CAFR 2017

food safety and sanitation requirements of the Quick Service Retail and grocery markets to global customers such as McDonald’s and Walmart. In 2017 Alorica Inc . announced an additional 600 new jobs at its global call center in the Triad, in addition to the 800 jobs added in late 2016 for a total of 1,400 new jobs with benefits. The Irvine, CA based company is now the largest provider of customer service solutions in the U.S. City leaders continue to work with economic development officials in the region related to development of potential “ Megasites ”, those locations typically greater than 1,000 acres that could house a large manufacturing facility, such as an auto assembly operation. In particular, two sites within twenty-five miles of Greensboro in nearby Randolph and Chatham counties could offer 1,850 and 1,818 acres, respectively. The Randolph site reached a milestone in June, 2016, receiving industrial site certification that designates the site as construction ready for a large-scale industrial user. The City of Greensboro is preparing to provide needed water and sewer infrastructure to the Randolph site, with design, permitting work and easement purchases in process for service delivery within 24 months or less of a prospective company using the site. The Chatham site received official state certification as a megasite in June, 2014 and was selected to participate in Duke Energy’s Site Readiness Program that helps officials recruit major industries. In support of these initiatives, a nonprofit foundation, Golden Leaf, awarded $11 million in grant funding - $7 million allocated to water and sewer line construction for the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite, and $4 million for water and wastewater infrastructure at the Chatham- Siler Megasite. In 2016, the City of Greensboro took 4th place in the annual Digital Cities Survey for cities with a population of 250,000 to 500,000. The survey recognizes cities that use technology to improve services and boost efficiencies. Greensboro was recognized in part for its effort in forming the Tri-Gig High Speed Broadband Initiative . The regional partnership plans to take advantage of existing fiber optic cable infrastructure previously installed for Greensboro’s traffic-light system. The partnership hopes to provide the next-generation of high-speed broadband infrastructure needed to meet the technological needs of current and future businesses, public institutions, educational institutions, and local residents at a substantial discount from current market prices. In December, 2016, the Piedmont Triad Regional Council finished its Request for Proposal (RFP) process and selected North State Communications as its preferred vendor for delivering high-speed internet services to the region. In FY 2011, Greensboro annexed 145 acres east of the City for an American Express Data Center . The LEED-certified data center is complete and began processing data in February 2012. The Greensboro region is well-suited for sizeable computing centers due to the significant electric power grid developed in previous years to accommodate large textile manufacturing operations, along with existing fiber optic and advanced telecommunications infrastructure. Also, legislation was recently passed that extends tax incentives to smaller data center customers in North Carolina and makes it a state with one of the lowest investment thresholds. North Carolina is home to Facebook, Apple, Google and IBM among other large scale data centers. Communications industry leader, Qorvo , recently expanded by buying Amalfi Semiconductor, another cell phone component manufacturer located in California. The company’s area headquarters currently employees approximately 1,500 workers in Guilford County. In December 2015, the company announced plans to add an additional 100 new jobs over a period of 3 years as part of a $25 million expansion of its Guilford county operations, primarily in research and development. The expansion project is substantially complete. Qorvo is the outcome of an approximate $2 billion merger between RF Micro Devices and TriQuint Semiconductor, an Oregon-based microchip products company. In August 2016, the Greensboro site was named the sole headquarters location. In 2012 , BB&T opened its new Triad Operations Center in the former American Express customer service center near PTI. The 390,000 square-foot building will eventually house 2,500 employees working primarily in back office, administrative and support functions. BB&T is a regional bank with more than 2,200 financial

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