BizWorthy

More big change is in the works for Charlotte’s South End. Two companies announced last week they’re building a 23-story office tower. Lowe’s is also building an office tower for 2,000 tech workers.

It’s a shift for the neighborhood that for the past several years has been marked by the rise of countless apartment complexes.

Bank of America employees got some good news this week. For a third year, the bank is handing out an extra bonus – and it isn’t chump change. That means there’ll be more cash floating around Charlotte this holiday season. 

Atrium Health has announced big expansion plans on about 70 acres at its main campus in Dilworth. The plans call for a medical school and office space. The hospital system also wants to build a hotel.

The CEO of American Airlines, Doug Parker, is facing mounting pressure. Charlotte’s dominant carrier has a heap of problems, including a falling stock price, labor union tensions, and unhappy customers and employees. There’s been some chatter that Parker may be not be keeping his job.

Big swaths of land have come up for redevelopment recently in neighborhoods close to uptown, like Plaza Midwood and South End. In this week’s BizWorthy, we hear about another prime spot — in NoDa — that has been home to a fourth-generation family business.

Wells Fargo named its new CEO last week. Charles Scharf, who was the head of Bank of New York Mellon, has a long Wall Street resume. The job he’s inheriting comes with a lot of political scrutiny as the bank continues to try to clear its name after it emerged that employees opened millions of fraudulent accounts to meet high pressure sales goals. The Charlotte Ledger’s Tony Mecia joins us now in the week’s BizWorthy segment. 

It appears Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper is asking the city for a big sum to upgrade Bank of America stadium - up to about $200 million. However, this money isn’t for football, it would be for soccer. 

This week Charlotte had another big jobs announcement. Online mortgage company Better.com announced it is expanding in Charlotte, going from about 20 people to 1,000 in five years. It follows substantial job announcements for the city by Lowe’s, Avid Xchange and Truist.

Charlotte is now less than a year away from hosting the Republican National Convention – and the planning has begun. Not just by city officials and convention organizers, but people hoping to rent out their homes for big money during that time.

There’s a trend around Charlotte of finding new uses for old buildings. Think textile mills converted to loft apartments. It appears some of that is now moving to Ballantyne.

New accusations have surfaced against a financial adviser well-known for his appearances on Charlotte TV stations. Jim Heafner closed his firm earlier this year amid allegations he gave shoddy advice and invested clients’ money with a Florida company under scrutiny from regulators.

There’s a new product on the shelves at some Harris Teeter stores in Charlotte:  cannabis.  Some locations last week began offering a small selection of CBD lotions and oils made from hemp. For more on this and other business news "Morning Edition" host Marshall Terry is joined by Tony Mecia of the Charlotte Ledger Business newsletter for our segment Biz Worthy.

Home prices in Mecklenburg County last month saw their biggest jump in at least a year. The median sales price in July was $350,000, according to the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association. That’s up more than 10% from the same month last year.

Charlotte leaders are pushing to create and preserve more affordable housing to make up for a shortage of what city officials say is at least 24,000 units. And as developers approach City Council for rezonings, lately they’ve been including more of this type of housing. 

Something new is in the works for Ballantyne: affordable housing. Developer Northwood Office says it plans to make that part of a massive project it’s planning near the Ballantyne Hotel.

Another month brings another big tech announcement for Charlotte. Financial software company AvidXchange says it’s planning to build a second headquarters at the Music Factory just outside uptown and increase its workforce by 1,200.

Lowe’s has chosen Charlotte for its tech hub. Of course, that announcement was made last month, but the logistics of building that 23-story tower in South End and bringing on 1,600 IT workers will be a story for the next few years. This week we have a better idea of the incentives package the company will receive.

CBD oil sales are booming right now, but there's a threat looming for the small mom and pop CBD oil stores in Charlotte. Big retail chains are now looking to get in on the business. That's according to reporting by Tony Mecia of the Charlotte Ledger business newsletter. He joins WFAE's Morning Edition host Marshall Terry for our new segment BizWorthy.

Raleigh is known for having more tech jobs than Charlotte but that could soon change. Charlotte is on pace to surpass Raleigh-Durham and be dominant in the process. That's according to reporting in the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter. Tony Mecia, a former Charlotte Observer reporter, launched the newsletter in March and it's beating the rest of the media in a lot of business stories. So we invited Tony to join Morning Edition for a new segment to talk business news. He spoke to WFAE's Marshall Terry.