On Wednesday, January 14, Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio sent an email to Mecklenburg County Commissioners telling them of Chiquita's decision to close the company's Charlotte-based headquarters.
As a follow-up to my email yesterday, I wanted to let you know that we have learned that today Chiquita will be announcing to their employees (via email) the closure of its Charlotte headquarters location. The company has expressed appreciation for the support of the community, and we have been assured that it will fulfill the terms of the economic development grant agreement, which requires a refund of $1,021,275, shared evenly between the City and County.
Over the next 12 to 18 months, the company will be redistributing its positions to be closer to other operations and customers. We are not anticipating a formal announcement from Chiquita.
If you receive any media inquiries, below are some talking points you might find helpful. We expect that the Mayor will be making a statement similar to this.
- While we are disappointed that the Chiquita headquarters will no longer be located in Charlotte, our attention now should be on the approximately 300 impacted employees and their families.
- We are appreciative of the Chiquita’s corporate philanthropy and investment in the community.
- We believe Charlotte-Mecklenburg continues to attract new and expanding businesses. We will continue to our efforts to be a global and competitive market for business development and growth.