Rens Hayes IV of the Design Development podcast hosted RED director Kyle Touchstone to talk about adapting for growth.
The podcast team shared the following overview of the podcast:
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Kyle Touchstone grew up in South Mississippi, the kid of a hardware store owner who watched one large manufacturer change what a small business and its employees could afford. Today he is Director of Raleigh Economic Development, a program of the Greater Raleigh Chamber that provides business recruitment, retention, and expansion services on behalf of the City of Raleigh.
Kyle says the Raleigh area is growing by about 100 people a day, up from about 33 ten years ago. That kind of growth gets companies' attention. Kyle says it is not why they come.
He puts it plainly: companies come for the talent and a competitive cost of doing business. Incentives are part of the game, but they are the dessert.
So what does a city need beyond the pitch? Kyle says developers who took a chance on the market created the opportunities for companies to locate there, like the redevelopment of an old steel mill that became home to Audemars Piguet's North American service center. He also points to a city process that brings developers and the AEC community to the table on day one, with a plan, a date, and a reconvening meeting.
Listen to the full podcast episode here.