“For the ninth time in 10 years – and the sixth consecutive year – North Carolina ranked first among states with the “Top Business Climate,” with South Carolina holding the fifth spot in Site Selection magazine’s annual ranking that just came out. That’s quite a contrast to the way the Carolinas are ranked in the Tax Foundation’s 2011 State Business Tax Climate Index which puts North Carolina near the bottom and South Carolina in the middle of the pack. Site Selection’s readers aren’t alone in thinking highly of the Carolinas. The April 2009 issue of CEO Magazine slotted North Carolina at No. 2 and South Carolina at No. 9 among states that are the best in which to do business.

So why the discrepancy? The corporate real estate executives that Site Selection surveyed agree with the Tax Foundation that taxes are indeed important, yet their conclusions couldn’t be more different. They placed state and local tax schemes as the second most important consideration when they make a site location decision – and positioned North Carolina No. 1 and South Carolina No. 5 for their business climates. And that’s just part of the story. Site Selection ranked North Carolina as the sixth most competitive and South Carolinas as the 11th most competitive state in the country.

According to Site Selection, the Carolinas are high in site location decision-makers estimation for a reason. The 10 most important factors in making a location or expansion decision are:

1. Work force skills

2. State and local tax schemes

3. Transportation infrastructure

4. Flexibility of incentive programs

5. Availability of incentives and utility infrastructure (tied)

6. Land/building costs and supply

7. State economic development strategy

8. Permitting and regulatory structure, and

9. Higher education resources.

We have it nailed.

And we have the investments and job numbers to back up our top rankings. Site Selection ranked North Carolina second and South Carolina fourth among all 50 states in the number of new plants. That’s up from seventh and 16th, respectively, in 2009 – still an excellent showing. The Carolinas don’t just attract companies; they keep them because they are successful here. Site Selection specifically noted Siemens’ recent expansion at its Power Generation unit in March that will add more than 820 jobs. Since then, Siemens announced it would bring its nuclear instrumentation and control group to Charlotte from the Atlanta area. Each week in the 16-county Charlotte region, there’s an announcement of at least one more location or expansion. As you can see in the “Locations, expansions” below, the German company Hof Textiles is expanding in Lincoln County and Colfax is growing in Union County. These two companies alone will be committing $6.2 million to the Charlotte USA operations – a strong vote of confidence in our business climate.

Locations, Expansions
Hof Textiles is planning a $2.3 million equipment expansion in Lincoln County. This is the fourth major investment in the last five years that the German company has made in the facility to increase production capacity and capability. The subsidiary of Textilgruppe, which makes nonwovens for the automotive industry in North America, expects to start installing the manufacturing equipment by the first of the year and start production on it by June.”

Source: Ronnie Bryant, President & CEO, Charlotte Regional Partnership
* To comment on this article, please contact: rbryant@charlotteusa.com

For more information on how this will effect the housing market in Charlotte, NC, please contact Henderson Properties at 704 – 535 – 1122