Honeywell breaks ground on global headquarters in uptown Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Honeywell broke ground Thursday on its new global headquarters in uptown Charlotte.

We first reported about the new headquarters last November.

The Fortune 100 company already has 350 employees in Charlotte, but its new 23-story tower on Church Street overlooking the Carolina Panthers' stadium will be home to 750 more.

Gov. Roy Cooper said it's the seventh Fortune 500 company to call Charlotte home.

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Channel 9's Blaine Tolison sat down with Honeywell's CEO, Darius Adamczyk, to talk about the new jobs the company plans to bring and the reason it chose Charlotte.

"They looked at this very objectively," Adamczyk said. "They looked at the quality of the workforce. They looked at the livability."

Honeywell could have ended up in Phoenix, Houston or Atlanta, but Adamczyk said the company believes Charlotte was the best move.

"We wanted to find an appealing place that people say, 'Yes, I'm excited to move there and have my career there,'" he said.

Taxpayers provided the company with an incentive of $42.5 million. In return, the company is investing nearly $250 million in Charlotte.

Adamczyk said the incentive was only a piece of the puzzle.

"We kind of combine the livability factor, the economic factor, the openness and the friendly business environment," he said. "It's never just one thing."

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Many people know Honeywell from their home thermostats, but it now focuses on much bigger things like aerospace and industrial.

According to Adamczyk, the company has already invested in stem education in Charlotte and it's just getting started.

"Our employees want to be involved," he said. "They want to be a part of the community, want to help the community solve some of those challenges."

Honeywell plans to add the 750 jobs over the next five years.

The new headquarters is expected to be completed by July 2021.

Cox Media Group