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March 2022 Luncheon – “She Shoots, She Scores! Women in Sports”

For CREW Charlotte, Philanthropy Is Part Of The Mission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 27, 2018

For CREW Charlotte, Philanthropy Is Part Of The Mission
26 local college students have benefitted from scholarships; application deadline is April 30

CHARLOTTE — In an era when women are using their voices to impact everything from pay structure to politics, CREW Charlotte is well-positioned to be part of the dialogue. The local chapter of the global networking organization that supports women in commercial real estate has always been about women helping women. The group does that, in part, through fundraising efforts that benefit real estate education for women.  

CREW Charlotte’s long-time partnerships with two local universities have resulted in more than $65,000 being donated to UNC Charlotte since 2006 and more than $30,000 going to Queens University of Charlotte since 2014. In addition, the chapter has donated over $65,000 to CREW Network Foundation, the philanthropic arm of CREW Network that has given 760,000 in scholarships to 106 recipients since its inception.

To read the full press release, please click here.

 

CREW Charlotte Ups The Ante For 12th Annual Casino and Gaming Night

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FEBURARY 23, 2018

CREW Charlotte Ups The Ante For 12th Annual Casino and Gaming Night
All funds raised at March 21 event go toward scholarships in commercial real estate

CHARLOTTE — CREW Charlotte – the local chapter of the global networking organization that
supports women in commercial real estate – is preparing for its 12th Annual Casino and Gaming Night.
The fun happens on Wednesday, March 21 from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at LaCa Projects. As always, the
event raises funds for scholarships for students interested in pursuing a career in commercial real
estate. All the casino games (think: Blackjack) people love will return. But new this year are interactive
games such as skeeball, Pop-A-Shot, air hockey, Jenga® Giant™ and more.

To read the full press release, please click here.

York County, SC on Top- Driving Economic Development and Jobs Growth

Submitted by Amy Massey, PE, Kimley-Horn

York County, located just south of the border within the Charlotte metro area, is going through tremendous population and economic growth. Ranked #1 in jobs growth in the US in 2017, the community is focused on having a prepared location for jobs, investment, economic diversity, and balanced quality of life. David Swenson, Executive Director of York County Economic Development, shared information about the County’s public-private approach to efforts in both industrial and office product that has resulted in recent announcements and expansions worth $100 million in capital investment and 1,200 jobs.

And forget what you thought you knew about Rock Hill, York County’s largest municipality. Stephen Turner, Director of Rock Hill Economic & Urban Development, shared that Rock Hill is embracing change and has allowed the younger generations to play a role in how they want their city to grow. Hannah Spruill, Marketing Coordinator, explained how young professionals are encouraged to get involved and take ownership in the future of Rock Hill. The City’s core is quickly becoming a place where young professionals and college students can thrive socially, professionally, and personally. They still have access to the benefits of Charlotte close by, but there are more and more reasons to stay in Rock Hill.

Both York County and Rock Hill also spoke about growth challenges looking ahead, such as workforce development and strategic infrastructure; as well as future opportunities, such as marketing, regionalism, and leveraging existing businesses.

For more information, visit www.yorkcountyed.com and/or www.rockhillusa.com.

Park National Bank announces plan to welcome NewDominion Bank into organization in 2018

Park National Bank announces plan to welcome NewDominion Bank into organization in 2018
Charlotte-based bank to expand services through new partnership

NEWARK, Ohio and CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Park National Corporation (Park) (NYSE AMERICAN: PRK) and NewDominion Bank (NewDominion) (OTC PINK:NDMN) have signed a definitive agreement and plan of merger, in which NewDominion will become a community bank division of Park’s subsidiary The Park National Bank. The merger will allow NewDominion to strengthen its community banking success, achieve new growth goals as a company and broaden its services, such as larger and more specialized loans and wealth management capabilities. NewDominion will keep its name, local leadership and board, and maintain local decision-making and community support. NewDominion’s mission, vision and core values will continue to be at the center of every client interaction and their executive team will remain headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Click here to read the full press release.

The Girl with the Draggin' W-2

Submitted by Tricia Brauer
On January 9th, Wells Fargo Bank economist Sarah House kicked off the 2018 year with a discussion on the gender pay gap in commercial real estate. Entitled “The Girl with the Draggin’ W-2,” House’s talk expanded on the widely cited statistic that a woman make eighty (80) cents for every dollar that a man makes by honing in on the multi-faceted nature of the pay gap between men and women. Research cited by House, including the best practices for gender equity and inclusion in commercial real estate study completed last year by the CREW Network, highlighted Experience, Occupation, Industry and Education as critical factors in explaining and addressing the gender pay gap.

In relation to the “Experience” factor, House discussed the “Mommy Penalty”  as one of the key components that illustrate why women are still earning less than men. Specifically, the fact that however brief, greater time spent by women out of the labor force and fewer hours worked slows their accumulation of skills and that childcare considerations and associated costs clearly take a toll on workforce participation rates of mothers with young children. Married mothers employed full time still spend roughly an hour more per day on housework and family care related to married fathers. From an “Occupation” standpoint, House highlighted differences in industry and occupation as the largest cause of variation in pay, and stated that such differences explain roughly fifty percent (50%) of the gender wage gap.  For example, men are 5x more likely to be engineers while women are 9x more likely to be receptionists and women are overrepresented in education and health services and are underrepresented in construction and manufacturing. No matter what the disparity is in occupation and industry representation, men are still earning more than women in nearly every occupation, including traditionally female jobs. There is at least some solace to be had in the grim statistics brought to the forefront by House’s presentation. Women are now out-achieving men on the “Education” front,. House made it a point to emphasize that the pay gap would be roughly six percent (6%) larger if the converse was true. Despite the critical progress made in deconstructing the gender pay gap, thirty-eight percent (38%) still remains unexplained.

“It isn’t just women that stand to benefit from pay equity,” House stated. From stronger company performance and corporate oversight, boosted sales and profits, and a reduction in employee turnover and associated costs, company performance also stands to benefit from women being on more equal footing with men.  Accordingly, both businesses and governments can alter existing policies to further narrow the gender pay gap. Some of these policy solutions include training and awareness, transparency about pay, parental leave – especially paternity leave, childcare tax credits/assistance, difference in tax treatment of a secondary income earner, minimum wage increases and longer school days.

A full copy of House’s presentation is available here.

2017 CREW Charlotte Excellence Awards with Molly Grantham

Submitted by Robin Haddock

CREW Charlotte celebrated the accomplishments of the organization and its members at the final luncheon of the year on December 12. As a special treat this year, Molly Grantham, Emmy-winning news anchor and investigative reporter with WBTV, emceed the awards ceremony. Molly also shared about her struggle to find a healthy balance between personal and professional life, the topic of her recently published book “Small Victories: The Off-Camera Life of an On-Camera Mom.” 

Small Victories: The Off-Camera Life of an On-Camera Mom is more than just parenting. Yes, it’s the endless exhaustion of changing diapers, how breastfeeding isn’t always what people say it’s cracked up to be, inappropriate fashion choices from a 6-year-old daughter, posts about a son’s helmet therapy, disastrous moments when beloved stuffed toys go missing, and travel horrors when kids go nuclear on an airplane… but the book has life lessons that can apply to any woman juggling so many balls in life, she simply misses herself.”

You can get it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Park Road Books… or on www.mollygrantham.com

President Jessica Rossi then joined Molly on stage to present awards to deserving CREW Charlotte members who have significantly contributed to promoting women in leadership in the Commercial Real Estate Industry.  And the winners are:

Rising Star – Angie Beard of Studio Fusion

Networker of the Year – Robin Turner of O’Leary Group Waste

Outreach Award – Adrienne Bain of Citizens Bank

Member of the Year – Ryan Ramey of Lincoln Harris

Presidents Choice – Molly Carroll of Trinity Partners

Deal of the Year – For their work on the Bank of the Ozarks Harrisburg bank branch, Cindy Wolfe of Bank of the Ozarks and her team of CREW Charlotte members, Wanda Townsend formerly with Johnston Allison and Hord, Kelly Ashman with Morehead Title, Kim Marks with Progressive AE (formerly ai Design Group), Amy Massey with Kimley Horn, Melissa Oliver with Land Design, and Holly Alexander with New South Properties.

And new in 2017, Men Empowering Women – Mike Schrum of Terracon Consultants, Inc.

Congratulations to all our deserving 2017 award recipients!

Brownfield Redevelopment and Community Revitalization

Submitted by Diana Quarry

CREW Charlotte members gathered on November 14, 2017 for a discussion of the North Carolina Brownfields Program, and learned how developers are utilizing the program to restore and breathe new life into previously contaminated areas of Charlotte.  The panel of speakers included Joselyn Harriger, a project manager with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, Susan Cooper, an environmental law attorney with Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP, and Brett Phillips, Executive Vice President with Lincoln Harris.  The panel was moderated by CREW Charlotte board member Christie Zawtocki, Principal at Hart & Hickman, PC.

The Brownfields Program serves as an effective tool in encouraging developers to undertake a clean-up of a contaminated site and redevelop the property to serve the needs of the Charlotte community. As Ms. Harriger discussed, developers who take advantage of the Program by entering into a Brownfields Agreement with the DEQ receive liability protection indefinitely (which passes along to future owners of the property, increasing the marketability of a property) and steep tax cuts for five years after development on the property begins. In exchange for these benefits, the developer agrees to remove contaminants for the property and complete an agreed-upon scope of remediation at the site to ensure it is safe for occupancy. The Brownfields Agreement will also impose certain land use restrictions on the property, which vary from site to site depending on the type of contamination that was present. For example, Ms. Cooper indicated that if a property has groundwater contamination, a Brownfields Agreement may likely state that the site cannot be used for a school, daycare facility, or certain residential uses, even once the developer completes the required remediation on the site. Despite these restrictions, Ms. Cooper discussed how the economic incentives can still make a project appealing to developers who may otherwise be deterred from assuming ownership of a contaminated property.

Mr. Phillips discussed how Lincoln Harris was recently able to leverage the benefits of the Program in connection with their new Legacy Union project, located at the old Charlotte Observer site. Having been used for printing operations for years, Lincoln Harris (which is redeveloping the site in partnership with Goldman Sachs) knew that there could be significant contamination from ink at the property.  Mr. Phillips and Ms. Harriger, who acted as the project manager for Legacy Union, worked together for nearly a year on the project.  They first established the project’s eligibility to participate in the Program, and worked through the terms of the Brownfields Agreement. Mr. Phillips discussed how the tax incentives that the Program offered made the redevelopment feasible and economically attractive.

ai Design Group Finalizes Merger with Progressive AE; Officially Adopts Name

ai Design Group Finalizes Merger with Progressive AE;

Officially Adopts Name

 Addition of Full-Service Engineering to Charlotte Office

Delivers Immediate Impact 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (November 1, 2017) — Architecture and interiors firm ai Design Group has finalized its merger with Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Progressive AE and will officially adopt their name, effective today. Their office on the top floor of the Chamber Building and local leadership team of Principals Wes Jones, Kim Marks and Ryan Doherty will remain the same. Jones now serves as managing principal of the Charlotte office and Marks is the firm-wide workplace practice leader.

“This merger comes at a time when both firms are in a position of strength, allowing us to accelerate our momentum together,” said Brad Thomas, president and CEO of Progressive AE. “By joining forces with a firm that shares our vision, both culturally and strategically, we‘re able to accelerate our 10-year growth plan by adding services, market sectors and staff.”

The combined organization has active work in all 48 contiguous states, a team of more than 200 professionals (50 in Charlotte) and over 65 years combined history as leaders in architecture and design. The firm now offers expertise in 10 market sectors: community, healthcare, housing, industrial, learning, retail, senior living, sports, workplace and worship. One of the most significant outcomes of the merger, with immediate impact to the Charlotte office, is the addition of full-service engineering capabilities that includes civil, landscape architecture, mechanical, electrical, transportation and structural competencies. 

Locally, ai Design Group is best known for its work on the headquarters for MetLife’s U.S. retail division, Sonic Automotive and Barings; landmark mixed-use retail developments Ballantyne Village and RedStone; and motorsports facilities across the country including Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Z-Max Dragway.

High-profile Progressive AE clients include: Steelcase, Advance Publications, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Michigan State University, Kawasaki Motors, Arby’s and Smithfield Foods. 

“While the ai Design Group brand is now part of our company history, we are a stronger, more diverse, full-service-firm and we look forward to working with clients under our new name, Progressive AE,” said Wes Jones, managing principal of the Progressive AE Charlotte office.  

About Progressive AE
Progressive AE has provided innovative and sustainable architectural and engineering services for more than 55 years. Our work is guided by a fundamental and forward-thinking philosophy that spaces and environments should serve as strategic contributors that drive organizational change. The firm’s success has been achieved through a workforce that is a unique blend of creative people who think strategically, and strategic people who work creatively. Progressive AE has offices in Grand Rapids, MI, and Charlotte, NC. For more information, visit progressiveae.com.