CarterBlog

Real estate creating opportunities for relocations, jobs

By Scott Taylor, president, Carter

March 16 (ATLANTA) - The economy may be in a slump, but Atlanta’s leaders have put together a game plan to lure companies and jobs to the city.

And Atlanta’s lagging commercial real estate market could be one of the keys.

The Metro Atlanta Chamber is projecting 50 new company operations and 5,000 new jobs in 2010. Here is a snap shot of what the chamber is working towards:

• Global commerce - 12 companies creating 700 jobs
• Supply chain – 10 companies creating 850 jobs plus two international air cargo carriers
• Technology – 7 companies creating 350 jobs
• Bioscience/biomed – 5 companies creating 300 new jobs
• Headquarters, business services and general recruitment – 16 companies creating 2,800 jobs

The MAC strategy includes generating 250 new qualified company relocation leads through marketing and recruiting business from Latin America, Asia, Europe and North America.

According to the March 5 Atlanta Business Chronicle, the commercial real estate situation could help this effort. John Boyd, the president of The Boyd Company Inc., a consultancy based in Princeton N.J. told the Chronicle that Atlanta’s cheap real estate, lower taxes and inexpensive energy costs are attractive especially compared to northern cities. A Boyd study found New York has the highest annual operating cost for a headquarters, at $30.6 million. Atlanta is in relatively good shape with an annual cost of $23.2 million.

Of course, 2009 was not too shabby for metro Atlanta. According to MAC, 59 companies moved to Atlanta, bringing with them 6,600 jobs.

Brothers in the Bond: A Mayor, Vice Chairman and President Tour Revived City

By Scott Taylor, president, Carter

WEST POINT, Ga. (Feb. 3, 2010) - What do the mayor of West Point, vice chairman of CB Richard Ellis and president of Carter have in common? We were all fraternity brothers at the University of Georgia in the mid-80s, and we now all are focused on economic development and bringing new jobs to our great state of Georgia. 

West Point Mayor Drew Ferguson was kind enough to invite CBRE Vice Chairman Sam Holmes and me to visit his city to see for ourselves the amazing success of the new $1 billion Kia plant and related economic development activity in the area. Sam and I were incredibly impressed with the vision, the planning and the execution that has gone into not only salvaging West Point but turning the area into a model to be followed for economic development.

While Ferguson, right, has to shepherd the city through the economic storm that we all are facing, the team in West Point is poised to leverage the wonderful assets it has in place and build on the success story of the Kia plant. 

In November, the first U.S.-built 2011 Kia Sorento CUV rolled off the assembly line at the West Point assembly and manufacturing plant that sits on 2,259 acres in the city. At full capacity, the plant will employ 2,500 people and with onsite and proximate suppliers expected to create an additional 7,500 jobs. The plant will have a capacity to produce as many as 300,000 vehicles annually.

 We plan to continue the economic development dialogue and hope to conceive more ways that businesses in Atlanta can work with and help those in West Point and vice versa.

Sam Holmes, left, my college roommate, also reminded me that it was the first time he and I had driven over 5 miles together without adult beverages involved.