Center City's goal: Diversify district's economic engine

PHOTO | TROY HULL

Charlotte Center City Partners' annual State of the Center City report showed the urban district is maturing with a mix of diversity of industry that has positioned the area as one of the nation's fastest-growing metros.

Charlotte is on the cusp of developing one the nation’s most-desirable urban areas as it recovers from the pandemic.

Center City Partners revealed its annual State of the Center City report on Thursday, which included research and economic development data on the business district. The report showed that investment in bringing new business and people to Charlotte puts the city in position to break into elite company.

“We spent a lot of time over the last three years looking back to 2019 and thinking about recovery,” CEO Michael Smith said, “and what we’ve come to understand is, we’re not competing against who we were. We’re competing against our set of competitors – against Atlanta, and Denver, and Austin [Texas], and Asheville – and how are we all recovering on a relative basis? What kind of new assets are we putting into place that are informed by a shared experience we’ve all had and the demands of tomorrow’s workforce and tomorrow’s employers.”

According to research conducted by CCCP, Charlotte is among America’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas, especially in population growth among Gen Z and Millennials from 2015-20, driven in part by technology job growth. Nearly $7 billion in new development is in the works, including 7.2 million square feet of office space and 7,700 apartment units and more than 2,000 hotel rooms.

“We’re one of the top 10 fastest growing metros and we’re top 10 For people relocating for new jobs,” Smith said. “We’re particularly excited about the young diverse and talented professionals that are choosing Center City Charlotte, along with major employers and new employers. And when you put the talent and the highly desirable jobs together, our center city is standing out as a place that employers are selecting to create their collaborative workspace.”

Center City continues its corporate diversification from a national reputation as a financial services powerhouse 20 years ago. As new businesses in the energy, technical and medical sectors have relocated, it’s allowed the city to leverage a changing economic dynamic.

“We love the way our center city is maturing, and that we’re getting this diversification of industry, whether it is technology jobs, extensions of some of our strengths, like finance, with high finance and with fintech,” Smith said. “The incredible innovation and global strength of a company like Honeywell having their headquarters here, Lowe’s bringing their tech center in where we had to compete with a lot of other great cities. That was not a foregone conclusion because their headquarters are in Mooresville. That had to be won. The moves that will occur with the Pearl and all the life sciences opportunities. What you’re seeing is really a rounding out of some great industries and some great opportunities for the citizens of Charlotte to tap into 21st century jobs.”

Aside from new business growth, Smith said Center City advocates – which includes government, corporate and nonprofit sector stakeholders – should continue to focus on diversifying infrastructure, amenities and events that draw people to the urban core.

“One of the things that we learned during the pandemic is that any concentration in one use creates a failure point,” he said. “We were primarily and are primarily Charlotte’s central employment district, and it is in our best interest to continue to balance that with more uses of hospitality, of academia and residential and what we’re sharing in this report is that our market’s already maturing in that direction with the amount of hospitality led our recovery coming out of the pandemic. The 39 major events that were hosted at Bank of America Stadium were some of the one of the most vibrant days in Center City during the last 12 months.”

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