth, challenges lie ahead. Per capita income growth in Raleigh is up just 4.6 percent over the past five years, considerably less than other hot spots in ACBJ's top 10. Congestion also hurt Raleigh's ranking, with just 23 percent of commuters living within 15 minutes of their jobs. Durham also suffered from lower personal income growth (11.7 percent) than most of the top 10 hot spots. The city also had high property taxes compared to most Sunbelt metros. One major factor that wasn't considered in the study is weather. That's important to 42-year-old Tammy Coolidge, an account manager at insurance firm Carpenter, Cammack & Associates who recently moved to the Triangle from Homer, N.Y. "The skies are gray 95 percent of the time in New York," she says of her old home. And how does Coolidge and her husband react when they're enjoying warm, sunny weather in late October?"We brag," she says.
Forbes: Raleigh, Durham both top 10 for biz climate
Triangle Business Journal - May 5, 2006
Both Raleigh and Durham placed among the top 10 metros in Forbes magazine's annual rankings of the "Best Places For Business and Careers." The Raleigh-Cary Metropolitan Statistical Area finished second only to Albuquerque, N.M., and the Durham MSA landed eighth, according to the annual list posted on Forbes' Web site. The annual rankings take into account three main factors - the cost of doing business, job growth and educational attainment. With a listed population of 934,200, the Raleigh MSA finished 43rd for the cost of doing business, 52nd for job growth and 11th in education attainment. Durham, with a population of 457,500, ranked 24th, 117th and sixth, respectively.
Also among the top 10 communities were Houston; Boise, Idaho; Knoxville, Tenn.; Phoenix; Nashville, Tenn.; Fayetteville, Ark.; and Indianapolis. Overall rankings were compiled using a number of different sources, Forbes says. Criteria included living expenses, housing, transportation, food, household expenses, job and income growth, migration trends, crime data, arts and leisure, education and the work force and the presence of top colleges and universities.
Slower escalation in price of materials boosts outlook
Triangle Business Journal - March 9, 2007
by Ken Simonson
North Carolina is kicking off 2007 with a combination of strong commercial activity and a lull in the rise of material costs, interrupting the steady upward march in prices of the past three years. The good news is commercial construction should be strong through the year. The state may have less of a housing slump than the country as a whole, thanks to a surging population. But the pause in materials cost increases is likely to be short-lived. Seasonally adjusted statewide construction employment increased 4 percent in 2006, triple the national rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. North Carolina also outpaced most of the nation on population growth. The state's population swelled by 2.1 percent for the year ending in July, seventhfastest in the country and more than double the national pace. That growth will sustain demand for new housing - either owner-occupied or rental - as well as numerous types of nonresidential construction.
Nonresidential construction spending nationwide jumped 13 percent in 2006, more than enough to offset a 1.7 percent decline in residential spending, according to Census Bureau figures. Although North Carolina construction project awards values tracked by the Carolinas Associated General Contractors were stable overall from 2005 to 2006, many of the construction categories that did best nationally are particularly important in North Carolina. The biggest increase in U.S. construction spending, a 53 percent gain in 2006, occurred in lodging. Hotel chains continue to enjoy high occupancy rates and rising room rates. That combination suggests more construction in 2007. Private hospitals boosted construction spending 25 percent last year. As they race to catch up with new technology in diagnosis, treatment and recovery rooms and to locate near new population centers, hospitals appear poised to keep building for years to come. This activity will be concentrated around teaching hospitals and growth areas of North Carolina.
There was a 15 percent upswing in highway and street construction nationally in 2006. However, only about half of that translated into more pavement or bridges. The rest went for higher materials costs, particularly for asphalt, diesel fuel, concrete and steel. For 2007 and beyond, North Carolina will have a hard time keeping up with the need for more road capacity and for fixing the existing, aging highway system. The state can't count on much help from the federal government. The budget President Bush sent to Congress on Feb. 5 calls for only a 1.7 percent rise in federal highway spending.
A wide variety of energy and power projects will fuel more construction. Depending on local resources, the projects include traditional coal- or natural gas-fired plants, wind farms, solar installations, and ethanol and biodiesel plants. In addition, existing refineries and power plants will be spending billions of dollars in the next few years on environmental retrofits and upgrades. One big challenge for the industry, and for public agencies that budget for construction, will be materials costs. Ever since steel and lumber prices spiked in early 2004, the construction industry has struggled with price increases that are much higher than the rate of inflation.
While the Consumer Price Index has been rising at about 3 percent each year, the producer price index for construction materials and components shot up 10 percent in 2004, 6 percent in 2005 and 4.3 percent last year. Aside from those exceptions, most construction inputs still had hefty yearover- year increases. For instance, there was a 44 percent increase last year for copper and brass mill products; asphalt paving mixtures and blocks rose 27 percent; aluminum mill shapes and steel mill products were up 12 percent each; and cement increased 10 percent. Although materials extensively used in home building, notably gypsum and copper products, should fall sharply in price as housing starts keep sinking, the tab for most other construction materials costs isn't likely to fall. Two factors make construction materials costs susceptible to steeper increases than the overall rate of inflation. First, construction requires generally fixed quantities of materials, unlike industries that can substitute cheaper materials or can design products to be smaller or lighter than their predecessors. Many materials used in construction are also in demand from other sectors, both in the United States and in countries with fast-growing economies, such as China and India. Yet supplies of some materials expand only slowly. Second, materials must be delivered over a transportation network that is often stretched to its limits. Transport costs are high and bottlenecks frequent.
In addition, fuel-price spikes add to transport costs as well as the direct costs of operating equipment. As a result, construction materials may show a year over- year cost increase of as little as 2 percent to 4 percent for the next few months, matching the overall inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index. But a year from now, construction materials are likely to resume their recent 6 percent to 8 percent cost increases, with higher spikes possible.
Simonson is chief economist at the Associated General Contractors of America in Arlington, Va.
Even if you're out of the Loop, I-540 helps
The News & Observer, newsobserver.com, Feb 06, 2007
Bruce Siceloff, Staff Writer
Now that the Interstate 540 Outer Loop reaches all the way to Knightdale in eastern Wake County, you can see a difference in western Wake, 26 miles away. If you're one of those North Raleigh commuters who had I-540 pretty much to themselves after the first section from I-40 to U.S. 70 opened in January 1997, those six lanes feel less roomy these days. But if you're among the throngs crawling home on I-40 every afternoon to West Raleigh and points farther east, you may notice that the ride lately is less stop and more go.
The I-540 semicircle around North Raleigh is beginning to ease the traffic that frequently jams I-40 and the I-440 Beltline at rush hour. Since the opening three weeks ago of the new nine-mile arc from Triangle Town Boulevard in northeast Raleigh to U.S. 64/264 in Knightdale, more Research Triangle Park workers have begun trying I-540 as an alternative route home. Every workday afternoon, as the winter light dims and the commuter stream thickens, Archie Wells sees this traffic shift on highway video monitors. Wells, a state Department of Transportation engineer, oversees drivers who patrol I-40 in yellow pickups, speeding the cleanup of wrecks to help keep traffic moving. At DOT's Triangle Traffic Management Center in West Raleigh, he flicks a joystick to zoom in on a video picture of cars crowding the I-540 onramp from eastbound I-40. "Based on my experience, that's more traffic than we've generally seen taking the flyover and going up 540," Wells said. "It was not near that much, prior to 540 opening all the way over to [U.S.] 401 and 64. "That's a good thing. It's relieving 40."
That means fewer afternoon delays on I-40. The regular backups from the Wade and Harrison exits have diminished noticeably. Meanwhile, the usual morning jam at the western tip of I-540 has gotten worse. "I find myself driving I-540 amidst much heavier traffic than I used to," Warren Kurtzman of North Raleigh said by e-mail. Mark McFarland, who drives I-540 from Six Forks Road to RTP, said he used to see the morning traffic stop as far north as Aviation Parkway, waiting to squeeze onto the exit ramp to westbound I-40. Now, the stop-and-roll is more likely to start farther north, at Lumley Road. This hassle is expected to diminish when DOT opens the next stretches of I- 540 southwest from I-40, reaching to N.C. 54 this spring and to N.C. 55 this summer. The I-540 difference reaches beyond western Wake and RTP workers. "North Raleigh no longer seems like it's such a far trip," said Cathy Gusta of Clayton. Tammy Wiles said her husband no longer travels a maze of back roads from their home off Durant Road to his job in Knightdale. "He went through seven school zones in the mornings," Wiles said by e-mail. "His commute was 25-30 minutes. Now he's on I-540 from U.S. 1 to [U.S.] 64 and his drive is 15-20 minutes." James Parkhurst of North Raleigh has a zippier trip to work in Cary each morning on the northern Beltline. He credits I-540. "This morning was a perfect example," Parkhurst said Monday. There were a couple of wrecks near Glenwood around the busiest time of the morning. Normally, that would have been enough to cause big backups, with lots of drivers braking and changing lanes. "But it was smooth as silk," Parkhurst said. He hasn't found much improvement in the afternoon drive home on the Beltline, so he is experimenting with a different way via I-540. That adds a few miles but, so far, no extra time. "I'm willing to go the extra distance just for 65 mph of smooth driving," Parkhurst said. Ten years and 22 miles after the first four-mile arc of I-540 opened to traffic, Triangle drivers are really discovering the difference an Outer Loop can make.
RBC Centura breaks ground on downtown HQ
Triangle Business Journal - September 26, 2006
RBC Centura broke ground Tuesday on its downtown Raleigh headquarters, a 33-story tower expected to reach completion in late 2008. Triangle officials including Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, RBC Centura Chief Executive Officer Scott Custer and Highwoods Properties CEO Ed Fritsch attended the groundbreaking ceremony, at which the new facility was named RBC Plaza. Highwoods (NYSE: HIW), a Raleigh-based commercial real estate investment firm, is managing the development of the tower - a project that carries a total pricetag of more than $100 million, according to Fritsch. At 540 feet tall, the RBC Plaza will be the tallest building in downtown Raleigh and will contain more than 730,000 square feet of space, including office and retail space, parking and 11 stories of residential condominiums.
RBC will be the building's main tenant, leasing about 130,000 square feet of space. The bank will occupy floors 10 through 14 and 21, in addition to having a 4,000 square-foot banking center on the first floor. The building's residential section will include 139 condominiums ranging from 800 to 2,000 square feet. One-, two- and three-bedroom condo units are already for sale starting at $200,000. An eight-level parking deck opening onto Wilmington Street will provide about560 controlled-access parking spaces, and an additional 500 parking spaces will be available in a parking deck to be developed by Highwoods across Wilmington Street from RBC Plaza.
RBC Centura is the U.S. banking subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY). It has more than $21 billion in assets and more than 3,700 employees in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Florida, including about 300 workers in Raleigh. The company's Raleigh headcount is expected to reach 500 by 2009.
Fidelity picks RTP for 2,000 jobsbr /> Triangle Business Journal - December 29, 2006
Research Triangle Park in August received arguably its best single piece of good news in more than 40 years when executives with Fidelity Investments confirmed the Boston financial giant would build a regional campus employing 2,000 people in RTP. It was the largest single commitment of jobs announced in the Triangle since IBM bought 400 acres in RTP for its campus in 1965.
Fidelity's growth in the Triangle probably won't stop at 2,000, though. The Research Triangle Foundation, which markets and manages RTP, projects the company could invest as much as $300 million in the campus over time and create as many as 4,000 jobs. The initial investment will be $100 million to start building on 268 acres on the Wake County side of RTP. Because the new buildings won't open before 2009, Fidelity has leased more than 500,000 square feet in existing buildings in and around RTP.
The courtship with Fidelity by state and local recruiters began in November 2005, when the company sent out a request for information to states where italready had a presence, including Florida, Texas and Kentucky in addition to North Carolina. The competition was intense, and to seal the deal North Carolina put together an incentives package valued at $69 million over 12 years if Fidelity follows through with its 2,000-job promise.
The package includes a Job Development Investment Grant valued at $54.6 million, the largest JDIG ever offered by the state, a $2 million grant from the state's One North Carolina Fund, $3.88 million in corporate sales tax rebates, and a training, recruiting and screening program valued at $4 million. Wake County government pitched in with a tax grant worth $3.24 million over eight years and $1 million in infrastructure improvements to the RTP property. The cost per job - if 2,000 are created - works out to be $34,500. Fidelity says the jobs will pay an average annual salary of $58,400, plus benefits. Many of those working at the RTP campus will be involved in Fidelity's human resources consulting service.
In an ironic twist, it was IBM that brought Fidelity to the Triangle in the first place. That was in 2002, when Big Blue decided to outsource its health care and pension management services and hired Fidelity to do the work. Fidelity opened offices in the Triangle and hired about 450 former IBMers to staff them. It consolidated its local offices into a building at the Imperial Center corporate park in Durham in 2004 and had grown to almost 1,000 employees by 2006 as it added Bank of America and others to its client list. Don Haile, senior vice president and site manager for Fidelity North Carolina, said at the August announcement that the combination of the company's "positive experience" in North Carolina and the incentives package helped sway the company's decision.