OCRACOKE, N.C. (AP) — Officials in North Carolina have tested a 91-foot passenger ferry from Boston that they hope will help reverse a trend of declining tourism on the Outer Banks.
The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk reports (http://bit.ly/1PdNKIq ) the Provincetown III was used for trips on Hatteras Inlet, which were part of a study conducted by a Raleigh company to determine how to cut down on long lines and improve tourism on Ocracoke Island.
Volkert Inc. plans to complete its study by the end of the year.
Ferry Division statistics show the number of vehicles using the six Hatteras ferries last summer dropped to 115,000, compared to an average of 139,000 over the previous three summers.
Hyde County Manager Bill Rich also says tourists visiting Ocracoke fell by 450 people a day.
CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ —KURE Corp. (“KURE”), announced today the opening of its first Vaporium Lounge in Florida, located in Boca Raton at 555 North Federal Avenue. This is KURE’s third store opening in four months, continuing the brand’s aggressive expansion plans of its branded KURE Vaporium Lounge locations. The Grand Opening event for the new Boca Raton, FL location is set for Saturday June 13th. For more information visit, www.KUREsociety.com.
“Our KURE Vaporium Lounge in Boca Raton reinforces a new lifestyle concept with another custom designed interior build-out that creates a very welcoming and thoughtful atmosphere for our customers. Our existing stores in North Carolina have exceeded our most optimistic expectations. So far, our new Florida customers are equally as enthused about our Boca Raton location and have been applauding our store design and outstanding customer service,” says David Peterson, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer.
“Each KURE Vaporium Lounge was designed to cater to both longtime vapers and those just beginning their vaping journey. We sought to open up another category of vape shops. Every aspect of KURE was thoughtfully chosen, endeavoring to elevate the customer experience. The ‘KURE Experience’ begins with our focal point – a large custom mixing eLiquid bar. There, customers can sample over a hundred different flavors of our premium, USA made KURE brand eJuice, ‘Juice On Tap’. Or customers can choose to mix an almost endless amount of custom flavors to create their own signature eJuice. Each KURE Vaporium also features an impressive ‘Bottled Juice Wall’ which allows for sampling an additional hundred flavors of some of the most popular, premium eLiquid brands from around the country. KURE offers an expanded selection of vaping hardware, merchandised in 360 ̊ displays throughout the store. Our ‘industrial chic’ store design includes multiple seating and lounge areas with numerous customer plug-in areas and really comfortable chairs, as well as a specialty coffee bar and selection of snacks. We aren’t just building vape shops. We are giving vapers the products they want, but more importantly, providing a place to stay and enjoy them,” said Stephanie Staffieri, the Company’s Chief Marketing and Brand Officer.
KURE currently has three additional stores in various stages of construction in the Charlotte area, with future sites targeted for selection in Raleigh, Charleston, Miami and Los Angeles underway. KURE is on a path to aggressively expand throughout the U.S. within the next 24 months.
KURE Corp. (“KURE”) is a private company based in Charlotte, North Carolina that specializes in the global distribution of vaporizing pens, e-Juices, and related accessories. KURE’s primary products are its KURE Society™ premium vaporizers and select line of high end flavored e-Juices. KURE products will be available online and throughout its many store locations across the United States. KURE Vaporium™, KURE Society™, Kuriousity™, Kurators™ are all respective trademarks of KURE Corp.
KURE’s executives and principals are all seasoned business entrepreneurs with nearly 20 years of individual expertise in taking start-ups from initial incubation to profitability. KURE’s support staff has extensive product distribution and related industry experience. Its e-Juices can be purchased pre-bottled or freshly made by its staff of “Kurators”, well trained and experienced mixologists who can “blend” over 90,000 unique flavors from the KURE On Tap bar. These KURE e-Juices are skillfully blended and served while customers shop, lounge and enjoy a wide selection of coffees, beverages, and snacks or simply vape and mingle with other like-minded enthusiasts.
Siskey Capital, LLC is a private merchant bank based in Charlotte, North Carolina and is the lead investor and financial partner to KURE Corp. The firm acts as financial partners in assisting emerging companies accomplish their near to long-term goals. Siskey Capital’s participation in any opportunity is primarily partnership driven, using its own capital, while providing extensive financial, structural, and growth and risk management expertise. Its founders and principals have over three decades of successful merchant banking, venture capital, international business and entrepreneurial backgrounds.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Any statements contained herein which do not describe historical facts, including but not limited to, statements regarding: (i) our business; (ii) expectations about our business and future of its market; (iii) expectations regarding future intentions we plan on undertaking as part of our business plan; (vi) beliefs about the consumer adoption of our industry and our goal of bringing new innovative products to consumers, are forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. We disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any such statements to reflect any change in expectations or in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
May flowers are here, bringing National Bike Month along for the ride. In anticipation of future tourists on bikes, a coalition of organizations in the western counties gave them a boost by supporting a new study by Kostelec Planning. The study explores ways to go beyond traditional tourism-enhancement strategies — “putting butts (or heads) in beds,” as the study puts it — and offers ways to attract more pedal-powered visitors.
PLANNER ON WHEELS- Don Kostelec is a transportation planner and cyclist.
“One of the major things I took away from conducting the research for Bikes in Beds,” notes the study’s author Don Kostelec, “was how much of an impact cycling tourism already has on the economy of Western North Carolina.” The study credits bicycle tourism with a $14 million estimated annual economic impact in the region.
“Bikes in Beds helps make the case that bicycle tourism is a cutting-edge direction to go with economic development,” Kostelec says. It cites an Outdoor Foundation report showing that in 2013 about 91.5 million Americans engaged in some cycling, which makes the sport more popular than hiking, canoeing, kayaking and golfing combined. Bicycling for pleasure has been on the rise for some time, Kostelec notes, while fishing and golfing are declining in popularity.
With North Carolina’s westernmost counties looking at ways to attract new tourists, Kostelec says, there are several advantages to investing in the promotion of bicycle-related tourism over investment in other tourist activities. For instance, the average stay in an area for a bike tourist is 3.7 nights, which can generate more spending on amenities than the average tourist, who stays 2.5 nights, according to the study. Supporting that argument, the study cites an Oregon report showing that people traveling for bicycle-related reasons spent more and had higher incomes than the average tourist in the state.
Another reason for favoring investment in bicycle tourism, according to the study, is the high rate of job-creation for non-motorized transportation facilities. The statistics from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials show that work on greenways, sidewalks and bicycle facilities, on average, creates the most jobs — 17 jobs per $1 million spent, generating 4.5 more jobs than the next-most productive categories, new highway construction and pavement widening.
Momentum
Much of Haywood County’s bicycle tourism centers around events. The Blue Ridge Breakaway and the Lake Logan Triathlon already bring about 1,700 participants plus their companions to the county each year. Such rides are due in part to the combined efforts of Bicycle Haywood NC (a chapter of the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club), the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority and the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce.
The groups also helped gain county approval for the 2011 Haywood County Comprehensive Bicycle Plan (HCCBP), an initiative that establishes five sets of goals for all civic bicycling programs: “Build bicycle infrastructure and other improvements; develop support facilities and programs; increase educational opportunities; provide information to residents and visitors; support policy change and economic development.”
Some of the HCCBP’s recommendations have been implemented thus far, according to Cecil Yount, vice-chair and former chairperson of Bicycle Haywood NC. “The town of Waynesville put ‘sharrows’ [share the road arrows] on around five miles of major bicycle routes from the plan.” The town is expected to install bike racks soon, he adds. Bicycle Haywood NC is seeking to fulfill other parts of the plan in partnership with the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority. Together, the two groups published a guide brochure with several ride routes for visitors. The guide is being updated.
Earlier this year, North Carolina Amateur Sports announced that Waynesville would be the starting point of this September’s Cycle North Carolina Mountains to Coast ride. The event provides Haywood and other counties an opportunity to promote regional cycling for a large number of serious riders, Kostelec notes. To prepare for the needs of an ongoing influx of event riders, one of his recommendations is to hold workshops educating hospitality-industry representatives on the needs of people traveling on or with bicycles.
Yount concurs. “When people come here to ride, we want them to get a good first impression and leave with a good taste in their mouths.”
Long before Asheville was Beer City USA, the Biltmore Winery was turning out reds, whites and sparklers and building a brand that now stretches across 30 states.
The winery, which turns 30 this month, is America’s most-visited wine-making operation, pulling 60 percent of the Biltmore’s annual 1.2 million visitors. It’s also North Carolina’s third oldest winery, producing 40 wines sold around the Southeast and throughout the Ohio Valley. The winery produces 150,000 cases a year.
The Biltmore estate, including a large garden attraction, was built in 1895 and opened to the public in 1930. It was the largest private residency in the United States.
More than 100 Biltmore employees work in retail at the winery and another dozen or more produce the wines from grapes grown on the estate, elsewhere in North Carolina and the West Coast.
On May 16, the winery is throwing a birthday bash including a limited-release 30th anniversary blend of Pettite Sirah, Syrah and Zinfandel crafted by winemakers Bernard Delille and Sharon Fenchak.
“It’s definitely an accomplishment to be around that long,” said Whit Winslow, with the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Resources, which promotes the state’s wine industry.
Today’s Biltmore wines are recognized for rich complexity and offering something for virtually every taste. But when they debuted in 1979, choices were somewhat limited. “The first wines were (labeled) red and white,” said wine company president Jerry Douglas, who has worked at the estate since 1984.
Wine and Biltmore history
Wine has long been part of Biltmore life. Estate founder George W. Vanderbilt enjoyed wines and collected and consumed them in Asheville and on his many worldwide travels. Records show he particularly loved French wines from Bourdeaux to Champagne.
Vanderbilt died in 1914 and it was more than 60 years later that the Biltmore Winery began taking shape, spurred by fears that an Arab oil embargo could destroy the tourism business. The estate had property used for dairy cattle.
Biltmore owner William Cecil, Vanderbilt’s grandson, hired French winemaker Phillipe Jourdain to head the project. The first test vineyards were below the South Terrace (near where concerts are now held) and near the Conservatory.
Early wines were made 1978-84 in the basement of the Biltmore greenhouse. There was plenty of experimenting as Jourdain and then his successor Delille, who arrived in 1985, dialed in perfection.
Today’s winemakers
Delille had been working in the French wine industry for seven years and was looking for a change. “I knew nothing about Biltmore,” he said. “I met Phillipe in Paris and he invited me here. I liked it and that is why I am still here.”
The current winery and tasting room opened in 1985. By 1986, “some of the wines were very, very good,” Delille recalled. “It was a young experiment.” Delille developed his own skills and the wines slowly changed, Douglas said. Jourdain retired in 1995.
At first, winery visitation was slow, Douglas said. “People were not expecting it. We spent a lot of money on advertising.”
The Biltmore wine brand also grew through groceries and retail shops. When the operation opened, “wine was very lightly consumed, relative to beer and spirits,” Douglas said.
In the tasting room, visitors bring diverse tastes, said Fenchak, who came to Biltmore in 1999 from a small winery in northeast Georgia. “We have some people who have never tried wine,” she said. “It’s different than in (California’s) Napa Valley, where people are searching out wines. We might have to introduce them to the product and we want that first impression to be favorable.”
About 15-20 percent of Biltmore’s wines are from estate-grown grapes, another 10-15 percent are grown across North Carolina and the rest come from California and other western states, Delille said.
The wine world swirls around fall harvest time when the grapes or grape juice arrives from the growers. Juice for some white wines goes into stainless steel tanks. Almost all the juice for red wines goes into barrels for aging — usually French or American oak, and sometimes Hungarian. Some of the juice for whites is also sent to barrels for aging or fermentation. Some of Biltmore’s wine barrels will later find a second life at a local brewery, some are used as planters in Biltmore’s gardens and some go to home brewers, Fenchak said.
The wines required varying times to age in preparation for bottling. On the quick end, some whites can be done in a matter of months while some reds need a couple of years or more to be ready for customers.’
Where: Biltmore Winery, admission included with Biltmore ticket.
Special events: Special tastings at Biltmore Winery with food, live music from the Flying Saucers and the Firecracker Jazz Band, fireworks, sparkling wine toast and grape stomps until 7 p.m. at the Village Green area of the Antler Hill Village. Events that require reservations are:
•Anniversary wine release, 5-6 p.m., sample 30th anniversary red wine and light bites at the Winery Clock Tower, take home 30th anniversary wine glass. $15.
•Village stroll, noon-4 p.m. with small plates and wine at Bistro, Cedric’s and Winery Champagne Cellar, take home anniversary wine glass. $29.
Wake County students could spend five more minutes in school each day in return for having two fewer days of classes for the 2016-17 school year.
Wake school leaders say they’re only considering having fewer, but longer school days because North Carolina’s school calendar law limits when they can hold classes. School districts are wrestling with options such as having fewer days of classes because the calendar law will force them to start later than normal and end earlier than usual in the 2016-17 school year.
“It’s the least of the bad options,” school board Vice Chairman Tom Benton said at Monday’s student achievement committee meeting. “It’s a shame that we have to look at that for our calendar.”
The issue is pitting educators against the tourism industry and parents who want to preserve long summer vacations. The calendar law, first passed in 2004, still has strong legislative support.
“We don’t want to revisit the issue of preserving the summers for the kids, for the parents, so that people can take their vacations and our businesses that depend on summer tourism have an opportunity to flourish,” said Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican from Rockingham County.
Under the law, traditional-calendar schools can start no earlier than the Monday closest to Aug. 26 and end no later than the Friday closest to June 11. For the 2016-17 school year, that means classes can’t start before Aug. 29 or end after June 9.
Wake’s initial 2016-17 draft calendars for traditional-calendar schools had four teacher workdays built in between the first and last day of classes. In contrast, eight teacher workdays are built in between the first and last day for the 2015-16 school year.
Teachers use workdays for training and catching up on their paperwork. They can also be used as weather makeup days.
New draft calendars presented Monday would add two workdays by cutting Wake from the traditional total of 180 days of classes to 178.
“I do believe that – notwithstanding the fact that it sort of flies in the face of looking at academic time and days of instruction and support – that for our district I tend to lean towards a 178-day option right now,” Cathy Moore, deputy superintendent for school performance, told board members. “But it is begrudgingly that I go there.”
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system is considering a similar approach for 2016-17, with options under consideration for 176 or 178 days.
School districts can have 185 days or 1,025 hours of instruction, an option made possible by the legislature in 2012. Most districts follow the time requirement.
Wake administrators want to pair the two fewer school days with adding five minutes to the day.
Adding the time would give Wake flexibility should bad weather force schools to close during the 2016-17 school year.
The school board may vote on the calendars in June.
In the meantime, school districts are continuing to lobby for changes in the calendar law. Leanne Winner, lobbyist for the N.C. School Boards Association, said the law needs to be changed this year because next year is too late for the 2016-17 school year.
“It is a real concern that there are no ideal choices for the ’16-17 year, and that’s why through the legislative process there’s been a big push to try to resolve this now,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Hui: 919-829-4534; Twitter: @nckhui
See the details
Go to bit.ly/1FbWkk7 to view draft 180-day calendars for traditional-calendar schools.
DALLAS, May 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Generational Equity, a leading mergers and acquisitions advisor for privately-held, middle-market businesses, is pleased to announce the acquisition of its client, Ridge Runner Fast Foods dba Burger King, headquartered in Boone, North Carolina, by Carolina Quality LLC headquartered in Henderson, North Carolina. The acquisition closed on April 15, 2015.
Ridge Runner Fast Foods (RRFF) is a holding company for three Burger King (BK) franchises located in Boone, North Carolina, Mountain City, Tennessee and Elizabethton, Tennessee.
Managing Director Don Sawyer, Vice President Mark Breheny, and Affiliate Sam Sumner, led the Generational Equity deal team that advised RRFF on the transaction. Sam Sumner said, “Carolina Quality, LLC was the perfect buyer for RRFF. They have deep experience in the food service industry and especially Burger King Franchises.”
Carolina Quality LLC and Alabama Quality are Burger King Franchises with 36 restaurants in North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana.
In today’s roundup: OSU School of Music’s director isn’t pleased fired OSU Marching Band Director Jon Waters used his letter in court, the James Cancer Hospital is taking over cancer care at a Wilmington hospital, Ohio had a boffo year for tourism, the Connor Group goes to North Carolina to buy yet another apartment complex, and a daredevil dives off a downtown construction crane.
TBDBITL mess, continued
The director of the Ohio State University School of Music is walking back some inflammatory statements he made regarding the firing of OSU Marching Band Director Jon Waters. WOSU reports Richard Blatti released a statement through the university clarifying that a letter he sent to Waters’ parents was meant to be a private consolation. “I never expected my personal letter would be used by Mr. Waters in this manner,” he said. Waters submitted the letter in court, WOSU said, as part of his lawsuit against OSU. The school called the letter “irrelevant” to the case: “Dr. Blatti’s letter only shows that he was a family friend of Mr. Waters and was reaching out to the Waters family as a friend.” As the Lantern reported this week, Blatti had told Waters’ parents that he didn’t know the decision to fire Waters was coming. “The shocking decisions made in July were done without my knowledge, or even my input, without valuing or even reading my most recent evaluations of Jon’s work, and most disappointing, without any other information than a report we all know now is filled with error, omission, even rumors,” Blatti wrote. “To say I am appalled is a gross understatement and does not describe my feelings of frustration, helplessness, and anger.”
Win for OSU James
A hospital system in Wilmington is aligning with the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center for cancer care. The Cincinnati Business Courier reports CMH Regional Health System severed ties with a Cincinnati physician group to go with James Cancer Hospital specialists instead. OSU will staff the Wilmington hospital with a doctor serving as director of oncology and another doctor designated as director of radiation oncology five days a week, the paper said. “Having physicians from the James Cancer Network here … means that our patients don’t have to drive two hours round-trip to take advantage of all that the James Cancer Network has to offer,” Clinton Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Kelsey Swindler told the paper. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Interest piqued in Ohio
Ohio had a record year for tourism. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports the state hosted 200 million visits from out-of-state travelers last year. According to new stats from TourismOhio, direct visitor spending totaled about $31 billion, up $1 billion from 2013. “By increasing our marketing outreach, we’ve been able to tell the story of Ohio to more people, more often,” TourismOhio Director Mary Cusick told the paper. That outreach will grow in the coming couple years as Columbus-based Cult Marketing just won a contract to come up with new branding for the state.
Acquisitive streak unbroken
The apartment investor Connor Group shows no signs of slowing down. The Dayton Business Journal reports the Miami Township-based company paid $39.8 million for the 292-unit Cary Greens at Preston apartment complex outside Raleigh, N.C. The deal brings the company up to 10 markets, including Columbus, and the paper said it plans to grow into the Denver market this year.
Tall glass of ‘Nope’
And finally, a daredevil decided to take a swing downtown recently, and he’s got a crazy YouTube video to document the feat. A gentleman calling himself JohnnyPro climbed up a construction crane next to Columbus Commons, then proceeded to launch himself in a wide arc off it before lowering himself to the roof of the HighPoint at Columbus Commons apartments and rappelling down to the street below. That description hardly does it justice however – check out the video. NBC4 reports it would be up to the owner of the site where the crane is located to pursue any legal action against the trespasser, but Columbus police have no record of any complaints. (UPDATE: This story originally said the crane was on Columbus Commons, but it’s on a neighboring construction site.)
Doug Buchanan directs daily online/digital news coverage for Columbus Business First.
Clover School Board approved a $17.8 million bid to build an aquatic center in Lake Wylie during a special board meeting May 11.
After an executive session, school board members awarded the contract to Beam Construction Co. of Cherryville, N.C. The center was part of a construction package approved by voters in a March 2014 bond referendum.
The winning bid, which the board chose over three others, includes a base bid for the center plus a second floor and walking track, an outdoor 50-meter pool and a waterpark.
While an aquatic center is a new project for Beam Construction, executive vice president Robert Browne said “that in itself is a challenge but it’s the same construction we do every day.”
Kelly Clayton with project managing company Cumming Corp. said he expects to have the order to proceed back by May 22.
“We hope to break ground this month,” he said.
Clayton said the center is expected to be finished by Aug. 1, 2016. The final building plans show the center fronting S.C. 274 with parking, the main entrance, and pool and waterpark in the back.
Ken Love, chief finance and facilities officer for the district, said the winning contract is $360,000 more than planned.
“It’s slightly over what we had budgeted but well within our ability to complete it,” he said, explaining there is still $20 million available for projects. “We’ll find a way where it won’t impact us.”
Beam Construction Co. in December was awarded the $29.7 million contract for the construction of a middle school on 125 acres on Barrett Road in Clover. That project is under way and scheduled to open in 2016.
The district had planned about $14 million for the aquatic center, including two 25-yard indoor pools and a fitness center, on S.C. 274 next to Crowders Creek Elementary School. It will be operated in partnership with the Upper Palmetto YMCA.
The district also has committed to build a $1.8 million Olympic-size 50-meter outdoor pool, designed for competitive events, which was not part of the bond.
Superintendent Marc Sosne has said the school board plans to build it with leftover bond money or surplus capital funds.
The York County Council last month approved $1 million in hospitality tax for the outdoor water park.
The hospitality tax money comes from a 2 percent charge on food and drinks in unincorporated areas of the county, such as Lake Wylie, and must be spent on tourism-generating projects.
The outdoor water park, estimated to cost $1.7 million, is an additional feature paid for by the YMCA, and is intended to increase membership. YMCA leaders have been raising donations for months and have about $400,000 pledged toward the project.
The aquatic center is part of a $99 million construction plan that includes five major projects, undertaken by the district after voters approved a $67 million bond package in spring 2014.
The district is making a $32 million down payment on the construction. So far, along with the middle school school and aquatic center, contracts have been awarded and construction under way on two other projects: $18.7 million contract for Clancy Theys Construction of Charlotte to build an elementary school on 35 acres on Oakridge Road in Lake Wylie, across from Oakridge Middle School, scheduled to open in 2016; and $3.1 million contract for renovations at Clover High School’s Memorial Stadium and other athletic fields to Randolph and Son Builders of Pineville, N.C.
The final project is renovations for the ninth-grade academy in the current Clover Middle building. The renovation costs were budgeted at $10 million and the new academy is to be open in 2017.
Technology Overtakes Tobacco in Winston-Salem, N.C. – New York Times
“The idea that universities and government could jointly build a business park framed around technology was born 55 years ago in North Carolina, on farm and forest land eight miles south of downtown Durham. That business park, Research Triangle Park, is a collection of spacious office buildings housing 170 companies on a 7,000-acre suburban campus navigated by car. It fit two of the primary real estate priorities of the postwar 20th century: mobility and privacy. Here in Winston-Salem, about 80 miles west, the technology business park is being updated to fit two development priorities of the 21st century: proximity and collaboration. Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, rising on a 145-acre parcel on the developing east side of this midsize Carolina city, is a partnership between the city and state, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Wake Forest University and Wexford Science and Technology, the Baltimore-based primary developer. The development, initially named the Piedmont Triad Research Park, was once the site of a cigarette manufacturing plant owned by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco.”
National Park Tourism in North Carolina Creates $1,533.9 Million in Economic Benefit – The Stanly News Press
“A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 16,710,760 visitors to national parks in North Carolina spent $1,102.6 million in the state in 2014. That spending resulted in 18,528 jobs and had a cumulative benefit to the state economy of $1,533.9 million. ‘The national parks of North Carolina attract visitors from across the country and around the world,’ said regional director Stan Austin. ‘Whether visitors come to explore the natural and cultural attractions along the Outer Banks, or enjoy the poetic pursuits of Carl Sandburg with a visit to his home, visitors come to have a great experience, and end up having an economic benefit to the communities they visit. This new report shows that national park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy — returning $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service — and a big factor in our state’s economy as well, a result we can all support.’” The full National Park Service report with state-by-state details can be found here.
Good Luck Escaping Poverty in Mecklenburg County –Charlotte Business Journal
“Children born into poor families in Mecklenburg County are among the least likely to be able to work themselves into a higher income bracket, according to a new report released this week by a pair of Harvard University economics professors. Mecklenburg ranked No. 2 behind Baltimore City, Md., on the study’s ranking of the five toughest places for kids to escape poverty. The report found the national average household income for 26-year-old adults to be $26,000. But in Mecklenburg County, individuals in that age group earn 13.8 percent less than the national average, the analysis found. According to the study, moving children into areas of more opportunity at a young age boosted their income as adults. CNN noted some things that counties with higher rates of upward mobility have in common: less segregation by race and income, lower levels of income inequality, better schools, lower crime rates, and more two-parent households.”
Automaker Pursuit: Where Is NC’s Fourth Megasite? –Triad Business Journal
“In North Carolina’s pursuit of an automaker, three megasites have been at the forefront of the conversation. But another site has crept into the mix. Chris Chung, top executive of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, visited that site on Tuesday. The partnership has been contracted to be the marketing arm of the N.C. Department of Commerce, and Chung is tasked with recruiting big business. That could include an automaker, so Chung has been gathering information about each of North Carolina’s four sites to keep in his back pocket should he enter into talks with a site selector. Chung has visited both the 1,818-acre Chatham-Siler City Advanced Manufacturing Site, owned by Tim Booras and D.H. Griffin Sr., and the Kingsboro megasite in Edgecombe County that has amassed 1,500 acres either under option or purchased. He plans to visit the third well-known site, an area in Randolph County managed by the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite Foundation, headed by former Greensboro Mayor Jim Melvin, who says there are more than 1,300 acres under option in Liberty. So where is the fourth site? Moncure, a small community in southeastern Chatham County, adjacent to Lee and Wake counties. The Moncure megasite perhaps has not received as much attention as the others, especially its neighbor to the west, because it is in the earlier stages. The nearly 1,500-acre site is located at the intersection of Old U.S. 1 and U.S. Highway 1, near the Cape Fear Power Plant, and includes an undeveloped site of more than 1,000 acres plus a 420-acre industrial site.”
AOL Co-Founder Steve Case Talks NC Startups –Charlotte Business Journal
“AOL co-founder Steve Case spoke Tuesday alongside Gov. Pat McCrory to business leaders in Raleigh. Case, who addressed leaders such as Citrix GM of Documents Cloud Jesse Lipson and departing ChannelAdvisor CEO Scot Wingo, has been to Raleigh before. But this time, he said there’s a more intense energy. ‘It’s a momentum thing,’ he said while standing in front of a giant blue bus in front of the governor’s executive mansion during the first leg of his Triangle ‘Rise of the Rest’ tour. ‘It feels like there’s really a lot of work underway in the last decade to put the foundation in place,’ Case said. ‘But it feels like it could really accelerate in the next decade.’ He compared the Triangle’s entrepreneurship journey to the Internet, starting slowly but accelerating ‘as it hits this tipping point.’”
