The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce will hold an economic outlook briefing featuring N.C. State economist Michael Walden at Spice Street in University Mall. The briefing breakfast runs from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. and features a full breakfast. The cost is $20. Visit the chambers website at carolinachamber.org for more details and to register.
Category: Business
WCHL sale announced
Barry Leffler, General Manager of NBC-17, has purchased a minority ownership share in WCHL and plans to purchase complete ownership, according to a release sent out by the station this afternoon. Here’s the statement: LEFFLER PURCHASES SHARE OF WCHL, WITH PLANS FOR FUTURE PURCHASE OF ALL 1360WCHL, Chapel Hill’s only local radio station, has sold…
Biz Beat: Carrboro’s identity crisis?
By Margot C. Lester Columnist Sigh. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Another big-time article has lumped Carrboro in with other (admittedly great) local food cities. This month’s Garden & Gunmagazine features a swell article on Chapel Hill. What’s better, albeit rather frustrating, is that much of what the writer asserts makes Chapel Hill great…
TSI Healthcare inks deal
Chapel Hill-based TSI Healthcare announced a partnership with RealMed Corporation to deliver RealMed EDI Revenue Management Services to TSI clients. Indianapolis-based RealMed will provide services including online ECS claims filing, editing and “scrubbing,†ERA (Electronic Remittance Advice) and integrated OEV (Online Eligibility Verification). For its part, TSI Healthcare will introduce an estimated 500 providers to…
Create-a-Mall
Chapel Hill-based Merscom and New York-based companies Lifetime Digital and Roiworld.com released Create-A-Mall, a downloadable game that allows players to be challenged to become top-flight mall developers in six different cities throughout the world. It’s the first game that allows players to use the money they’ve earned to buy jewelry, clothing or office decorations. Create-A-Mall…
Biz Beat: Recession hits local economy
By Margot C. Lester Columnist The greater Carrboro metroplex has felt the recession’s pinch less than other areas of the state and nation. But we’re not totally immune. Just swing through Carrboro’s two major shopping centers: Carr Mill Mall and Carrboro Plaza. The empty spaces are evidence of the recession’s reach.
Revaluation in Orange County
From this week’s issue — Reporters Margot Lester and Rich Fowler offer a detailed look at the revaluation issue. • Main Story: Revaluations squeeze home, business owners • How revaluations are calculated • How to appeal your revaluation • Neighborhoods with the biggest gains and drops.
Highest and lowest increases in revaluations
Revaluations by the numbers • 290 neighborhoods consisting of 19,591 residential properties • 143 neighborhoods consisting of 10,517 properties had revaluations in excess of the county average 26 percent. • 147 neighborhoods consisting of 8,782 properties had revaluations below the county average. Neighborhoods With Highest Increases • White Oak Condos, 95 properties in Carrboro around…
Coworking catches on
Business at Carrboro Creative Coworking continues to grow. “My very unscientific guess is a 5 percent increase in the past month,†says owner-founder Brian Russell. He attributes part of the growth to time. The shared workspace has been open for several months now and word is spreading. But there’s also the fact that businesses are…
Investors Title reports $4 million loss in Q4
Investors Title Co. (Nasdaq: ITIC) reported losses of $3.9 million on $12.3 million in revenues during the fourth quarter of 2008. The Chapel Hill-based company reported a net loss of $1.1 million for the year, compared to a net income of $8.4 million for 2007. Investors Title sells title insurance – policies that protect property…
Harrington navigates recession, sees mortgage lending increase
By Margot C. Lester Staff Writer Chapel Hill — With banks still sputtering after last year’s huge federal bail-out – including three bank failures already this year – it would be easy to think that all financial institutions are on the ropes. But one local lender is beating the odds with high reserves and a…
Doing more to keep your job
By Margot C. Lester Staff Writer Misery may love company, but griping with your colleagues isn’t the most effective way to deal with the threat of layoffs. “While it is human nature to participate in water cooler discussions, you need to stay focused on the job at hand,†says David Hemmer, president and COO of…
How not to lay off employees
By Margot C. Lester Staff Writer Outlasting the traditional shotgun blasts that rang out the old year here in the South was the din of business owners and managers wondering out loud about the fate of their enterprises and employees. Though layoff statistics for 2008 won’t be available till later this month, thousands of employers…
Carrboro Citizen announces expansion
The Carrboro Citizen plans to increase its circulation by 20 percent by the end of the first quarter of 2009 and will expand editorial coverage in Chapel Hill, the company announced Thursday. Publisher Robert Dickson said adding rack and news-box locations in Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and Pittsboro already has accommodated a 10 percent increase in…
Green jobs may be one answer to rebuilding the economy
By Margot C. Lester Staff Writer While it may seem like all the news about employment is bad – and a lot of it is – there’s one sector that’s poised for growth: green-collar jobs. From global behemoths like Wal-Mart to small enterprises like Pittsboro’s Piedmont Biofuels, businesses are going green and they need employees…