From: Mark Moshier
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 6:05 PM
To: Town Council
Subject: Innovation Center

Dear Mayor and Town Council,

I am writing this email in reference to the proposed Innovation Center planned to be the first building at Carolina North.

Although I know there are some initial hurdles to get over, I am in support of the Innovation Center and view it as a critical project on the path to intelligent economic development.

As a resident of Chapel Hill and a partner in a large commercial real estate firm, I monitor the local market closely, watch growth patterns, and analyze trends.  Currently Chapel Hill experiences a great deal of out-communting which burdens the tax base and is unhealthy for the environment.  I think the Innovation Center can help correct this.  As you know, the Innovation Center will house small start-up companies as they begin to establish themselves and likely seek venture capital. Many of these companies will eventually grow out of the Innovation Center and perhaps will decide to locate themselves locally to Chapel Hill or Orange County  - as opposed to RTP or other communities.

Once a company decides to locate locally, that decision has ripple effects throughout the community.  Providing high quality, good paying jobs to residents of Chapel Hill and Orange County helps generate money locally….the purchase of goods and services by those employees and the business generate revenue and sales taxes.  All the while reducing travel time, harmful emissions and the use of valuable natural resources.  Live where you work.

As more companies decide to locate locally, my company as well as many others benefit.  As the need for smart sustainable growth is nurtured and guided, new commercial property brought on line then brings many new opportunities for local companies and their employees.  The initial construction process of new buildings is an obvious shot to the economic bottom line of a community.  Local contractors rely on this sort of business and contracts every day to sustain their business and payrolls.  But less obvious is the routine operations of running these buildings on a daily basis.  Every commercial property takes many people to help make it run.  Not only do you have local real estate brokers and property managers that are needed to operate the buildings efficiently…but it takes a team of maintenance engineers as well as local service contractors and vendors.   Everyone from landscapers to electricians, custodians to HVAC service teams…even the smallest office building or retail center will have hundreds of people that work behind the scenes each year to keep it operating smoothly.  As a local company, we in turn hire many other local contractors and vendors to work on all of our properties…and we would anticipate continuing this practice.

The more we can attract strong growing companies to Chapel Hill and Orange County, the more we can have a community where not only do people want to live here, they work here as well.  Smart sustainable growth is very achievable for our community and I truly believe that the Innovation Center can be a catalyst to getting us going in the right direction.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Regards,

            Mark E. Moshier
            Senior Vice President, Principal
            100 Europa Drive | Suite 190 | Chapel Hill, NC 27517
            919.913.1111 direct | 919.968.4017 main | 919.929.7913 fax
www.TLGCRE.com Independently Owned and Operated

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