Building a new chamber of commerce for Charlotte
Building a new chamber of commerce for Charlotte
Plus: Tim Newman denied bond in S.C.; Dena Diorio calls 'bull—' on city; American's Admirals Club at CLT closed for renovations; December's hot rezonings; Jimmy Clausen gives pep talk to 'Matty'
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Realignment of Charlotte’s traditional business groups creates an opening for new Charlotte Area Chamber of Commerce; focus on networking, small businesses
A “Coffee with the Chamber” event last month at Reid’s in SouthPark drew about 50 people. Founders of the Charlotte Area Chamber of Commerce say there’s a void of business networking in Charlotte that they’re trying to fill.
by Tony Mecia
Michael Orzech remembers feeling shocked when he learned that his favorite Charlotte networking group, the Charlotte Chamber’s University City chapter, was being eliminated.
It was 2018, and the Charlotte Chamber and the Charlotte Regional Partnership announced they were merging to become more efficient. There was a major realignment of the city’s top business groups — one that gave the city the main responsibility for economic development and created the new Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. The smaller regional chapters, like those in University City and SouthPark, were eliminated as the Alliance went a different direction.
But for Orzech, 70% of his business for his marketing and promotions company, Promotion Magic, came from people he met at Chamber luncheons and other events aimed at solopreneurs and small businesses. Suddenly, those ceased to exist. He says he and his friends couldn’t believe it: “People were shellshocked,” he said.
He talked to friends he had made through networking, including Jessica Helms, who worked in hotel sales at the Hampton Inn & Suites in SouthPark, who was active in the Chamber’s SouthPark chapter. At first they commiserated. Then they decided they needed to do something to fill the void.
“It started out as, ‘Hey, this is a real need,’” he recalls. “Then it was, ‘Hey, Michael, why don’t you start this?’ … Then Jessica and I were sitting there talking one day. She kind of had the same feeling, and we said, ‘Let’s take a shot. Let’s do this.’”
That was the start of a new organization Orzech and Helms are building called the Charlotte Area Chamber of Commerce. It’s focusing on networking and events for small businesses that they say don’t otherwise exist in Charlotte. It was founded in early 2020, and after Covid slowed its growth, the Charlotte Area Chamber is picking up steam and now has about 300 paying members.
Maitri Meyer, president of Actually Done, a network of freelance business professionals, says she can trace nearly $10,000 in revenue to connections she has made through the Charlotte Area Chamber.
“Word of mouth is the way that my company grows,” she said. “Therefore, networking and making sure I’m well-connected in my local community is very important. … As a local business owner, it just looks good to join your local chamber of commerce.”
There are of course other networking groups in Charlotte, as well as industry-specific organizations that hold events aimed at, for instance, tech or real estate. Other parts of Mecklenburg County, including Matthews, Pineville, Huntersville and Lake Norman, have chambers of commerce. And there are groups like the Charlotte Mecklenburg Black Chamber of Commerce and the Latin American Chamber of Commerce. But there is no other general business organization in Charlotte that calls itself a “chamber of commerce.”
Because of its name and mission, the Charlotte Area Chamber of Commerce inevitably attracts comparisons to the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. Some people have taken to calling Orzech and Helms’ organization “the new chamber” and the Alliance “the old chamber.”
Although both count Charlotte businesses as members, there are some key differences:
Mission: The Alliance focuses on business advocacy, public policy and research; the Charlotte Area Chamber mostly holds networking and education events for small businesses.
Size: The Alliance lists 32 staff members on its website, and its executive committee has representatives from some of the region’s largest companies, including Atrium Health, Novant Health, Tepper Sports & Entertainment, Bank of America and Truist; the Charlotte Area Chamber has just Orzech and Helms as full-time staff, and its members are mostly small businesses such as consultants, financial advisors and marketers.
Cost: The Alliance’s website says joining costs at least $5,000, though it holds events open to nonmembers. A regular membership in the Charlotte Area Chamber is $350, and it has events open to nonmembers, too.
Orzech and Helms aren’t eager to discuss the Alliance. They say they’re focused on growing and serving their members and that there’s plenty of room for different business organizations. “We are planning on staying in our lane,” Helms said.
When the Charlotte Area Chamber started holding events in early 2020, the Alliance told The Ledger that it was worried that the public would confuse the two groups. “The Alliance is hopeful that it can work collaboratively with the Charlotte Area Chamber of Commerce to mitigate any such confusion,” CEO Janet LaBar said in a statement to The Ledger in March 2020. “The Alliance has rights with respect to the ‘Charlotte Chamber’ name.”
The Ledger reached out to the Alliance on Thursday to ask about its plans for small businesses and networking. A spokeswoman said nobody was available to discuss that topic last week, and she pointed to the Alliance’s annual plan, which calls for creating an online small business resource hub and working on an initiative to help smaller, minority-owned businesses grow.
Helms says she left her job to work full time on the Charlotte Area Chamber on March 9, 2020 — just days before Covid started shutting everything down. Their projections of 500 members by the end of 2020 turned out to be optimistic, because they couldn’t hold in-person events. They switched to online networking.
Since then, they have held events that sound like things that chambers of commerce do: a golf tournament (at Topgolf); monthly lunches, which usually draw 60-80 people; and coffees, which usually draw 40-60. They just formed a women in business committee and have programs for entrepreneurs. Eventually, Helms says, they’d like to hold a trade show.
At the first in-person lunch meeting last summer, at the Hyatt Centric in SouthPark, more than 80 people showed up — proof, Helms said, that people are finding value in the new chamber.
“I was thrilled,” she said. “Everybody was just so excited to see each other, to be in person, to be out networking. The energy level was amazing.”
Today’s supporting sponsors are T.R. Lawing Realty …
… and Landon A. Dunn, attorney-at-law in Matthews:
Tim Newman, former tourism authority chief, denied bond in S.C.
A South Carolina judge last week denied bond to Tim Newman, the former head of Charlotte Center City Partners and the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, who is charged with threatening to blow up a dam north of Charleston.
The court action means that Newman, who has been in jail since April 2020, seems unlikely to get out of the Georgetown County Detention Center anytime soon.
Georgetown deputy solicitor Alicia Richardson told The Ledger that Newman has had some hearings in his court case, but that “everything has been delayed because of Covid.” She said a judge on Thursday denied Newman’s request for bond. He has been held without bond since his arrest. She said she was hopeful the cases would be resolved in the coming months but that there’s no timetable.
His 2020 arrest followed a string of charges in North and South Carolina including communicating threats and violating a restraining order.
The Ledger reported in October (🔒) that Newman, while in jail, picked up an additional felony charge of throwing bodily fluids on a correctional facility employee. The police report said he smeared feces on a 60-year-old female corrections officer as she returned his laundry on Oct. 1. Court records seem to indicate that there is also a second, separate charge of throwing bodily fluids from a few weeks later, but we were unable to run down details on that one late Friday.
Court records also show that Newman, who had been represented by a public defender, has a new attorney, Brett Perry of Camden, S.C. Perry told The Ledger he couldn’t comment on the case. —TM
Related Ledger article:
“The unraveling of Tim Newman” (June 3, 2020)
Internal text message from County Manager Dena Diorio on ‘Tent City’ spat: ‘The city is useless! … This is bull—’
Well here’s something you don’t see every day.
In response to a public records request, WBTV’s David Hodges received internal text messages among county leaders from February 2021 related to the effort to clear “Tent City,” the homeless encampment near the Brookshire Freeway. You might recall that the city and county governments disagreed publicly on transportation for people out of the area. County leaders felt the city backed out of a deal to provides buses and policing to enforce the health order to leave.
County Manager Dena Diorio criticized the city in public, but she really let loose to her subordinates in a private text chain.
From WBTV’s article on Friday:
One text just about summed up attitude from Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio during the Tent City abatement order.
Diorio wrote, “The city is useless!”
Assistant County Manager Anthony Trotman responded “Very useless! We need to call them out.”
To which Diorio responded, “Agreed.” …
With Diorio’s animosity coming to a head over the city’s refusal to provide buses to move the Tent City residents — unless Diorio called Jones directly.
Diorio wrote, “This is bull***”
Asked about the relationship between the city and county going forward, county spokesman Danny Diehl told WBTV: “The working relationships between the city, county and all local government agencies are strong and we are very prepared to handle emergencies now and in the future.”
Update on residents: Incidentally, about 1/3 of “Tent City” residents have found permanent housing, WFAE reported this morning.
—TM
Main Admirals Club at Charlotte airport is closed for 4-6 months; whither avocado toast?
Bad news for travelers accustomed to avoiding the airport masses by ensconcing themselves in Charlotte’s main airport lounge: American Airlines’ Admirals Club between terminals C and D closed this weekend for renovations expected to last four to six months.
Those hunting for their usual array of snacks, made-to-order avocado toast and free wine and beer are going to have to make do with the much smaller Admirals Club on Terminal B. American renovated that one in 2018-19, and its decor is lighter and more modern than the one on C/D, which had dark wood and more of a 1990s vibe.
The one that closed on Saturday is about 23,000 s.f. and seats 452. The one on Terminal B that remains open is 4,500 s.f. and seats 100.
‘Grab and go snacks’: American will have a temporary replacement, spokeswoman Sarah Jantz told The Ledger on Saturday:
American will also open a Guest Service Center on the mezzanine level of the Atrium between Terminals B and C for Admirals Club-eligible customers who would like ticketing and travel assistance. This space will also have grab and go snack offerings, bottled water and coffee available.
That “guest service center” is upstairs from the main atrium — the one with the food court and rocking chairs. It was pretty empty when one of our readers stopped by to check it out for us on Sunday night:
Club memberships are between $550-650 year, or at least 55,000 frequent flier miles, depending on American elite status. Holders of a $450-a-year credit card can also gain entry, and day passes are $59.
Charlotte also has a new American Express Centurion Lounge, open to holders of certain AmEx credit cards that cost at least $550 a year. —TM
December’s rezonings 🔥: A huge industrial site by the airport + apartments in Rea Farms
If it’s after the first of the month, it’s time to look back at Charlotte’s rezoning filings from a month ago.
Say what you want about The Ledger, but we take a back seat to nobody on comprehensive and enthusiastic coverage of our fair city’s rezoning petitions.
We’re not weighing in on if they’re good or bad. We’re just saying they are — and you can learn about developers’ plans by finding out about them. If there’s an apartment complex or townhouses headed to your neighborhood, we think you are entitled to know about that.
In December, developers filed plans to:
Build a bakery and offices in Eastover
Build townhomes on Johnston Road north of Ballantyne
Build 315 housing units (a mix of apartments and townhomes) in Rea Farms
Build a 1.8 million s.f. warehouse or industrial project on 147 acres west of the airport. (That’s large for a single warehouse project)
Operate a commercial business in Dilworth
Oh, and there’s more. Mmm-hmm. The full list is available here, exclusively for The Ledger’s community of paying members:
We share the details of every rezoning each month, before they appear on the city’s main rezoning website. The news helps residents learn what’s planned in their neighborhoods. It also helps people in the real estate industry spot trends.
Enjoy! —TM
In brief:
Vaccine mandates: Business groups are hoping for an emergency order from the U.S. Supreme Court today that would block Biden administration plans to require employers with 100 or more workers to have their employees vaccinated or regularly tested. Without court intervention, the new rules are scheduled to take effect today, which means that new corporate policies requiring vaccinations or testing could be forthcoming. (CNN)
New HT hours: Harris Teeter said it will close its stores at 9 p.m. instead of 10 or 11 p.m. (WSOC)
Planning update: The City Council is expected to receive updates tonight on the Charlotte Future 2040 Policy Map and the Unified Development Ordinance, which will help set the rules for the city’s growth and development.
State of furniture: North Carolina’s furniture industry has seen somewhat of a resurgence during Covid, as people upgraded their furniture while quarantined and overseas supply chain issues caused delays. Despite the rebound, manufacturers are scared to scale up too much, because they fear orders will go overseas again. (Axios Charlotte)
Voice of the Panthers retires: Mick Mixon, who has served as the Carolina Panthers play-by-play announcer for every game over the last 17 years, called his last game Sunday as the Panthers lost to the Buccaneers. He’s faced challenges over the course of his broadcasting career, including the death of his parents in a plane crash in 1989, which gave him a fear of flying he had to overcome. Mixon, 63, says he’ll spend more time with family in retirement. (Observer)
Warming trend: Charlotte’s winters are warming. Decembers in Charlotte are 3.1 degrees warmer than they were in 1970, and last month saw a near-record December high of 78 on Dec. 3. This year's mild winter has two main causes, according to a climate scientist: La Niña and the general global warming trend that’s making things warmer all across the planet. (WFAE)
The Carolina Panthers plan to retain coach Matt Rhule for a third season, anonymous sources told ESPN. Some fans wanted owner David Tepper to fire Rhule, who has presided over two losing seasons. Tepper hired Rhule in January 2020 and signed him to a seven-year, $62M contract. (ESPN)
Loves me some internet: Quarterback pep talk
In an inspirational Cameo video, former Panthers quarterback Jimmy Clausen gives a pep talk to “Matty.” He says: “Your buddy Marty tells me that you had a tough 2021. … 2022 is going to be a great year for you. Third year’s the charm. … Just keep pushin’.”
Taking stock
Unless you are a day trader, checking your stocks daily is unhealthy. So how about weekly? How local stocks of note fared last week (through Friday’s close), and year to date:
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project