Meta sheds more Austin real estate as IBM assumes its Domain lease

Posted on by Michael Randle

Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc. is shedding another big chunk of Austin office space, but IBM Corp. is stepping in to fill the gap.

IBM is assuming the lease on the entire 320,000-square-foot building in The Domain in North Austin that Meta is vacating.

Cousins Properties, which owns the Domain 12 office building, announced Sept. 5 that an unnamed Fortune 100 tech company will assume Meta’s lease on Jan. 1, 2026, and an IBM spokesperson later confirmed that Big Blue is the new tenant.IBM is already active in The Domain area and was set to lease space in an upcoming tower from real estate developer Hines at its northern tip, but that lease agreement has now been terminated. Austin Business Journal

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Data center pitched in this vibrant area of Atlanta could be the last

Posted on by Michael Randle

A data center is being proposed for an emerging entertainment hub. But, it could be one of the last of these projects in vibrant areas of the city as a new ban takes effect.

New York developer Youngwoo & Associates LLC wants to convert an aging warehouse at 1611 Ellsworth Industrial Blvd. into a multi-story data center. A representative for the company filed a special administrative permit application in Atlanta in late August.

The data center could be the first phase of a broader mixed-use development, per the application.

Youngwoo has owned the 17-acre property in Atlanta’s Upper Westside since the 1990s. It’s near Topgolf Atlanta and The Works, a mixed-use project developed by Selig Enterprises. 

The proposal comes as Atlanta officials cease new data center development in certain areas of the city. Atlanta Business Chronicle

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New investment strategies position rural Alabama for economic growth

Posted on by Michael Randle

Alabama’s rural communities are on the brink of significant economic expansion, fueled by strategic investments and targeted policies designed to create jobs and enhance infrastructure.

“To ensure that we expand opportunities everywhere, my administration is committed to helping spark revival and growth in the state’s rural communities,” Governor Kay Ivey said. “While there is much work to be done, we believe we are making progress in this important endeavor.”

Take a look at Coffee County in Southeast Alabama, where Kansas-based Sunbelt Solomon Services, one of the world’s largest providers of commercial and industrial electrical distribution equipment, is opening a facility to repair and recycle electrical transformers.

At a site in Elba, the company is investing over $5 million and creating 50 jobs initially, with plans for more as operations grow.

Jesse Quillen, executive director of the Wiregrass Economic Development Corp., said Sunbelt Solomon’s investment project will have a major impact on the community of 4,000 residents.

“The new jobs, new capital investment and new energy provided by Sunbelt Solomon are all incredibly important and attractive for Elba citizens,” he said when the project was announced. MadeInAlabama.com

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Mount Airy, N.C. keeping a major employer in city’s largest industrial investment ever

Posted on by Michael Randle

In what was described as the biggest industrial investment in Mount Airy’s history, NCFI Polyurethanes announced Thursday that it’s relocating to the city’s Westwood Industrial Park and investing at least $50 million in an upgraded facility.

While the move and investment aren’t expected to add significantly to the company’s workforce of about 60, the news means Mount Airy and Surry County aren’t losing an anchor employer that’s been a part of the community for some 60 years.

The move was precipitated in part by the sale late in 2023 of the NCFI consumer products division and the 1515 Center Street facility to Carter Co. of Virginia. 

NCFI is leasing back the technical-lines facility until the new factory is open, expected by the end of 2026. Triad Business Journal

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Lager from Little Brother Brewery in Greensboro, N.C. named best in the world

Posted on by Michael Randle

A lager made right here in the Triad has been named the best lager in the world by an organization renowned for its tasting competitions.

The Tasting Alliance named Pleasing Gene, a lager brewed by boutique brewery Little Brother Brewing in Greensboro, Best in Show Lager at its 2023 World Beer Competition.

The Tasting Alliance is a San Francisco-based consultancy and branding network company known for its tasting competitions of wine, spirits and beer. It assembled a panel of beer experts for its 2023 World Beer Competition. Of the five lagers showcased at the competition, the judges awarded Pleasing Gene a double gold for Best Lager Classic Pilsner and Best in Show Lager Beer. The judges said the lager embodied “a delightful symphony of flavors of honeysuckle leading to a crisp finish”.

“The recent publicity in Forbes Magazine has been a fun ride,” said Little Brother co-owner Jeff Collie. “We’ve had people reach out from across the globe wondering how they can order it.” Triad Business Journal

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Aurora Flight Sciences expanding in Lowndes County, Miss.

Posted on by Michael Randle

Aerosystems manufacturing company Aurora Flight Sciences is expanding in Columbus. The project is a $43,794,998 investment and will create 63 new jobs.

The company is adding 50,000 square feet of new manufacturing space onto its existing aerosystems production facility. The company also is refurbishing 40,000 square feet, adding new equipment and machining and improving its automated fiber placement technology.

The Mississippi Development Authority is providing assistance through the Mississippi Flexible Tax Incentive, or MFLEX, program. AccelerateMS and Lowndes County also are assisting with the project.

A subsidiary of Boeing, Aurora Flight Sciences designs, builds and flies advanced aircraft and enabling technologies for commercial and defense applications. The company opened its Columbus facility in 2005. Mississippi Development Authority

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Greensboro-born Foster Caviness confirms it will move HQ, expand in Winston-Salem

Posted on by Michael Randle

Greensboro-born Fresh food distributor Foster Caviness is adding a 165,000 square foot expansion at a site being vacated by another food company in Winston-Salem, investing about $6.25 million over five years and adding an expected 165 jobs, the company confirmed Friday.

The new facility, at 2900 Lowry St., will be for the company’s supply chain division known as Foster360. Foster Caviness will add several ripening rooms, expand the cold-storage capacity and make other improvements.

Foster Caviness plans to keep its operations at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market in Colfax and move its headquarters to the new site, Marketing Director Chris Fuss told Triad Business Journal. In addition to the 165 new jobs, the company plans to move 140 jobs from Colfax to Winston-Salem for a total of 305 jobs. Triad Business Journal

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Elon Musk’s X Is Leaving San Francisco. City Officials Say ‘Good Riddance.’

Posted on by Michael Randle

San Francisco’s long relationship with X is nearly over — and city officials are far from heartbroken.

Elon Musk is shuttering his social media company’s headquarters in a gritty downtown neighborhood in the coming weeks and will move its last employees based there south to offices in Palo Alto and San Jose. New headquarters will be set up in Texas.

But city officials are not lamenting the exit. X bears little resemblance to the company that San Francisco wooed with a tax break more than a decade ago, when it was Twitter, to help anchor a budding tech hub in a downtrodden neighborhood near City Hall known as Mid-Market. The pandemic, and Mr. Musk’s 2022 acquisition of the company and subsequent gutting of its work force, reduced the headquarters to a ghost town.

“I share the perspective that most San Franciscans have, which is good riddance,” said City Attorney David Chiu, who as a member of the city’s Board of Supervisors backed the tax break that lured Twitter to Mid-Market in 2012.

Twitter once symbolized San Francisco’s status as a start-up capital. But the city’s nonchalant response to the move — amid public posts from Mr. Musk about San Francisco’s inflexible tax policies and liberal politics — shows officials are now less willing to cater to companies considering a move. The New York Times

highlights the best of development across the region and the main players behind those projects.He founded Pappas Properties in 1999, after seven years as partner at The Harris Group, where he led development and marketing for high-profile properties such as Phillips Place, Ballantyne, Morrocroft and 330 South Tryon. At Pappas Properties, he has developed more than 3 million square feet of retail, office and residential space, including Metropolitan in midtown Charlotte, Sharon Square in SouthPark and Berewick, a master-planned community in Steele Creek. And, in 2013, he joined Ron Terwilliger to create Terwilliger Pappas, a multifamily development firm that has developed 24 communities in five markets. Charlotte Business Journal

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Georgia Power is drilling holes more than a mile underground. Here’s why

Posted on by Michael Randle

At a trio of spots in rural Georgia, the state’s largest utility is boring holes thousands of feet into the Earth’s crust.

The purpose isn’t to suck up water or to hunt for rare minerals. Instead, Georgia Power is testing to see if the rocks as much as 2 miles down might be a suitable place to store carbon dioxide produced by its oil- and gas-fired power plants, instead of allowing the heat-trapping gas to escape into the atmosphere.

In recent weeks, the company has drilled boreholes in rural Georgia to evaluate whether sites are suitable for geologic carbon sequestration. It’s a technique in which carbon dioxide — the main greenhouse gas emitted by burning fossil fuels — is captured, compressed into a liquid-like state and then injected into porous rock. If CO2 from a smokestack can be collected and pumped underground, the idea is stashing it in rocks will prevent worsening global warming.While Georgia Power and its parent — Southern Company — say the testing is preliminary, the federal government is pumping millions into advancing carbon storage and new, more lucrative tax credits are available for companies that pursue it. At the same time Georgia Power and other utilities add more fossil fuels to their energy mix, new emissions limits for power plants could force many to capture and store the CO2 they produce to remain in operation. Atlanta Journal Constitution

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Lockheed Martin marks 70 years of C-130 aircraft in flight and built in Georgia

Posted on by Michael Randle

Inside the cavernous Lockheed Martin aircraft manufacturing plant at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, employees Thursday celebrated nearly 70 years of flight for the C-130 tactical airlifter — built in Marietta as the longest-running military aircraft production line in history.

Since the first flight on Aug. 23, 1954, of the large turboprop plane now known as the Hercules, it has been used to drop bombs, spy on targets and attack them with cannons, according to Lockheed Martin. It has also been used for humanitarian missions around the world.

Its cargo hold is fully pressurized and can be reconfigured to carry troops, passengers, equipment or stretchers. Its longevity is due to its versatility for a variety of missions.

Rod McLean, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and general manager of the Marietta site, said the anniversary “just signifies how Lockheed Martin is one of the key cornerstones of Cobb County and the metro Atlanta region’s economy.”

In Cobb County, there are daily flights overhead of C-130s used for training by air reserve crews at Dobbins, or for test flights of new C-130Js just built. Atlanta Journal Constitution

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