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Vacancies on Charlotte Boards and Commissions

Numerous vacancies remain on several Charlotte City Council-appointed Boards and Commissions.  

  • The recent vacancy notice lists positions for which the City Council will make nominations and appointments in 2022.  Please take note of application deadlines and dates projected for nominations and appointments.
  • Any additional positions will be added to this list as they arise.  Please subscribe to NotifyMe to receive notices of new vacancies.
  • Applications are available online at charlottenc.gov/clerk or by clicking here.
  • Applications remain active for one year from the submission date.
  • Applicants will be notified when appointed.
  • Please visit the Boards & Commissions webpage to view more details about each board and commission and their meeting times and locations.  Please review the necessary qualifications for each board, as well as attendance and code of ethics requirements.
  • All applicants must be residents of Mecklenburg County.
  • Appointees serve voluntarily without compensation.
Questions? Contact Boards & Commissions at 704-336-7494 or [email protected].

Downtown Huntersville Plan 2022

Previous planning studies related to the Downtown include the 2006 Downtown Master Plan and the 2040 Community Plan.  The 2022 Downtown Plan will both update the 2006 Plan and follow adopted 2040 Plan policies and action priorities.  The Plan will be reviewed by the Huntersville Planning Board and eventually considered for adoption by the Huntersville Town Board of Commissioners. 

The most recent public forum was held on October 20th with about 80 people attending.  The presentation links are listed here for your review:

Once you have had a chance to view the presentation, please complete the survey which will be open until Monday, October 31st at 5:00 PM. 

For additional details about the plan please visit:

Let's Plan Huntersville

Key CLT Committees Meet the 1st Monday of the Month

Charlotte's newly seated City Council is off and running and has determined to make the start of every month highly productive (or just have a lot of meetings).  Three key committees tasked with a focus on growth, transportation, housing, and economic development meet on that day which culminates with a gathering of the full City Council in the evening.  Here are some links with important details for the upcoming November events:


Monday, November 7th

6:00pm - 8:00pm - Council Committee Discussions

It’s About Time: Fixing the Development Approvals Process

Originally published on October 11, 2022, by Matt Baron for NAIOP.

When you invest time on the front end of your development efforts, you will reap dividends during its latter stages. Conversely, if you don’t heed the details – political landscape, concerns of residents, requirements of regulatory agencies, and more – then you will pay in stalled or stymied projects.

In vivid detail, panelists at NAIOP’s CRE.Converge this week illustrated those contrasting outcomes in a session moderated by Jill Didier, vice president of business development of Miron Construction Co – and also the former mayor of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, a community west of Milwaukee.

Her varied background is fitting for the topic at a time of rising complexity in land development, new regulations, fewer municipal employees, and the COVID-19 pandemic combining to create longer delays in permit and entitlements processes; it’s vital to understand the development process from myriad vantage points. Someone who can put themselves in others’ shoes is that much more likely to have a smoother path to seeing developments take shape and bolster the region’s economic well-being.

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Timeshare Comes to the Office: Companies Save Money on Space by Alternating Days

Originally published on October 24, 2022, by Konrad Putzier for The Wall Street Journal.

Hybrid work schedules for most companies mean splitting time between remote work and time in the office. For the startup Frontier Talent Inc., it also means rotating through the same office space with another company.

Frontier employees head to their San Francisco office on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. After two of those days, they pack their laptops, clean up their desks and throw away any trash so their work area will be clean when another company moves in for its turn using the space.

Thousands of companies across the U.S. are still grappling with exactly how much office space they need when many employees are in the workplace only part of the week. A growing number of companies now let their employees work part-time from home but still want them to be together in the office at least a few days a week to foster collaboration. That means offices are either mostly full or mostly empty, depending on the day of the week.

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How the Warehouse Boom Changed the Way America Looks, Lives, and Works

Originally published on October 19, 2022, for Business Insider.

As the US emerged from the Great Recession, cheap real estate and the rise of e-commerce collided to create a warehousing boom.

As Amazon and others began building million-square-foot distribution centers, construction skyrocketed. Since 2011, over 2.3 billion square feet of new warehouse space has come to market — enough room to comfortably stuff 3 ½ Manhattans inside.

Past industrial booms created coal countries, steel cities, and oil towns. Now warehouse boomtowns shoot up in places like California's Inland Empire, Pennsylvania's Lehigh County, and Columbus, Ohio, and the number of warehouse workers has nearly tripled in a decade.

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CRE Sentiment Index: Higher Interest Rates, Cap Rates Among Areas of Concern

Originally published on October 18, 2022, by NAIOP.

The NAIOP CRE Sentiment Index for September 2022 is 47, down from April’s reading of 53. It is at its lowest level since September 2020. This reading suggests that respondents expect unfavorable conditions for commercial real estate over the next 12 months. 

Key Takeaways:

  • Respondents expect higher interest rates, higher cap rates, and a decrease in the supply of equity and debt over the next year.
  • Their outlook for occupancy rates, face rents, and effective rents are also less optimistic, though they still expect rents to grow.
  • Respondents also expect a sharp deterioration in general industry conditions over the next 12 months.
  • The only positive development in the September survey is that respondents expect a slower pace of construction cost inflation over the next year.
  • Despite a more pessimistic outlook for development conditions, developers plan to maintain recent deal volume over the coming year.
  • Most respondents expect to be most active in projects or transactions related to industrial properties over the next year.
View Full Report

Real Estate Industry Weighs in on Property Conversion Legislation

Originally published on October 18, 2022, by NAIOP.

NAIOP and its real estate industry allies last week provided suggestions on the Revitalizing Downtowns Act, legislation that would create a new tax credit to facilitate the conversion of older office buildings into multifamily housing structures. The bill would provide a 20% tax credit for expenses in converting a building that is at least 25 years old to multifamily housing, provided that at least 20% of the units are reserved for affordable housing. In a coalition letter to sponsors of the legislation, the real estate groups suggest expanding the category of properties eligible for the credit and ensuring real estate investment trusts can utilize the incentive, among other things.

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Capital Markets: Investing in a Rising Interest Rate Environment

Originally published on October 12, 2022, by Matt Baron for NAIOP.

Midway into a panel discussion at CRE.Converge, a quip about the Federal Reserve behaving like a novice teenaged driver – “way too much gas, way too much brake, way too much gas” – drew laughter from many attending the jampacked session. But palpable nervousness tinged those chuckles at the metaphor by moderator Bart Johnson, president, and CRE market head, of Wintrust Bank.

Questions over the duration and extent of rising interest rates have slowed overall market activity. And no one on the panel predicted relief from the ongoing suspense any time soon.

In fact, the first perspective offered by Peter Schultz, a 39-year industry veteran who is executive vice president – of East region, First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc., was that “rates are going to rise, there’s going to be more pressure for sure. I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon.”

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Advancing Sustainability Goals Using Data and Benchmarking

Originally published on October 12, 2022, by Ian P. Murphy for NAIOP.

Pressure to satisfy environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals among companies in the commercial real estate sector has intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to panelists at CRE.Converge.

External pressure is building as local governments establish environmental benchmarking ordinances. But even where regulatory demands and tenant awareness are lacking, boards and investors are asking their firms to do more. “A lot of it is internal,” said Leslie Moore, senior vice president and director of ESG and corporate operations for LXP Industrial Trust. “Certain investors really push for it.”

“We don’t have a lot of pressure from our tenants to adopt sustainability as much as I’ve seen in the office sector,” said Rielle Green, director of ESG for Acadia Realty Trust, a retail REIT. “That’s coming from our investors and board. They ask, ‘What is our strategy? Are we in line with our peers?’”

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How Supply Chain and Logistics Drive Site Selection

Originally published on October 12, 2022, by Ed Finkel for NAIOP.

Supply chain, logistics and transportation play a major role in site selection for industrial real estate, which has been disrupted along with many other economic sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic but remains in a strong position overall, said Adam Roth, CCI, SIOR, executive vice president of NAI Hiffman, at CRE:Converge 2022.

Corporations make site selection decisions by balancing the costs of industrial real estate with the percentage of suppliers and consumers they want to be able to reach same day and next day. They make algorithmic calculations that result in hub-and-spoke supply chain maps outward from central nodes where warehouses are located, Roth said.

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Congratulations to our Fall Golf Tournament Winners!

Congratulations to our Tournament Winners!
Thank you to all our Participants and Sponsors!

We had an amazing turnout at Monday's CRCBR & NAIOP Charlotte Fall Golf Tournament. Thank you to everyone who came out to Carolina Golf Club and congratulations to all our tournament winners!

 

GROSS Winners

Our first place winners based on GROSS were:
  • AM Flight  Jonathan Stewart, John Lambert, Collin Ricks, Mayson Petty
  • PM Flight  Kevin Ammons, Michael Byrd, Chad Frye, Sean Paone
Our second place winners based on GROSS were:
  • AM Flight  Charles Blankinship, Zach Simpson, Nick Claudio, Ryan Kendall
  • PM Flight  Thomas Barker, Josh Fuller, Keith Williams, Miles Curley
Our third place winners based on GROSS were:
  • AM Flight  Clark Alcorn, James Kyger, Scott Gadd, Aaron Petrosky
  • PM Flight  Larry Wilson, AJ Belt, Robby Kirby, Robby Lowe

NET Winners

Our first place winners based on NET were:
  • AM Flight  Rob Nanfelt, Paisley Gordon
  • PM Flight  Matt Lees, Joe Curley, Trevor Hinerman, Matt Bramwell
Our second place winners based on NET were:
  • AM Flight  Bryan Katzenmaier, Daniel Farrar, Bob Boykin, Jeff Smith
  • PM Flight  John Lair, Charles Blankinship, Lee McGuiness, Gary Cline
Our third place winners based on NET were:
  • AM Flight  Rad Hudson, Josh Schlechty, Steve Babcock, Shannah Rydell
  • PM Flight  Thomas Phillips, Scott Dumler, Zach McLaren, Nick Jones

Contest Winners

Putting Contest (sponsored by Elliott Davis)
  • AM Flight Bob Boykin
  • PM Flight Jason Mari
Closest to Pin (#16) (sponsored by Landmark Builders)
  • AM Flight Mayson Petty
  • PM Flight Brian Kreefer
Closest to Pin (#12) (sponsored by Graycor)
  • AM Flight Clark Alcorn
  • PM Flight Ladd Wood
Longest Drive (sponsored by Giles Flythe Engineers)
  • AM Flight Mike Dempsey
  • PM Flight Miles Curley
Straight Drive (sponsored by McAdams & Edison Foard)
  • AM Flight Alex Habecker
  • PM Flight Nick Jones
Thank you again to all of our participants and sponsors.
We'll see you again next year!
 
Thank You to Our 2022 Sponsors
  
Title sponsor
Prologis
Beverage Cart
ColeJenest & Stone, Bolton & Menk

Hole-In-One
Clancy & Theys Construction Company
Putting Contest
Elliott Davis
Golf Cart & Gift Bag
Gilbane Building Company
Longest Drive (Male)
Giles Flythe Engineers
Straightest Drive
Edison Foard
McAdams


Driving Range
InterCon Building Company, LLC

Scorecard
Batson-Cook Construction
Water Bottle
Cline Design Associates
Lunch
SunCap Property Group


Golf Ball
KDC Real Estate Development & Investments
Sign Sponsor
Carolina Realty Signs

Closest to the Pin
Graycor
Landmark Builders

Misting Tent
Poettker Construction
 

CLT Transportation Committee Meets to Discuss Next Steps on UDO

The Transportation, Planning, and Development Committee held its first meeting of the new council term and reviewed its charge and procedures.  Members of the Committee, along with Mayor Pro Tem Braxton Winston who also attended, heard several presentations from planning staff that included:

To view the full agenda and video, click the links below:

Walmart unveils next-gen fulfillment center

Originally published on September 28, 2022, by Dan Berthiaume for Chain Store Age.

Walmart is debuting a proprietary supply chain automation system in its new high-tech fulfillment center.

Located in Joliet, Ill., and described as the "first-of-its-kind" for Walmart,  the 1.1 million-sq.-ft, high-tech facility is the first of four state-of-the-art fulfillment centers dedicated to e-commerce that Walmart plans to open during the next three years. It will store millions of items available on Walmart.com, that are then picked, packed, and shipped directly to customers.

The new center will also fulfill third-party Walmart Marketplace items shipped by Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS), the company's end-to-end fulfillment service for third-party e-commerce sellers.

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Congress Extends Government Funding

Originally published on October 4, 2022, by NAIOP.

Last Friday, the House passed a stopgap funding bill – sending it for President Joe Biden’s signature only hours before a government shutdown would have taken effect – before lawmakers left to campaign for the November midterm elections. The Senate had passed the Continuing Resolution (CR) days prior, after Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) agreed to remove controversial energy project permitting legislation that had been part of his agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to get his support for passage of the Inflation Reduction Act passed in August.

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From Salt Storage Facility to Concert Venue

Originally published in the Fall 2022 Issue of NAIOP's Development Magazine.

The Morton Salt Company warehouse on Elston Avenue in Chicago once furnished tons of preservative salt for the city’s tanning industry. Today it is itself preserved — a city landmark in the process of rebirth as a concert venue combined with commercial and office space.  

The complex, containing several buildings in a 4.2-acre site along the North Branch of the Chicago River, is being transformed to contain a 30,000-square-foot indoor concert venue in the former salt storage shed, 60,000 square feet of leasable office and commercial space in what had been a three-floor packaging building, additional space in a former garage, and an outdoor performance venue in the footprint of a recently demolished second salt shed.

The site is in the city’s North Branch Industrial Corridor, which has seen considerable development since partial rezoning in 2017 to encourage mixed-used development. The zoning of this site changed from M3-3, Heavy Industry District, to C3-3, Commercial, Manufacturing and Employment District.

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The Activity-Focused Office: A Fresh Way to Work

Originally published in the Fall 2022 Issue of NAIOP's Development Magazine by Plabo J. Quintana.

The modern office is in the midst of a transformation. With most knowledge workers opting out of the traditional five-day-in-office workweek in search of flexibility and hybrid work solutions, the shape, size and focus of the future office is rapidly changing.

CBRE’s Spring 2022 Office Occupier Sentiment Survey provides a snapshot of these changes and their impact on commercial real estate. In a survey of 185 tenant companies, 39% of respondents said they plan to expand their office portfolios over the next three years. That’s up from 29% the previous year, suggesting that fears about the “death of the office” have been exaggerated. Fifty-two percent said they plan to reduce their office space holdings, but only 8% say they will become fully remote. Seventy-three percent — the vast majority — plan to support hybrid work. 

As of now, office occupancy is slowly beginning to rebound from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic. NAIOP’s Office Space Demand Forecast, released in May, reports that vacancy rates have increased across the country for 10 straight quarters. However, Class A buildings with amenities designed to attract skilled workers are helping to stabilize the office market. Net office space absorption in the remaining three quarters of 2022 is forecasted to reach 46.9 million square feet and total 47.3 million square feet for all of 2023.

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Development Magazine Fall 2022: Developer of the Year

Originally published in the Fall 2022 NAIOP Development Magazine by Ron Derven.

Since its founding in Dallas in 1991, Granite Properties has understood the impact of real estate developments on people and communities. That’s why it creates spaces and relationships where people can flourish while supporting local communities.

For its outstanding quality of products and services, financial stability, ability to adapt to market conditions, support of NAIOP, and support for the communities where it works, Granite Properties is NAIOP’s 2022 Developer of the Year.

“This award is recognition from our peers that not only are we doing good things, but we are doing them in a way that benefits all of our constituencies,” said Michael Dardick, CEO of Granite. “What makes it even more special is that it comes from NAIOP, a prestigious industry group.”

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House Republicans Outline Post-election Policy Agenda

Originally published on September 27, 2022 by NAIOP Source E-Newslettter.

Last Friday in Pittsburgh, House Republicans, led by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), presented their “Commitment to America,” a broad outline of the direction House Republicans would take if they regained the majority in the House of Representatives after the November congressional midterm elections. The outline reflects more detailed proposals made by various policy task forces established by McCarthy to produce a policy agenda in advance of the midterms.

 

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Local Governments Use Federal Relief Funds to Offset Inflation Impact

Inflation is expected to remain around 8% for August according to Bloomberg. While this may be slightly lower than the 8.5% consumer price index recorded in July, the continued rise in inflation from a year ago increases the cost of providing and maintaining government programs and services at the local level. The National League of Cities has reported that cities are using federal pandemic relief funds to address the impact of inflation.

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