Charlotte loses 730-job operations center over House Bill 2
North Carolina’s House Bill 2 played a deciding role in a Washington-based real estate company choosing Richmond, Va., over Charlotte for a 730-job expansion, real estate sources told the Observer Tuesday.
CoStar Group, a real estate research firm, announced Monday that it had chosen Richmond for its research operations center after a national search. The company said it expected to create 730 jobs and invest $250 million into the “local economy.”
CoStar officials had earlier focused their search on a new office tower under construction at 615 S. College Street in uptown Charlotte, where it would have been an anchor tenant, said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. But the company’s board rejected the location because of HB2, which limits protections for LGBT individuals, the sources said.
The decision marks one of the biggest economic blows to Charlotte and North Carolina in the wake of the controversial law passed by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Pat McCrory in March to overturn a Charlotte anti-discrimination ordinance.
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article110349597.html
[font color=330099]Let Governor McCrory wear this badge of honor at the ballot box. 
(in case it's needed)[/font]
