Now an update to a story we brought you last year. Charlotte’s Aldersgate retirement community is under state supervision following questions over its finances. The company recently announced layoffs and told the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter that it’s exploring possibly affiliating itself with another retirement community. The Ledger’s Tony Mecia joins me now for more on that, and other business stories, for our segment BizWorthy.
Marshall Terry: Remind me, how did Aldersgate get here?
Tony Mecia: Yes, Marshall. Aldersgate has been under the supervision of the North Carolina Department of Insurance for the last year or so. Regulators have been taking a closer look at their books ever since Aldersgate had had trouble paying contractors and issuing the refunds to residents. And so they've been working with the state to try to right the financial ship. And they're making some progress on that, but the work is still continuing.
Terry: So, you spoke with Aldersgate's interim CEO, David Middleton, this week. What did he say?
Mecia: Yes. He spoke with our reporter, Christina Bolling, and he told her that because of a decline in the number of residents at Aldersgate, they've had to cut the workforce by 5%. He said it resulted in 13 layoffs across various levels. And he also said that Aldersgate is looking at what is called affiliating with another retirement community, which sounds sort of like a merger potentially in the works. It's not uncommon in a variety of industries for independent operations to combine with larger operations. There are some economies of scale, so it sounds like something like that could be in the offing.
Terry: Well, somebody else who spoke this week was former Bank of America's CEO, Hugh McColl. I point that out because it's rare for him to give public talks these days. What did he talk about?
Mecia: Hugh McColl is 89 years old. He gave a talk at Queens University of Charlotte McColl School of Business, which is the business school that's named after him. He spoke on the occasion of a relaunched MBA program there. He talked about leadership and then he also shared a bunch of anecdotes and stories from his time leading Bank of America as its CEO, a role in which he was known as someone who merged banks together — and it was really for the benefit of Charlotte, creating a lot of good-paying bank jobs here. And he talked a lot about civic involvement.
He said he thinks generally Charlotte's heading in the right direction, although he does worry that a lot of times people don't fully understand the socioeconomic differences that exist within the city and a lot of the problems with economic mobility. So kind of a wide-ranging talk and a bunch of different issues.
He was also asked what his suggestion was for someone who wanted to succeed in business. And he said to aim high, work hard and — when in doubt — attack.
Terry: All right. Well, let's now go to the airport. Charlotte Douglas got bigger this week with the opening of 10 new gates. Now these are part of a $4 billion expansion project. I think I speak for a lot of people when I ask, is it almost over?
Mecia: Marshall, I hate tell you, but the short answer is no. The longer answer is that construction is going to be going on at Charlotte's airport for quite some time. Yes, they opened 10 new gates on Concourse A, but there are plans in the works to add additional gates on Concourse A, to expand Concourses B and C to add a fourth runway, and they're even eying — down the road in about a decade — a fifth runway. And then, of course, there's still construction going on in the terminal lobby expansion project. So if you're pining for the day when there is no construction at the airport, you're going to have to wait a very long time.
Terry: All right. Well, finally, the founder of Charlotte Agenda — now Axios Charlotte — is returning to the media scene with a new newsletter. What will it focus on?
Mecia: Ted Williams — who founded Charlotte Agenda in 2015, built it into a big local media company, and sold it to Axios a few years ago — is getting back into the local media scene. He's starting a new lighthearted financial newsletter that he's calling Tiny Money. He's saying it will break down Charlotte trends and headlines that impact your wallet. And, the first issue comes out today.
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