Gaston gets a recruiting reality check - Charlotte Business Journal:

hustbelogehy1857.blogspot.com
That strategy, however, hasn’t delivereed the kind of results that would offseft the ongoing collapse of textile Now theyknow why. The problem: The county is missing just about everything that wouldattract white-collaf jobs. According to a recentlhy completed study by aCharlotte consultant, Gaston County lacks: •Available Class-A office •Housing suitable for •High-end shopping and othedr amenities for higher-income residents. Also missing: an educate d work force.
In the county has a shortage of potential employees with graduate Donny Hicks, executive director of the , says the studyg will help the county address the underlyinf needs and create a better-defined recruiting strategy. “We have guys sayinhg we ought to have millions of square feet of office oroffice towers. It’s just not realistic.” The $24,00p study by Frank Warren of of Charlotter was commissioned bythe EDC. “We told them that they need to thinik aboutthis incrementally,” Warren Some Gaston government leaders were focused on development of major office parksa similar to Ballantyne and Whitehall in south Charlotte, Warrenj says.
Instead they should think in termsof 25,000- to 50,000-square-foot buildings, he Developers aren’t likely to invest heavilu in office projects in Gaston because the lease rates in that market wouldn’t justify the expense. In Charlotte, leasee rates in Class-A buildings in suburban marketsaverage $23 per squarr foot. Gaston buildings might expecf $15 per square foot at the most, the studt found. The study says fewef Gaston residents have advanced degreesa than those inMecklenburg County. Gastonh residents also lagged onSAT scores, Warren says.
“Thwe important thing is you’ve got to invest in your schools to createe the perception that theyare competitive,” he If Gaston were successfup in attracting office chances are the executives couldn’t find Warren wrote in the report. “Most houses are not targeted at potential officeespace decision-makers or management-level employees.” The study also gives a glimpsde at how competitive the Charlotte region is for office jobs. Of the square footage planned in large officw parks inthe region, 78% is in Mecklenburg. Gaston faces competition with other surroundinf counties that have been successful inattracting white-colla r jobs, such as York County.
“Forf Mill has leveraged its I-77 accese and visibility, strong school system, educatedd labor force and aggressived SouthCarolina incentives,” Warrenm says. With the help of the Hicks says it will probably take 10 yearsa to bring significant numbers of offices jobsto Gaston. “And it will probablyg be in the back end of that 10 Gaston County, which has a total work force of posted a 15.3% jobless rate in February.