Has one of Charlotte’s biggest and most well-known construction companies been sold to a Japanese conglomerate? That appears to be the case with Rodgers Builders, whose work includes BB&T Ballpark and the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art.
For more, we turn now to Tony Mecia of the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter for our segment BizWorthy.
Marshall Terry: OK, so why does it appear this sale of Rodgers has happened? And why do you say in your article "appear"?
Tony Mecia: Well, Marshall, there's been no formal announcement. There's been no press release, you know, saying that Rodgers Builders has been sold. But if you look on the website of Kajima Corporation, which is a Tokyo-based construction conglomerate, it does have the logo of Rodgers Builders very clearly on there listed as a subsidiary. I've reached out to Rodgers Builders and to the company, and I have not heard any response. It’s not set in stone. I don't have a lot more details for you on that other than, you know, it looks like they're now part of a larger operation.
Terry: A few years ago, one of the biggest Charlotte developers, Crescent Communities, was sold to a Japanese company. So if this has indeed happened with Rodgers, what are the implications here, and is this becoming a trend?
Mecia: Well, Marshall, I don't know that this is necessarily, say, on the scale of Japanese companies coming in and buying up real estate in the United States like they famously did in the 1980s — bought, you know, Rockefeller Center. You know, Charlotte has a number of multinational corporations. I think the bigger trend is sort of you're seeing a lot of homegrown Charlotte companies being bought by outside companies from other places. Rodgers Builders was started in 1963, pretty high profile here.
I think it's also worth mentioning, on this theme of foreign investment, the Japanese prime minister is coming to North Carolina this week. He's getting in tonight. He's touring some plants in the central and eastern parts of the state. Gov. Cooper was asked this week whether there would be any economic development announcements. And he indicated that there would be. So, we are seeing more of this foreign investment coming into North Carolina.
Terry: Let’s stick with development. The owner of the old Duke Energy headquarters building uptown is asking for up to $19 million in tax incentives to convert the property into apartments. The city seems open to it, but the county less so. Is this a test case for something we’ll see a lot more of? And what does it mean for the office market if this doesn’t pass?
Mecia: Well, certainly city leaders and Charlotte Center City Partners have been wanting to create some kind of a policy or some sort of incentive to redo or to improve, or to find a new use for some of these empty office buildings that we have uptown. You know, we previously reported there are at least 10 office buildings uptown that are majority empty. This is the particular proposal that would give up to $19 million in property tax incentives in the form of a grant to developers Asana Partners and MRP Realty to turn the old Duke Energy headquarters on Church Street into apartments and also have some retail. So not every office tower uptown is going to be able to be converted into apartments. You know, this is sort of I guess you might say, a test case. If this is successful and something that policymakers want to do, you could potentially see more of it.
This is something that City Council members have been interested in. It was apparent from a presentation last week to County Commissioners though — the County Commissioners seemed much less enthusiastic about it. They wonder, sort of, why are we going to help you build market-rate apartments? Does that help upward mobility? What does this do to help erase racial inequities? It doesn't seem like it's necessarily on their agenda, and County Commissioners are really pretty key to this because most of the property taxes that would be paid are collected by the county. So uncertain outlook, I would say, on this one.
Terry: Blumenthal Arts, which is a WFAE underwriter, is opening a new immersive space at the former Pipe and Foundry plant just outside uptown. Is this a temporary installation, or the start of something bigger?
Mecia: Marshall, I would say it's both. It's a temporary exhibit that Blumenthal Arts announced this week. It's called “SPACE EXPLORERS: THE INFINITE” and it runs from Sept. 20 to Nov. 10. They're calling it an immersive exhibit. The trend in museums is really these immersive experiences. So, this is a virtual reality exhibit. You put on virtual reality goggles; it looks like you're going into outer space. So, yes, there will be a temporary exhibit.
It also could be the first step in the redevelopment of this Charlotte Pipe and Foundry land on Morehead Street. This is just one warehouse, it’s just a very small section of that. But the vision for that site is a much bigger mixed-use type of development now that Charlotte Pipe and Foundry has moved the operation of that plant to Oakboro.
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