Today In North Carolina for May 2005

 

ASHEVILLE

Entrepreneurs Really Cooking



Charlotte-based entrepreneurs Edwina and Darrell Corprew started their Sweet Potato Pie Co. five years ago, but hit a snag when presented with an opportunity to sell their tasty wares on the QVC TV channel.

They lacked the capacity in their Charlotte facility to produce the volume they’d need to sell on QVC. That’s when AdvantageWest subsidiary Blue Ridge Food Ventures (BRFV) in Asheville came to the rescue. BRFV operates an 11,000- square-foot shared use commercial kitchen space available to farmers and entrepreneurs at $20 an hour.

“Blue Ridge Food Ventures provides any N.C. grower, caterer, or food entrepreneur with the flexibility and functionality to get value-added food products to market,” says Dale Carroll, CEO of AdvantageWest, a regional economic development partnership. The facility has commercial ovens, mixers, bottlers and fillers, a wet kitchen, labeling equipment, juicing and pasteurizing equipment, walk-in cooler space and more.

The Corprews, who base their pies on a treasured family recipe, hired local workers in Asheville to bake N.C. grown sweet potato puree into 7,000 pies per day. They pitched the pies to QVC’s audience March 13.

“They sold a lot of pies,” says Mary Lou Surgi, executive director of BRFV. She says the operation opened its doors in a refitted former factory building on the AB Tech Enka campus in January. So far, seven producers have used the facility, but 40 to 50 more are “getting their act together,” she says.

One client bakes goods for a local coffee shop. Others make chocolate truffles, hot sauces and Mexican cakes and breads. A number of Hispanic entrepreneurs are interested in using the facility to make products such as dry red and green Mole mix and fresh vegetarian tamales.

The facility includes complete facilities for making pasteurized apple cider.  Surgi expects to see business pick up substantially as the growing season progresses, with apple, tomato, and mushroom growers interested in using it.

Some users intend to stay small while other dream of selling to Wal-Mart someday, Surgi says.

The BRFV building was renovated and equipped with $1.2 million in grants. Surgi says the plan is for it to break even in three years, charging fees for storage as well as hourly use.

Blue Ridge Food Ventures is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information call: 828-665-9464.   —Allan Maurer

 GASTON COUNTY

Curtiss-Wright Expands Regionally

The mini-defense and aerospace cluster developing in Gaston and Mecklenburg counties will get another boost this year from Curtiss-Wright Controls Inc. The company says it plans to expand its engineering capabilities in Gastonia, investing $1 million in capital equipment and adding to its senior engineering staff there.

In a related move, the company is relocating its headquarters from Gastonia to Charlotte where it will occupy about 14,000 square feet in a new office park development in the Ballantyne area. Curtiss-Wright employs approximately 320 people in the Charlotte region. It also has people based in Cleveland County.

The company moved its $4 million testing and development facility to Gastonia from New Jersey in 2004. It also transferred technology from its Switzerland operations to Gastonia, creating US Drive Technologies to serve the U.S. defense market better.

The Gastonia facility maintains, overhauls and repairs military aerospace products, subsystems and components.

“Our Gastonia facility will be the center of technical excellence for our flight systems group,” says George J. Yohrling, president of Curtiss-Wright Controls. “We’ve been very pleased with the quality of the workforce we’ve been able to hire in Gastonia.  This move should provide Gaston County with a model to attract other high technology focused operations to this area.”

 TRIAD

Regional Leaders Seek Indy Insight

What do Indianapolis and North Carolina’s Triad have in common? A lot more than college basketball, says David Jameson, president of the Greensboro Area Chamber of Commerce.

Jameson, along with High Point Chamber President Tom Dayvault and Gayle Anderson, president of the Greater Winston-Salem Chamber, organized a group of 50 business leaders to visit Indianapolis in May to bring home ideas on how to grow the local Triad economy.

Indianapolis was chosen, Jameson says, because of the number of similarities with the Triad region.  Indy, which has a population comparable to the combined Triad cities, is also home to a FedEx hub. At Piedmont Triad International Airport work is underway on roads and a new runway for FedEx, which is expected to open its new Triad hub in 2009.

Local economic development leaders are looking forward to learning about opportunities resulting from a hub operation, such as companies with short delivery windows that locate facilities near the hub.

Indianapolis also has developed public/private partnerships between biotechnology companies and area universities. The opportunity to “foster joint relationships between the universities and business,” Jameson says, is similar to the Triad’s biotech initiative.

Indianapolis also instituted a successful middle school program concentrating on math and science, Jameson said, along with “an interesting internship program to keep young professionals in the region.”

Jeff Miller, president of the High Point Regional Health System, is excited about the opportunity to learn from Indianapolis.

“The trip is intended to let leaders from all three communities see a city that has focused on regionalism, and the success stories they have to share,” he says.

Miller says the joint efforts of the three largest Triad cities are much greater than the municipalities working individually. “I have been energized by the enthusiasm generated when we meet and dream about how terrific our region can be if the three communities work together rather than at odds,” Miller says.

—      Jerry Blackwelder

 LENIOR

Marketing Campaign Has Wings

Kinston business leaders are making sure everyone knows about Delta’s new jet service to Atlanta, which started April 1.

The Lenoir Committee of 100 Inc., a non-profit organization founded in 1985 to facilitate economic development in Lenoir County, led the effort to bring the Delta service to Kinston Regional Jetport. Now it’s providing up to $200,000 for a marketing campaign that includes 13 large billboards, 3,000 radio spots, and nearly 100 large newspaper ads telling eastern N.C. residents about the new service.

John Marshall, a Kinston businessman who helped lead the effort to recruit the service, says the ad campaign, crafted by Hoyt-Hamilton in Raleigh, is built around the JetKinston logo and the slogan, “What A Great Way to Fly.” The campaign also includes PowerPoint presentations, bumper stickers, television talk shows, and the web site www.jetkinston.com.

Delta began operating three incoming and three outgoing flights a day between the Kinston Jetport at the N.C. Global TransPark and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta last month.

“We have more than 1 million people living within 60 miles of the Kinston airport, an 11,500-foot runway, spacious terminal and easy access,” says Marshall. “We’re convinced that Eastern North Carolina is ready and able to support this type of jet service.”

 CARTERET COUNTY

Marine Science Drives Coastal Economy

Carteret County has discovered an economic treasure chest on its famed Crystal Coast. But it isn’t buried treasure. It’s underwater.

A study by the Kenan Institute’s Center for Competitive Economics at UNC Chapel Hill shows that marine science and research activities along the Carteret coast contribute $127 million and 3,162 jobs to the region’s economy.

Commissioned by a coalition of agencies and institutions called the N.C. Marine Science and Education Partnership (MSEP), the study revealed that one in 10 Carteret County jobs are directly or indirectly generated by marine science. The area’s nine research and educational ventures alone pull in $58 million in revenue annually.

They include coastal research stations operated by UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State University, Duke University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the N.C. Maritime Museum and the N.C. Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. Carteret Community College is building a biotechnology laboratory to explore farming sea life for chemicals used in pharmaceuticals and industry.

 “If MSEP were a single entity,” the report states, “it would likely rank among the largest, most diverse and most comprehensive of marine research complexes in the United States.”

David Inscoe, executive director of the Carteret County Economic Development Council, says the study quantifies existing expertise and capabilities, giving the EDC an effective tool to help attract related ventures and new jobs. “The possibilities abound for spin-off businesses and entrepreneurship in this vitally important field,” says Inscoe. Inscoe thinks the region’s cluster of marine science labs and ventures may eventually be included among others such as Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution at Cape Cod, Mass., or the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in California.

“We’ve got a cluster we can add value to and create jobs and expand the tax base,” Inscoe says.

He adds, “We’re applying for a $600,000 National Science Foundation grant in a proposal led by Carteret Community College and the member institutions of MSEP. The purpose is to unlock their commercial economic development potential, leading to jobs and growth in Carteret and surrounding counties.”

—      Allan Maurer

 CHARLOTTE

UNCC Targets Real Estate Research

As the Charlotte market experiences record highs in new home construction and sales of existing homes, UNC Charlotte has targeted real estate as a focus of research. UNC Charlotte opened the Center for Real Estate within its Belk College of Business in February.

“There are so many large developers here and an interest in more professional development in the area,” says Steven Ott, the John Crosland Sr. Distinguished Professor of Real Estate & Development and director of UNCC’s Center for Real Estate.

Considering both residential and commercial real estate, the center will look at land planning, affordable housing, the effects of growth and sprawl, and real estate valuations.

So far the university has raised $2 million of a planned $3 million to fund the Center for Real Estate’s endowment. Once the center is fully endowed its board will consider proposals annually for research.

Both UNCC and UNC Chapel Hill offer MBAs with a real estate concentration.  — Laura Williams-Tracy

 SOUTHEAST

Area Counties Poised for Boom Times

New Hanover, Pender and Brunswick counties can expect booming economic growth of 10 to 12 percent this year, two University of North Carolina at Wilmington economists say.

Dr. Claude Farrell and Dr. William Hall Jr., both professors at the university, studied statistical models and talked to executives in businesses large and small in the region. Farrell says, “We’ve been 95 percent accurate over the last 25 years.”

Farrell, who does the forecasting, says the numbers look better than they have any time since similar high growth happened when I-40 opened. “The big event on the horizon this time is the bypass from south of Pender County around Wilmington and over to Brunswick,” which should be close to completion by the end of the year. He notes that the section crossing I-40 and eventually connecting it to Brunswick County will not be completed in the same time frame, but still expects it will have major economic repercussions.

“There’s a quagmire of traffic going into Wilmington or going south on Highway 17. Trucks will use the bypass to get to the ports and won’t have to go all over the county. Plus, Highway 17 is being widened from 4 to 6 or 8 lanes from the Virginia line to South Carolina. This will create an explosion of growth. It’s already occurred in  New Hanover County, where property prices have gone through the roof.”

Farrell says it will attract a great deal more business and industry to Pender County and cause a mini-population expansion as well. “It will lead to double digit growth comparable to when I-40 opened,” he adds.

“The numbers never looked better,” Farrell says. The only downbeat note, he cautions, is the possibility the area could be hit by major coastal storms. “In the 1990s, all three major network anchors were down here calling this hurricane alley. Major storms can throw the area off-track for a couple of years.”

Farrell says Brunswick County is “growing like mad too. It has water throughout the county now, so people don’t have to rely on wells or development water systems.” He also says the southeastern counties are “a Mecca for retirees. They can buy a $120,000 house 15 minutes from the beach and golf course, or spend in the millions if they want to live on the beach, which attracts people from middle incomes to the wealthy, in droves.”        — Allan Maurer

 CHARLOTTE

Arts Council Tops in Raising Money

New York, Chicago, Boston — sure they’re known for the community’s support of the arts.

But move over Big Apple, Windy City and Bean Town. Once again Charlotte tops the nation in total private dollars raised to support local arts groups. And with the success of the most recent fundraising campaign completed in March, the Queen City is likely to remain there.

The six-week campaign by the Arts & Science Council, the fundraising organization for 26 affiliated arts organizations, raised $10.8 million, an increase of almost 5 percent from last year and more than the $10.5 million goal.

“The importance placed on giving by our business community and community at-large drives the success of our fundraising efforts,” says Lee Keesler, ASC president.

While philanthropic giving to the arts remains strong in Charlotte, all is not rosy for local arts groups. Citing a lack of money, low ticket sales and lack of artistic management, the Charlotte Repertory Theatre shut down in February after an almost 30-year run. The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra has battled publicly over poor finances and suffered a seven-week strike between musicians and management in 2003.

Despite strong fundraising returns, Keesler says most cultural organizations report that the operating environment is challenging.

Still, city arts leaders continue to push plans for $147 million worth of new museums and theaters. The full plan calls for six projects that encompass renovations to Discovery Place, the city’s children’s science museum, a 1,200-seat theater, an uptown building for the Mint Museum of Art, a new modern-art museum, expansion of the Afro-American Cultural Center and a new rehearsal facility for the N.C. Dance Theatre.

To encourage elected leaders who are wary of their own tight budgets to commit to the building program, arts leaders are looking for ways to combine projects and save costs. Those include building the theater as part of a mixed-use project being planned by Wachovia and using new property tax revenue to help pay for an uptown Mint Museum of Art.

—      Laura Williams-Tracy

RTP

CED's Biotech Conference to Feature Meier

Every spring the N.C. Council for Entrepreneurial Development presents one of the largest events devoted to the biotechnology industry in the southeast.

Dr. Henri B. Meier, chairman of HBM Partners AG and HBM BioVentures AG, kicks-off the N.C. CED’s 14th annual Biotech conference May 24.

Biotech 2005, “Fusing Science, Technology, and Industry Leadership,” brings hundreds of biotech executives, industry analysts and investors to the Research Triangle Sheraton Imperial May 25 and 25.

Dr. Meier, formerly chief financial officer at Roche, shaped the giant pharmaceutical company’s financial structure and engineered acquisitions of Genentech and Syntex.

He’s featured among a strong line-up of industry experts at the event, which also includes six concurrent panel events.

This year the event separates its programming into segments focused on both the business and science of biotech. The CED presents the event in partnership with the N.C. Biotechnology Center, N.C. Biosciences Organization, and the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

The CED, located in the Research Triangle Park, is a private, non-profit organization formed in 1984 to promote entrepreneurial culture in the state.

 RALEIGH

Atkins Named NCCBI's Second Vice Chair

Architect John L. Atkins, III, FAIA, president and CEO of O’Brien/Atkins Associates, became second chair of NCCBI April 1. “We are pleased that John Atkins has agreed to serve in this leadership capacity for NCCBI,” says NCCBI President and Secretary Phillip J. Kirk Jr. “He brings new ideas and enthusiasm to the position of second vice chair and chair of our membership campaign.”

Kirk adds, “Rosemary Wyche, vice president of development, and I have already met with him and are excited about his ideas for recruiting additional new members for our organization. His contacts across the state, particularly in the economic development community, will be of tremendous assistance during the coming years.”

Atkins has certainly left his mark on the Triangle region.

In a profile published in the April 2000 issue of North Carolina Magazine, Atkins dismissed the idea that any one architect leaves an indelible fingerprint on a regional skyline. Yet even his colleagues at other area firms say O’Brien/Atkins tops the list of architectural firms in the Triangle. Born and raised in Durham, Atkins attended the North Carolina State University School of Design, where he earned his bachelor of architecture degree in 1966.

Atkins, who participated in the ROTC program at N.C. State, was commissioned as a second lieutenant following his graduation. He served two years, including a year in Vietnam.

Following his years in the military, Atkins earned a masters degree in regional planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He then worked for Durham’s John D. Latimer & Associates, where he met two future partners, William L. O’Brien, Jr., FAIA, and C. Belton Atkinson.

They founded O’Brien/Atkins in the spring of 1975 in the middle of a recession from a makeshift office in Chapel Hill.

Since the partners all came from a large firm experienced in handling major projects, they knew how to handle multi-million dollar deals and focused on large-scale projects from the start. In the 30 years since its founding, O’Brien/Atkins has grown to an 85-person design services firm, offering architecture, interior design, landscape architecture/planning and mechanical/electrical engineering to science and technology, corporate and public clients.  In 1998, the firm’s long track record of client satisfaction and high quality design was recognized by the American Institute of Architects-North Carolina Chapter, which named O’Brien/Atkins the inaugural winner of the Firm of the Year award.  O’Brien/Atkins’ clients include many of the Triangle’s signature companies: Cisco Systems, MCI, Network Appliance, GlaxoSmithKline, and Biogen Idec, among them.

Atkins played a major role in establishing the Raleigh-Durham Regional Association 15 years ago, which evolved into the Research Triangle Regional Partnership. He is also involved with Triangle Tomorrow, formerly the Greater Triangle Regional Council. He’s been instrumental in helping craft a unified identity for the area so that Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill are now perceived as the Research Triangle worldwide.

Married to his high school sweetheart, Sandra, he and his wife have two daughters, Kelly, a screenwriter in Los Angeles, and Ashley, an attorney with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.

 OUT & ABOUT

You Can Go Home Again

Actors dressed as characters from pre-World War I Asheville will transport visitors to “A Day in May 1916,” at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial May 14 and 15.

Wolfe spent a decade growing up in a boarding house run by his mother Julia. Called Old Kentucky Home and now the site of the Wolfe Memorial, the house exposed the impressionable Tom Wolfe to the colorful boarders. They appear with his equally colorful family in the portrait of small town provincialism and drama of his first novel, “Look Homeward Angel.” He also wrote “You Can’t Go Home Again,” among other works.

During the “Day in May 1916” event, 11 actors portray characters who Wolfe might have encountered in the boarding house, some based on characters from his novel, as they conduct living history tours. They include a vaudeville performer who will play the piano and sing. Conversation will turn on the issues of the day.

Kim Hewitt, historical interpreter says, “Although we are not portraying actual living people or literary characters, the portrayals are based on research about the people living and working in the Old Kentucky Home boarding house as well as characters from Wolfe’s novel.”

“A Day in May 1916” takes place at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Saturday May 14 from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. and on Sunday, May 15 from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. All tickets are $6 and go on sale Friday, May 13. Living history tours leave from the Visitor Center behind Old Kentucky Home and are by timed entry only, so must be bought for specific times.

For more information call Chris Morton at 828-252-8304.       — Allan Maurer