LOWE'S, with world-wide headquarters in Mooresville, NC, is choosing Charlotte for up to 2,000 technology-focused jobs.
Reason being a tech-heavy work-force, a booming population of milennials and a hip vibe The Charlotte Plaza will offer to help attract them.
Lowe's will spend $153 million on the project, which is expected to create 1,600 jobs and move 400 positions from Mooresville to the new center. State incentives totaling $54 million over 12 years helped seal the deal for Charlotte.
Dallas was also considered for the new tech jobs, according to news reports.
The new 23-story building will be in what's known as the Design District, 'the walkable center of South End,' the company said in its announcement. Lowe's will occupy 15 upper floors and plans are to break groud in August. The Design Center Tower's location near the Lynx Blue Line light rail, the Rail Trail, restaurants and housing will help lure top tech professionals, the company said.
The Charlotte Plaza at 201 South College Street in uptown will serve as the interim home for Lowe's tech center, with the company occupying 200,000 square feet of office space on floors three through ten. Lowe's tech professionals are expected to begin work this summer at the Charlotte plaza. Lowe's will begn hiring immediately for jobs that will include software and infrastructure engineers, data scientists, analysts, architects, user experience and user interface professionals, and artificial intelligence and machine learning engineers.
Lowe's already has 28,000 employees in North Carolina. In December, Lowe's announced plans to invest more than $500 million annually through 2021 toward a "technology transformation."
THIS REPORT PREPARED FROM INFORMATION PUBLISHED IN THE MOORESVILLE CITIZEN - VOUME 10, NUMBER 27 - JULY 5-11, 2019
