Incentives like tax breaks are great, said Robert Gavin, global manager of facility engineering for the financial services company Citco Fund Services. But it’s the little things – affordable housing, local colleges and universities, and proximity to other big cities ...
Read More »Tuned out: Legendary Charlotte recording studio tries to compete as newer, cheaper studios rise
By Sam Boykin It’s Thursday morning and Wayne Jernigan is busy painting the doorway to Charlotte’s legendary Reflection Sound Studio. Some of music’s biggest artists have recorded at the Central Avenue studio since it opened in 1970, including R.E.M., Aerosmith, ...
Read More »Upset bid kicks off Eastland Mall bidding war: Investor envisions converting site into international mall
By Tara Ramsey It’s essentially a bidding war between Houston-based Boxer Property and Charlotte real estate investor Dwayne Deese over the heart of Eastland Mall in Charlotte. Deese submitted an upset bid of $2.1 million Aug. 9 during the foreclosure ...
Read More »Paying @ttention: As customers air gripes online, companies try to maintain e-harmony
By Caitlin Coakley It used to be that when a customer was upset with the way they had been treated by a business, they called the customer service line and lodged a formal complaint or just griped about it to ...
Read More »Federal housing aid to N.C. not enough, officials say
By Tara Ramsey With 40,633 foreclosures statewide and 6,726 in Mecklenburg County so far this year, the $280 million in federal assistance granted during the past month to North Carolina will undoubtedly be a blessing to those it is able ...
Read More »Drop in per capita income doesn’t surprise some Charlotte officials
By Sam Boykin When news came out last week that the Charlotte metro region’s personal income per capita dropped from $39,621 to $37,372, Tom Flynn wasn’t surprised. “We lost a lot of high-paying jobs in the financial sector,” said Flynn, ...
Read More »Knock, knock: Door-to-door salespeople feel less at home in Internet age
By Caitlin Coakley With shopping quickly becoming a one-click experience, coupled with con artists using aggressive and sometimes intimidating sales tactics when selling magazine subscriptions, sales experts say the death of the door-to-door salesman might have arrived. “The door-to-door salesman ...
Read More »Developers wilt over suspension of green program
By Sam Boykin Just as the Green Permit Rebate Program was gathering steam, Mecklenburg County in April pulled the plug on the government initiative that offered builders a rebate if they implemented certain sustainable construction features, such as solar panels ...
Read More »Some government workers take short workweek: But city, county officials say option doesn’t suit all employees
By Greg Lacour Charlotte and Mecklenburg County governments, like a growing number of local governments around the country, offer flexible work schedules — such as four-day workweeks — to their employees. And like most local governments that offer them, city ...
Read More »Crime blamed for ‘food desert’ proliferation
By Caitlin Coakley It’s a stark difference between the northwest Charlotte area and the upper-middle class areas south of the city. In the Pineville area, there are grocery stores on seemingly every corner: Fresh Markets, Harris Teeters, even lower-priced stores ...
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