Quote:
Originally Posted by Pedestrian
Indeed, long term I'd put my money here rather than on Charlotte. I think Charlotte got a transient boost from the success of one company--Bank of America--and time is now moving on.
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I get what you're saying about the Triangle, but what you're saying about Charlotte simply doesn't jibe with reality. You say "time is now moving on" as if Charlotte is getting left behind or something which is the exact opposite of what's happening.
Bank of America certainly played a big role in Charlotte's ascendancy but you're grossly oversimplifying the issue. Much of the Southern banking industry overall has consolidated in Charlotte. First Union was the other big Charlotte bank that grew rapidly after interstate banking was permitted and it acquired another big regional NC-based bank, Wachovia. It fell victim to the recession and was acquired by Wells Fargo but now WF has its largest workforce in Charlotte. And of course more recently, NC-based BB&T merged with GA-based SunTrust and is moving the new bank headquarters to Charlotte. Ally Bank is growing its presence in the city and is currently constructing a new office tower in the city and there are rumors that its headquarters could relocate there as well. Aside from banking, you have other companies that have moved their headquarters to the region or established major operations there. It's quite obvious that the rise of BOA wasn't some isolated event but rather a catalyst for rapid economic growth that continues until this day with very little signs of slowing down. If the boost that Charlotte got from BOA's ascendancy was truly transient, the recession should have ended it, and indeed many wrote Charlotte off around the time. Instead it recovered much more quickly than folks thought it would and the city is undergoing its biggest building boom right now. So yeah, this talk about a "transient boost" and "time is now moving on" is beyond perplexing.