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Dayton
Business Journal...
Report:
Chiquita to split for
Charlotte
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
by Will Boye, Senior Staff Writer
Chiquita
Brands International Inc.,
the global fresh-produce distributor that has been considering a move
of its
corporate headquarters to Charlotte for months, will announce the
relocation
this afternoon at the Charlotte Chamber.
The
company is moving from Cincinnati,
bringing about 400 jobs, sources tell the Charlotte Business Journal, a
sister
paper to the Dayton Business Journal.
The
loss of Chiquita — among the
most-recognizable companies based in Southwest Ohio — would mark
another
Fortune 500 company leaving Ohio. NCR Corp., formerly based in Dayton,
left
Ohio for Georgia in 2009.
Ohio’s
economic development leaders
have made it part of their mission to stop big companies from leaving
Ohio.
“We
want to go on the offense,” Mark
Kvamme, interim chief investment officer and president of JobsOhio,
previously
told the Dayton Business Journal’s editorial board. JobsOhio is the
state’s new
private nonprofit economic development organization.
And
Ohio Gov. John Kasich has sought
to make Ohio more business friendly and has touted recent wins such as
keeping
Bob Evans Farms Inc. and American Greetings Corp. from leaving the
state, as
well as bringing Wendy’s headquarters from Georgia back to the Columbus
area.
N.C.
Gov. Bev Perdue is scheduled to
attend the 4 p.m. announcement. So is Fernando Aguirre, Chiquita’s
chief
executive.
Details
of the scope of the relocation
are not yet available. Chiquita was notifying its employees in
Cincinnati this
morning, sources say.
Chiquita
has been considering a
416-job operation in Charlotte, which would include 90 existing
employees who
would move from Cincinnati. The average salary is estimated at
$106,000,
sources say.
Economic-development
officials in
Charlotte have been working on “Project Opus” for months. When the
incentive
package came before Charlotte City Council members earlier this year,
it included
a request for money upfront — and on top of the proposed business
investment
grants.
The
package of city, county and state
incentives being offered Chiquita will total at least $6 million,
according to
sources who have seen the overall proposal. However, the state
contribution
could push that number higher, sources say.
The
bulk of the subsidy for Chiquita
will come from a business-investment grant program that rebates 50
percent to
90 percent of the property taxes generated after the company relocates.
The
incentives would include
“clawback” provisions requiring Chiquita to return some or all of the
money if
it fails to create a targeted number of jobs within 10 years.
The
company had considered remaining
in Cincinnati or moving to Atlanta. Chiquita also explored a relocation
to Boca
Raton, Fla.
Chiquita
has been looking for about
150,000 square feet of office space and sent out requests for proposal
to
property owners in the summer.
In
Cincinnati, Chiquita occupies about
115,000 square feet at the Chiquita Center downtown.
Chiquita
signed a 16-month lease
extension at its headquarters building earlier this year, a move
designed to
give the company time to negotiate a headquarters-retention agreement
with the
state of Ohio.
Relocation
costs for the company are
estimated at more than $27 million, according to sources.
Aguirre,
the Chiquita CEO, attended a
Carolina Panthers game several weeks ago as the guest of team owner
Jerry
Richardson.
Charlotte
Douglas International
Airport is considered one of the advantages Charlotte has over
Cincinnati.
Company
officials have met with
Charlotte Aviation Director Jerry Orr to discuss the need for a robust
schedule
of flights to Central America.
Chiquita
is an international marketer
and distributor of fruit and food products, most notably with its
bananas. The
company has annual revenues in excess of $3 billion and employs more
than
21,000 people.
Read
this and other articles at Dayton
Business Journal
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