9/16/21 Charlotte Mastermind Group Meeting

Charlotte September 2021 – Key Take Aways

• Charlotte Regional Business Alliance is an organization that advocates for businesses in Charlotte and the surrounding region.  (Charlotte Regional Business Alliance – Ashley Hedrick)
• COVID-19 has created a lot of challenges for businesses and many organizations have had to learn to adapt to new technology and new ways of doing business. Some hybrid options have been positive (including additional speaker opportunities and expanded attendance) and some of those changes are likely to stick around even after the pandemic ends. (Charlotte Regional Business Alliance – Ashley Hedrick)
• The pandemic slowed down new company recruitment, but they have recently seen an uptick in prospects. They were limited in the amount of out-of-market outreach they could do.  (Charlotte Regional Business Alliance – Ashley Hedrick)
• Annual Outlook program will be held in-person on December 8 from 11:30 am – 4 pm at The Westin.  (Charlotte Regional Business Alliance – Ashley Hedrick)
• Delta and other variants have created new challenges for companies. Many companies who were beginning to adjust back to more in-person meetings are now pulling back to virtual again.  (Charlotte Regional Business Alliance – Ashley Hedrick, Terracon – Neal McElveen, CoStar – Joe Kinsey)
• There has been an urgency to get deals done that is more than the usual year-end rush. This is likely due to rising construction costs and concerns over tax changes. (Johnston Allison Hord – Brian Schoeck)
• There has been a large uptick in site development, particularly for data centers, air cargo and cold storage, and also in healthcare. (Bohler – Mark Fletcher, Terracon – Tanna Thomas)
• Most people are very busy, but staffing and supply chain issues continue to be a major challenge. This is creating longer turnaround times and requires more pre-planning for things like title searches to be sure expectations can be met. The chip shortage affecting new car production is expected to last awhile. (Investors Title – Gates Grainger, Bohler – Mark Fletcher, CoStar – Joe Kinsey, Terracon – Neal McElveen, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond – Matthew Martin, PNC – Brandon Gardner)
• Inflation continues to be an issue and there is more talk about the Fed tapering asset purchases. (Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond – Matthew Martin)
• Storm damage is adding to the pressure on supplies and has also brought about issues in the insurance industry. (Gallagher – Will Giambalvo)
• More agriculture and off-market land deals are happening. (CoStar – Joe Kinsey)
• Multi-family has been strong, with many developers not able to build fast enough to meet the demand. Rent growth has been up around 17% year-over-year. Office has been doing better than the national average and retail has been doing well, but not in Uptown where the lack of office tenants is still an issue. (CoStar – Chuck McShane)