Economic Development
Town of Chapel Hill
405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Chapel Hill, NC  27514-5705              
(p) 919 968-5010    (f)  919 969-2063
www.townofchapelhill.org/economic_development

TO:                         Roger Stancil, Town Manager

FROM:                  Dwight Bassett, Economic Development Officer

DATE:                    February 20, 2009

RE:                          The economic climate in Chapel Hill

I continue to be astonished by the continuing number of inquires for future development in Chapel Hill.  While the majority of these inquires are development related and not of specific retail or office use, they show potential for growth in the residential, hospitality, retail and office categories.  In the last six months we have seen two companies from Durham relocate to Chapel Hill, one acquired their property and the other is leasing at the Exchange at Meadowmont.  If we continue to see support for new development in Chapel Hill, and we become more targeted with our expectations of growth in retail and office users categories, we could see Chapel Hill gain market share back that was previously lost and see a positive growth in the number of jobs locally.

I think to sustain these inquires and turn them into positive growth for the community we have to be very tactical in our needs for growth in specific areas and show support for developments and businesses that fall within the parameters of our expectation. We also have to encourage these businesses to think about how they develop and make sure they are sustainable properties and enterprises that support our initiatives.