Tagged: Business

The City of Charlotte has identified three finalists to breathe life into the now-vacant Eastland Mall and surrounding area.  

The Eastland Mall will not become a doll factory or a multi-generational healthy living community. Those are two of four proposals the city rejected in the first stage of selecting a suitor to remake the 80-acre site on Central Avenue in east Charlotte. But it's still not entirely clear what all three finalists to develop the property have in mind.

Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing—or fracking—for natural gas in shale rock has radically changed the nation’s energy mix. Since the fracking boom began in 2008, the cost of natural gas has plummeted and supply has surged. The technique is banned in North Carolina, but a bill that passed last year and another currently making its way through the legislature would open the door.

In what’s billed as the biggest jobs announcement in state history, Gov. Pat McCrory Thursday announced the arrival of 2,600 jobs with insurance giant MetLife, with half coming to Charlotte.

MetLife, America’s largest life insurer, would add jobs in Cary and Charlotte. MetLife, America’s largest life insurer, would add jobs in Charlotte and Cary by the end of 2015 in what will be a $125.5 million investment.

Nuclear company Areva is moving its North American headquarters to the University area in Charlotte, where it already has more than 500 employees. The company plans to add another 130 jobs – mostly in engineering.

Areva CEO Michael Rencheck says Charlotte won out over Bethesda, Maryland and Lynchburg, Virginia.