Tech giant Nvidia is said to be looking for a large office space in Austin area

Posted on by Michael Randle

Tech giant Nvidia Corp. is scouring the Austin metro for a large office lease, sources said.

The Silicon Valley-based artificial intelligence chipmaker is looking for roughly 300,000 square feet, according to a half-dozen sources unconnected to the project.

Nvidia is said to have tapped Nate Stricklen, vice chairman of commercial real estate firm CBRE, in the search. Stricklen forwarded a request for comment to a CBRE spokesperson, who declined. Nvidia also declined to comment.

It’s unclear where Nvidia is aiming to set up shop, but it’s believed to be on the north side of the metro. Nvidia already has two existing locations in North Austin — a 52,000-square-foot office space at 11001 Lakeline Blvd., and a 5,000-square-foot space at 10801 Mopac Expressway, according to data provided by CoStar.If it adds a large new location in that area, it would remain close to the operations of Round Rock-based Dell Technologies Inc. The two companies have forged a strong partnership, with Dell’s infrastructure solutions group utilizing Nvidia’s AI optimized servers. The companies also have committed to building an AI factory together. Austin Business Journal

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EV supplier Futronic is heading to Buda, Texas with aim of creating 350 jobs

Posted on by Michael Randle

A plan dubbed “Project Forward Motion” — a reference to a South Korean electric vehicle supplier that is on track to become Buda’s largest employer — is indeed moving forward.

Futronic USA Inc. has selected the city just south of Austin for its first U.S. location, according to an Aug. 30 announcement from the Buda Economic Development Corp.The $28 million project in a 66,000-square-foot building at 2899 Business Park Drive is expected to employ 350 people. Tenant improvements are scheduled to be finished by the end of this year and production is slated to start late next year. Austin Business Journal

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Refugees bolster Louisville’s population growth

Posted on by Michael Randle

Louisville’s population hasn’t slipped too far into rapid decline, due in part to the steady flow of immigrants and refugees to the area. 

The Kentucky Office for Refugees is based in Louisville and is a department of Catholic Charities of Louisville, which is federally designated to coordinate various refugee resettlement services.  

According to fiscal 2024 data from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there were 10,955 Louisville entrants. The majority of them arrived from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria and Somalia. The number also includes benefits-eligible populations, like many Cubans and Haitians coming from other states, asylees and trafficking survivors, who are considered walk-ins and are in a different category. Most people resettling in Louisville or being reunited with family are doing so by force. They’ve fled a country to seek safety from conflict, violence or persecution and unlike some immigrants, cannot return home. Louisville Business First

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Shelbyville, Ky. Battery Manufacturing proposes $700M renewable-energy facility

Posted on by Michael Randle

Another battery plant could be coming to Kentucky.

About 30 miles east of Louisville, Shelbyville Battery Manufacturing is planning to build a new facility to in part to support the global transition to renewable energy.

With its preliminary approval from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority late last month, the project received $35 million in incentives from the Kentucky Business Investment Program and another $5 million from the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act.Startup costs for the project in Shelbyville total almost $712 million, according to minutes from KEDFA’s August board meeting. It would bring more than 1,570 jobs to Shelby County with wages of $25 including benefits, according to KEDFA documents. Louisville Business First

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Workers at Tenn. electric vehicle battery plant join UAW

Posted on by Michael Randle

The 1,000 workers making batteries for electric vehicles at a site in Middle Tennessee will belong to the United Auto Workers union, officials announced Sept. 4.

This means employees at the $2.64 billion Ultium Cells LLC plant in Spring Hill will be covered by a deal the UAW negotiated with General Motors Co., which is a part-owner of the Ultium business.

That contract raises minimum starting wages to $27.72 an hour, up from their current $20 mark. That’s a nearly 40% increase, with more increases to follow, according to the Associated Press.

The Ultium plant — by dollar amount, one of the largest business investments in Tennessee history — began shipping vehicle batteries this spring. Many travel just down the road to GM’s longtime Spring Hill factory, which makes the all-electric Cadillac Lyriq SUV. Memphis Business Journal 

The 1,000 workers making batteries for electric vehicles at a site in Middle Tennessee will belong to the United Auto Workers union, officials announced Sept. 4.

This means employees at the $2.64 billion Ultium Cells LLC plant in Spring Hill will be covered by a deal the UAW negotiated with General Motors Co., which is a part-owner of the Ultium business.

That contract raises minimum starting wages to $27.72 an hour, up from their current $20 mark. That’s a nearly 40% increase, with more increases to follow, according to the Associated Press.The Ultium plant — by dollar amount, one of the largest business investments in Tennessee history — began shipping vehicle batteries this spring. Many travel just down the road to GM’s longtime Spring Hill factory, which makes the all-electric Cadillac Lyriq SUV. Memphis Business Journal

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Betting on Tipton County, Tenn.

Posted on by Michael Randle

Mark Herbison has been in and around industrial economic development in the Memphis area for nearly two decades now.

He was the head of HTL Advantage, an economic development organization representing Haywood, Tipton, and Lauderdale Counties with the goal of landing a tenant at the West Tennessee Megasite. He is credited as one of, if not the, main recruiters for the megasite, now the home of Ford Motor Co.’s forthcoming BlueOval City.

HTL Advantage has since dissolved, its mission accomplished in $5.6 billion, 6,000-job fashion.

Herbison now has a new gig. He’s serving as president of the Tipton County Community Development Council. He believes the county just to the north of Shelby and west of BlueOval City stands to be at the center of the project’s impact.

Here’s how Herbison, along with the mayor of Tipton County and many others, are preparing for a future that is coming fast. 

BlueOval City ‘makes for a whole lot of work’ on sewage and infrastructure

Before BlueOval City, the megasite was just a cotton field. Many of the small towns nearby were seeing declining populations, and things were quiet.

Now, the mostly rural counties, with limited resources, have to respond to a huge influx of traffic, workers, and fundamental changes to their neighborhoods. Usually, communities chase the kind of growth the largest project in Tennessee history is set to bring. In Tipton, it’s been the opposite challenge, and it “makes for a whole lot of work,” according to Jeff Huffman, mayor of Tipton County. Memphis Business Journal

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Several Tampa Bay cities rank in the top 10 places to retire, according to WalletHub

Posted on by Michael Randle

Several Tampa Bay cities again made Wallethub’s annual Best Places to Retire in the nation rankings. 

To compile its rankings, the personal finance company evaluated the retirement friendliness of 182 highly populated U.S. cities using data from numerous sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Council for Community and Economic Research, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Tax Foundation.

WalletHub’s analysis also assumes a retiree will live on a fixed income. All of the cities were ranked according to how many points they scored out of 100 across four categories:

  • Affordability (25 points): Analyzes factors such as taxpayer friendliness and cost of living
  • Activities (25 points): Evaluates factors such as the availability of music venues, bingo halls, museums and adult volunteer activities
  • Quality of life (25 points): Assesses factors such as the share of the population over the age of 65, a city’s walkability and weather
  • Health care (25 points): Considers factors such as the number of health care facilities, quality of public health systems and life expectancy

Tampa ranked No. 4 on the list, scoring highly in both activities (No. 9) and quality of life (No. 28). The city did, however, rank low in health care (No. 93) and the middle of the pack for affordability (No. 40). Tampa Bay Business Journal

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D.C.-area economic outlook buoyed by record employment, residential growth

Posted on by Michael Randle

Greater Washington’s economy is showing glimmers of improvement across several key data points.

Apartments are filling up, visitors are going out and a record number of residents are employed. 

Those are the latest findings from CBRE’s REVIVE Regional Vibrancy Index charting the D.C. area’s economic strengths and weaknesses in the wake of a pandemic that changed the core of how the region operates, from the shift to hybrid work to the evolution in how people get around.

CBRE (NYSE: CBRE) and the Washington Business Journal are partnering to produce the monthly index, tracking changes throughout 2024. The index in July slightly increased for the first time in a few months, rising 0.6% from the previous month to 70.3 out of 100. The data lags by about a month.

The most recent index, however, still sits 5.9% below where it was a year ago in July 2023. Washington Business Journal

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