RALEIGH, N.C.–Governor Pat McCrory and Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary John Skvarla recently announced the signing of a brownfields agreement for ReVenture West. The agreement authorizes the development of the region’s largest eco-industrial park on a former 667-acre Superfund site in Charlotte. “This project is an extraordinary example of how public and private sectors can partner to benefit the economy and the environment,” said Governor McCrory. “This brownfields project will create jobs and allow us to transform a once highly contaminated site into a new and thriving energy-related complex.” ReVenture West is the first of three redevelopment projects that will make up ReVenture Park, which is expected to become a unique hub for renewable energy projects and anticipated to generate more than 700 new jobs. (more…)

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.–The Foreign Trade Zone serving the Research Triangle area is now officially accessible to all 13 counties covered by the Research Triangle Regional Partnership, under a reorganization and expansion plan submitted by the Triangle J Council of Governments, as Grantee for Foreign Trade Zone #93. Under the plan recently approved by the U.S. Foreign Trade Zone Board, FTZ #93 adds six counties - Franklin, Granville, Harnett, Person, Vance and Warren - to the seven counties already in its territory, including Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Orange and Wake. (more…)

RALEIGH, N.C.–The NC Communities and Business Alliance (NCCBA) is proud to announce its formation as part of a collaborative effort to promote economic growth and development in North Carolina’s cities and towns. The Alliance is made up of community and business leaders from across the state and will serve as a voice for public policy issues affecting the economic viability of North Carolina’s cities and towns, the success of its businesses and the quality of life of its residents. The organization will work in partnership with the state to assist with the development of strategies that allow all businesses and communities to prosper. Its initial focus will be to share information and engage in discussion with various stakeholders on the issues challenging cities and towns, therefore impacting businesses and residents. (more…)

(Raleigh, N.C.) Gov. Bev Perdue has today that North Carolina ranked as the nation’s “Top Business Climate,” according to Site Selection magazine. It is the tenth time in the last 12 years the state has taken the top honor in the annual ranking by Site Selection, one of the nation’s premier economic development magazines. “North Carolina is a great place to do business and a place where companies and their employees can thrive,” said Gov. Perdue. “We have a long history of making critical investments in education and customized training programs to build the workforce of tomorrow. We have a low cost of doing business, we encourage innovation. Sec. Crisco and I and our regional, county and city partners have been very aggressive on recruiting companies to North Carolina and growing North Carolina’s home grown small businesses.” (more…)

(Washington, D.C.) The Associated Press is reporting that U.S. employers added 96,000 jobs last month, a weak figure that could slow any momentum President Barack Obama hoped to gain from his speech to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. The unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent from 8.3 percent in July, the Labor Department said Friday. But that was only because more people gave up looking for work. The government only counts people as unemployed if they are actively searching. The government also said 41,000 fewer jobs were created in July and June than first estimated. The economy has added just 139,000 jobs a month since the beginning of the year, below 2011’s average of 153,000. Dow Jones industrial futures, which had been up before the report, fell soon after it was released. (more…)

(Research Triangle Park, N.C.)  Work in the Triangle, a regional talent attraction initiative to connect and recruit top talent with employers and job opportunities in the key industry clusters of the Triangle, took part in the 2012 BIO International Convention in Boston June 18-21. (more…)

(Raleigh, N.C.) Inbound marketing, branding, and creative services firm Precision Marketing Partners (PMP) has been selected by the Morrisville Chamber of Commerce to help launch its new economic development branding campaign. The Morrisville Chamber of Commerce is contracted by the Town of Morrisville for economic development services, and this initiative is its first proactive marketing endeavor. The new firm, led by Triangle marketing veteran Greg Fawcett, will be developing marketing collateral material and helping build a strategy to highlight Morrisville’s strengths of location, proximity to RDU and RTP, well-educated and diverse workforce, concentration of global firms and selection of available space. (more…)

(Research Triangle, N.C.) Research Triangle Region employment grew by 15,596 in 2011 following two years of decline, according to the Research Triangle Regional Partnership (RTRP), a business-driven, public-private partnership. The group reports that in addition to the growth, other economic indicators pointed to recovery: 12 of 13 counties gained employment; wages grew 4.8 percent, the largest rise since 2005; and office vacancies declined to 16 percent, from 17 percent the year before. (more…)

(Cary & Raleigh, N.C.) Gov. Bev Perdue announced today that Reed Elsevier Inc., a world leading provider of professional information solutions, will expand its operations in Cary. The company plans to create 350 jobs over the next five years and invest $1.75 million.  The project was made possible in part by state grants from the Job Development Investment Grant. “Creating jobs is my top priority and the fact that globally competitive companies continue to make investments like these proves we have a top-notch business climate and a tremendously talented workforce,” said Gov. Perdue. “Our legacy of strong investments in education and economic are continuing to pay off.”  (more…)

Editor’s Note: The following is a summary of February 1 testimony by Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf; a link to the full testimony can be found here.

(Washington, D.C.) The federal budget deficit—although starting to shrink—remains very large by historical standards. How much and how quickly the deficit declines will depend in part on how well the economy does over the next few years. Probably more critical, though, will be the fiscal policy choices made by lawmakers as they face the substantial changes to tax and spending policies that are slated to take effect within the next year under current law. The pace of the economic recovery has been slow since the recession ended in June 2009, and CBO expects that, under current laws governing taxes and spending, the economy will continue to grow at a sluggish pace over the next two years. That pace of growth partly reflects the dampening effect on economic activity from the higher tax rates and curbs on spending scheduled to occur this year and especially next. Although CBO projects that growth will pick up after 2013, the agency expects that the economy’s output will remain below its potential until 2018 and that the unemployment rate will remain above 7 percent until 2015. (more…)

(Spring Creek & Morrisville, N.C.) Montie Design, an innovative concept-to-marketplace product design and development firm, today announced it will be holding a Winter 2012 Student Design Contest for aspiring product designers in community colleges, four-year colleges, or high schools from North Carolina and Virginia. Initial submissions are due on Feb 1, 2012 with final submissions due on Feb 29, with full details available online at www.montie.com/contest. (more…)

(Raleigh, N.C.) The Triangle Multiple Listing Service (TMLS) reports the following information pertaining to the housing industry in the greater Triangle region during November 2011. The data shown reflects information on residential properties located in the 16 counties of the greater Triangle Region. The percentage changes are comparisons with the prior year’s month unless otherwise noted. (more…)