WEBVTT - How Atlanta is Becoming an Economic Hub

0:00:02.480 --> 0:00:07.000
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:11.680
<v Speaker 2>You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and

0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.160
<v Speaker 2>Tim Stenovek on Bloomberg Radio.

0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:16.319
<v Speaker 3>Carol Masser, when you think of Atlanta and business, what

0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:17.000
<v Speaker 3>comes to mind?

0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:17.640
<v Speaker 4>Uh?

0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:20.680
<v Speaker 2>Rep Pulley, Okay, that's the right answer.

0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:23.800
<v Speaker 3>All right, Okay, Well, maybe.

0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:24.919
<v Speaker 2>I'd set you up for that one lot of things.

0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:26.599
<v Speaker 4>I mean, there's been a lot happening, and that's it.

0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:28.960
<v Speaker 3>There has Okay, So if you think about the mainstays right,

0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:32.320
<v Speaker 3>Coca Cola, yes, Delta Airlines at and t Emory Ups.

0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.320
<v Speaker 3>They are all among the largest employers in the area

0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.360
<v Speaker 3>and by population is actually the sixth largest market in

0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:42.080
<v Speaker 3>the US. Our next guest charged with attracting businesses to Atlanta,

0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:45.080
<v Speaker 3>keeping them there, and working with policymakers to make the

0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:48.960
<v Speaker 3>climate attractive to capital. Katie Kirkpatrick is President CEO of

0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:53.760
<v Speaker 3>the Metro Atlanta Chamber. It represents businesses, colleges, and universities

0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:56.520
<v Speaker 3>not profits too, across the Greater Atlanta area. She joins

0:00:56.600 --> 0:00:59.680
<v Speaker 3>us here in the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers Studio. Also here,

0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:02.600
<v Speaker 3>Brett Pully. Yes, the man we think of when we

0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:05.840
<v Speaker 3>think of business in Atlanta. He's Atlanta bio chief for

0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:08.320
<v Speaker 3>Bloomberg News. We love it when he comes to New

0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:10.919
<v Speaker 3>York and can join us here in the studio. Welcome

0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:14.240
<v Speaker 3>to both of you, Katie. You compete with other major

0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:18.440
<v Speaker 3>metropolitan areas to attract and retain businesses. Mercedes, benz, Rivian,

0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:22.080
<v Speaker 3>Duracell are among the recent wins for you and your team.

0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:26.080
<v Speaker 3>Why is your area the best to do business?

0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.280
<v Speaker 5>In your view, that's a pretty simple equation. We have

0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:34.400
<v Speaker 5>the world's largest than most efficient airport mean efficient.

0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:37.480
<v Speaker 3>Yes, okay, I've walked through that airport before.

0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:39.360
<v Speaker 2>Efficient did not feel efficient?

0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:41.600
<v Speaker 3>Sorry, go ahead, we can talk.

0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:46.160
<v Speaker 1>About Jay offline, okay, okay.

0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:48.800
<v Speaker 5>But the airport is a really important asset because if

0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:51.200
<v Speaker 5>you're in business and you're either working in the United

0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:54.960
<v Speaker 5>States or internationally, you can get anywhere with a direct

0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:59.240
<v Speaker 5>flight and that's a big selling point. In fact, you

0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:01.440
<v Speaker 5>can get to eighty percent of the United States within

0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:04.040
<v Speaker 5>a two hour direct flight from Atlanta, so that's pretty

0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.760
<v Speaker 5>good for business development. And then if you're international, we

0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:09.760
<v Speaker 5>have direct flights all over the world. Second piece is

0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:14.079
<v Speaker 5>we have an incredibly robust university system, higher education system.

0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:16.200
<v Speaker 5>A lot of people don't know that we have more

0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:20.040
<v Speaker 5>than sixty colleges and universities within the twenty nine county

0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.080
<v Speaker 5>metro Atlanta area that does not include University of Georgia,

0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:25.560
<v Speaker 5>believe it or not, and that means we have three

0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:29.640
<v Speaker 5>hundred thousand full time equivalent students. So we're diverse for

0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:33.520
<v Speaker 5>talent and opportunity. So that's another piece. And then of

0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:38.360
<v Speaker 5>course we have deep, deep bones around supply chain and logistics.

0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:42.680
<v Speaker 5>And so we were initially called Terminus before we became Atlanta,

0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:44.720
<v Speaker 5>and that's because that's where the railroads all came in,

0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.320
<v Speaker 5>It's where our highways come in. So supply chain and

0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:50.560
<v Speaker 5>logistics is really the bread and butter of our economy.

0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:54.240
<v Speaker 5>You mentioned Delta, you mentioned GPS, You didn't mention the

0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:58.320
<v Speaker 5>home depot, which is all and I say that because

0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.400
<v Speaker 5>if we think about moving products, right, the home depot

0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:03.880
<v Speaker 5>is moving product every day as well as all these

0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:06.240
<v Speaker 5>others in Delta of course is moving people. So those

0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:08.799
<v Speaker 5>are some of the assets that we talk about and

0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:11.840
<v Speaker 5>seem to be compelling for companies when they're thinking about Atlanta.

0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:13.000
<v Speaker 1>Brett, I want you to come in.

0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:15.000
<v Speaker 2>You covered Atlanta, You've covered.

0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.639
<v Speaker 1>Actually business news for a long time and under kind

0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:22.760
<v Speaker 1>of the cross between money, technology, politics, economy. But when

0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:24.520
<v Speaker 1>you look at Atlanta, what do we need to understand

0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:26.680
<v Speaker 1>about Atlanta? And I know you caught up with Katie earlier,

0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:29.000
<v Speaker 1>but give us a quick premer if you will, on

0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:30.079
<v Speaker 1>what's going on in Atlanta.

0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:33.200
<v Speaker 6>Well, I do think Katie has certainly hit on some

0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:36.720
<v Speaker 6>key things, and a couple of them that really resonate.

0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:39.560
<v Speaker 6>You know. One is the fact that it is a

0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:42.320
<v Speaker 6>transportation hub and long has been and she said it

0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:46.600
<v Speaker 6>was known as Terminus, which and the airport, as you mentioned, Tim, Look,

0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:51.720
<v Speaker 6>everyone knows that airport, right and it is amazing and

0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:53.960
<v Speaker 6>one of the wonderful things about being there I've been

0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:56.800
<v Speaker 6>there five years now is I can go just about

0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:00.960
<v Speaker 6>anywhere in the world NonStop, and that's nice, and I

0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:04.360
<v Speaker 6>get there very fast, but you do have to cover

0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:07.080
<v Speaker 6>some distance there first steps in. You know, the airport

0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:09.120
<v Speaker 6>has been in the news in recent days as it

0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:11.400
<v Speaker 6>relates to a lot of the stuff we're talking about,

0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:15.680
<v Speaker 6>and Katie and I talked about this earlier today. The

0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:21.360
<v Speaker 6>fact that the mayor now is given Atlanta's history and

0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:23.800
<v Speaker 6>even the airport's history, a lot of people don't know

0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:28.120
<v Speaker 6>that airport was really expanded and developed very much with

0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:34.479
<v Speaker 6>what is referred to as DEI today, but certainly with

0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:38.200
<v Speaker 6>that as its foundation, and that's been something that's been

0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:42.480
<v Speaker 6>really sort of pivotal in creating this sort of unique

0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:49.880
<v Speaker 6>class of upwardly mobile, diverse entrepreneurs that you know who

0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.799
<v Speaker 6>are in Atlanta. Well, the mayor in recent days refused

0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:57.599
<v Speaker 6>to change those initiatives around the airport, and as a result,

0:04:57.640 --> 0:04:59.560
<v Speaker 6>the city lost so I think thirty seven and a

0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:02.960
<v Speaker 6>half million dollars so far in federal funding. We've seen

0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:04.720
<v Speaker 6>the same thing in the news today in New York,

0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:08.640
<v Speaker 6>very similar, much larger amount, right again around infrastructure and

0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:10.400
<v Speaker 6>again around DEI.

0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:14.440
<v Speaker 2>So it's it's really interesting.

0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:16.240
<v Speaker 6>And it's it's something that you know, I'd love to

0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:18.880
<v Speaker 6>hear Katie talk about, how does the city a place

0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:21.960
<v Speaker 6>like Atlanta again, which is the cradle of the civil

0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:25.159
<v Speaker 6>rights movement, right and many of the things that we

0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:28.400
<v Speaker 6>now know today is DEI, how do you balance that,

0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:32.080
<v Speaker 6>How does a business community balance that fact.

0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:34.800
<v Speaker 2>That reality, that historical past.

0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:35.719
<v Speaker 6>With the.

0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:39.239
<v Speaker 2>Demands from the White House today.

0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.480
<v Speaker 5>That's pretty simple. You acknowledge what your past is and

0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.680
<v Speaker 5>we because we are the cradle of the civil rights movement.

0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:50.080
<v Speaker 5>Our DNA is steeped in having a diverse workforce, a

0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:53.479
<v Speaker 5>diverse community, and the mayor doesn't shay away from that,

0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:56.560
<v Speaker 5>and I think if he had, it would have been

0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.000
<v Speaker 5>inauthentic to who we are as a community.

0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:01.039
<v Speaker 4>And so from a.

0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:05.760
<v Speaker 5>Corporate perspective, corporations are going to hire the talent where

0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:07.760
<v Speaker 5>they find it, and they're going to look for quality,

0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:09.920
<v Speaker 5>and that is one of the biggest strengths that we

0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:12.360
<v Speaker 5>have in Metro Atlanta right now, is a diverse, well

0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:16.719
<v Speaker 5>educated population that can fill the jobs that we are creating.

0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.720
<v Speaker 5>So while the mayor may have made that decision, I

0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:22.880
<v Speaker 5>think it's indicative of the DNA of who we are

0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:24.920
<v Speaker 5>as a region, and we're not going to shy away

0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:28.000
<v Speaker 5>from that authentic piece of our history.

0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:30.560
<v Speaker 4>If we don't, I think we don't look true to ourselves.

0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:32.800
<v Speaker 1>I am curious, though, Katie, because I think one of

0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.320
<v Speaker 1>the things that we talk so much as a result

0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:37.919
<v Speaker 1>of this administration is the fear that's out there, whether

0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.520
<v Speaker 1>it's among politicians certainly on the other side of the

0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:44.039
<v Speaker 1>political aisle here here, or whether it's in the corporate community.

0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:47.120
<v Speaker 1>Nobody wants to be a target. Nobody wants to be

0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:49.280
<v Speaker 1>in a social media tweet. And here we are with

0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:51.919
<v Speaker 1>the government shutdown. You've got the White House halting eighteen

0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.240
<v Speaker 1>billion dollars in New York infrastructure funding due to concerns

0:06:55.640 --> 0:07:00.240
<v Speaker 1>over diversity and inclusion practices. Things are being politicized. How

0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:04.440
<v Speaker 1>do you make sure that the city's DII programs aren't

0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:08.960
<v Speaker 1>causing problem or undue notice by the White House are

0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:10.920
<v Speaker 1>causing you guys to lose federal dollars.

0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:11.280
<v Speaker 4>Yeah.

0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:14.080
<v Speaker 5>I think what's important is the ethos that we have

0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:19.280
<v Speaker 5>in Atlanta, which is really the corporate, political, and civic

0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:24.440
<v Speaker 5>all work together. And so people come and go in local, state,

0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:27.480
<v Speaker 5>and federal politics. What doesn't change is who we are

0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:31.000
<v Speaker 5>as a community. And so from a corporation standpoint is

0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:33.720
<v Speaker 5>they're going to continue to do with their customers, with

0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:36.880
<v Speaker 5>their employees, what their shareholders ask for them to do.

0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:38.840
<v Speaker 4>Change comes and go.

0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.640
<v Speaker 5>But if they can stick to what their strategy is

0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:44.080
<v Speaker 5>and they can stick to who their purpose and what

0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.960
<v Speaker 5>their purpose is, I think that's how you move through

0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:49.560
<v Speaker 5>this moment. And that is what I'm hearing from our

0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.680
<v Speaker 5>CEOs is We're just going to keep executing on our

0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:56.120
<v Speaker 5>strategic plan. We're going to do what's best for who

0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:58.400
<v Speaker 5>we serve, and that in the end is going to

0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.040
<v Speaker 5>be good for us as a company and ultimately as

0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:02.760
<v Speaker 5>a community.

0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:03.800
<v Speaker 2>It's really interesting.

0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:08.280
<v Speaker 6>You know, Katie's not just whistling Dixie when she talks

0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:13.840
<v Speaker 6>about the corporate and the community partnership. I mean, I

0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:16.200
<v Speaker 6>have to tell you I have been really impressed by

0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:20.160
<v Speaker 6>the level of civic engagement, right, And it goes again

0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:24.080
<v Speaker 6>to this point. I mean, anecdotes abound about the extent

0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:27.720
<v Speaker 6>of which Coca Cola worked with Martin Luther King and

0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:32.439
<v Speaker 6>the civil rights movement, right. And this wasn't like everyone

0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.600
<v Speaker 6>was necessarily jumping and willing to do it. But I

0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:38.560
<v Speaker 6>think that the city and the business leaders recognized that

0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:41.360
<v Speaker 6>it was a business imperative, right if they were going

0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.199
<v Speaker 6>to be successful as business people, probably the same thing

0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:45.440
<v Speaker 6>we're facing as a country.

0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:46.280
<v Speaker 1>You know.

0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:46.840
<v Speaker 2>One thing.

0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.640
<v Speaker 6>The other thing I'll mentioned really quick is transportation, which

0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:51.240
<v Speaker 6>which Katie mentioned as well.

0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:53.040
<v Speaker 2>It's a big, big deal.

0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:56.000
<v Speaker 6>And you know, and I'm not talking about the transportation

0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.079
<v Speaker 6>hub now. I'm talking about transportation around this fast growing,

0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:01.960
<v Speaker 6>really rapidly spreading city.

0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:04.520
<v Speaker 2>And I mentioned that.

0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:06.560
<v Speaker 6>On my way to the airport yesterday, I saw an

0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.240
<v Speaker 6>accident wasn't the accident that held up traffic.

0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:11.800
<v Speaker 2>It was the driverless waymow that held up the traffic.

0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:16.160
<v Speaker 1>I love driverless because you figure out what to do

0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:17.560
<v Speaker 1>because the accident was there.

0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.520
<v Speaker 2>But I'd like to still love them.

0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:23.160
<v Speaker 6>Maybe that's a solution for Atlanta, But what do you

0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:27.079
<v Speaker 6>do about marta the public transportation system and making all

0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:27.920
<v Speaker 6>of that work better.

0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:30.960
<v Speaker 5>So we're one of eleven cities that have a heavy

0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:34.760
<v Speaker 5>rails system, and that is always an asset for us

0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:37.600
<v Speaker 5>when we're thinking about growth. Right, what a better way

0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:39.840
<v Speaker 5>to talk about You can land at the Atlanta Airport

0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:42.679
<v Speaker 5>and you can be in downtown or midtown within about

0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:46.360
<v Speaker 5>fifteen minutes straight shot for two dollars and fifty cents.

0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:48.000
<v Speaker 4>That is an easy selling point.

0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:51.520
<v Speaker 5>Now that system has to work for everybody, and that

0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:54.560
<v Speaker 5>is the opportunity that we have is creating a system

0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:58.520
<v Speaker 5>that has better headways, has a better customer experience, and

0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:01.920
<v Speaker 5>perhaps also modernize it itself. It's stations in it's trains,

0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:05.520
<v Speaker 5>and that's the direction it's going. But the business community cares,

0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:09.559
<v Speaker 5>and so we are actively engaged with our transit system

0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:13.080
<v Speaker 5>very different than the system that is here, and in

0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:15.640
<v Speaker 5>terms of its construction and governance. So we're doing what

0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:17.520
<v Speaker 5>we can to make sure that they are delivering all

0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:20.280
<v Speaker 5>the promises. I think the point, Brett, that you were

0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:23.199
<v Speaker 5>making about transportation. I said this to you earlier. It's

0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:27.199
<v Speaker 5>a success jam that we experience. Tell me one urban

0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:31.240
<v Speaker 5>city where you have been, where there has been growth

0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:35.680
<v Speaker 5>and no traffic. It really is a symptom of our success.

0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:37.920
<v Speaker 5>And I know that's hard if you're sitting at it,

0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:38.360
<v Speaker 5>or you're.

0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:39.520
<v Speaker 4>Stuck behind a way mow.

0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:42.319
<v Speaker 5>That gets, you know, disoriented, But at the end of

0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:44.600
<v Speaker 5>the day, it tells me that we must be doing

0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:45.120
<v Speaker 5>something right.

0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:45.520
<v Speaker 6>I don't know.

0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:46.319
<v Speaker 4>Here in New York.

0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:48.840
<v Speaker 1>We've been successful for a long time, and the traffic's

0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:50.000
<v Speaker 1>been here for a long time.

0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.360
<v Speaker 2>I've been waiting and waiting and waiting, so right, So I.

0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:54.959
<v Speaker 4>Mean it's it's I hear what you're saying.

0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:59.320
<v Speaker 5>And if we didn't have that success, we wouldn't have those.

0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:01.400
<v Speaker 4>Growth nodes that we see around our region.

0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.319
<v Speaker 5>That's really what has happened is we moved from one

0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.760
<v Speaker 5>central business district to a second one to about eight

0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:10.640
<v Speaker 5>now and they're all over the region. And that allows

0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.560
<v Speaker 5>you to live, work, and play close to one central location.

0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:15.360
<v Speaker 3>So let's talk about live, work, and play, because the

0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:17.679
<v Speaker 3>other thing that comes up with economic development and attracting

0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:21.199
<v Speaker 3>and retaining businesses, employees, and finding places for employees to

0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:24.280
<v Speaker 3>be able to live affordably while working where they want

0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:27.280
<v Speaker 3>to work. In an area that is growing, such as Atlanta,

0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:29.640
<v Speaker 3>how do you make sure that you're working with different

0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:33.719
<v Speaker 3>constituencies to make sure that housing is abundant for these

0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:34.880
<v Speaker 3>people you want to attract.

0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:38.640
<v Speaker 4>That's a national problem. We aren't alone, and.

0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:42.320
<v Speaker 3>It's a national problem, but it's it's a problem with

0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:43.319
<v Speaker 3>local regulations and.

0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:44.720
<v Speaker 4>You have to solve it at the local.

0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:46.160
<v Speaker 2>You can't solve it nationally.

0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:49.920
<v Speaker 5>But we are not alone in the need for increased supplies, right.

0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.679
<v Speaker 5>We have a problem for a long time, thirty years.

0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:55.800
<v Speaker 5>We have been und here alone for thirty years. The

0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:59.000
<v Speaker 5>chair of my board right now is the CEO of

0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:01.920
<v Speaker 5>Culti Group, which is the third largest home builder in

0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:04.880
<v Speaker 5>the United States, and he has been very instructive with

0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:08.520
<v Speaker 5>us to think about it. We're an economic development organization, Okay,

0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:11.040
<v Speaker 5>so we think about creating jobs. So the second thing

0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:12.640
<v Speaker 5>we think about is where do we get the talent

0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:14.840
<v Speaker 5>to fill the job? How are we skilling them right?

0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:16.800
<v Speaker 5>He goes, are you thinking about where they're going to

0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.320
<v Speaker 5>lay their head at night? And I said, gosh, we

0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.240
<v Speaker 5>really haven't thought about that. And you said for every

0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:26.120
<v Speaker 5>two jobs you create, you need one home. And so

0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:30.560
<v Speaker 5>if you have thirty years of underbuilding across the United States,

0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:32.240
<v Speaker 5>I think it's four million homes.

0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:32.959
<v Speaker 4>We are behind.

0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:35.560
<v Speaker 5>You not only have to build the amount you need

0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.000
<v Speaker 5>every year, you now have to play catch up. So

0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:40.480
<v Speaker 5>the way that we have engaged is working with the

0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:44.520
<v Speaker 5>corporate community. We're working with our state politicians because they

0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:48.199
<v Speaker 5>have a role. Even though local zoning controls, they will

0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.319
<v Speaker 5>have a role in how growth proceeds. And then also

0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:53.600
<v Speaker 5>working with local governments to think about how do we

0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:57.120
<v Speaker 5>take our transit system and build transit oriented development and

0:12:57.120 --> 0:13:00.360
<v Speaker 5>put housing right on transit. That is an opportun unity,

0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:02.360
<v Speaker 5>that's low hanging fruit for us.

0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:04.400
<v Speaker 4>So that's how we're thinking about it. But this is

0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:05.320
<v Speaker 4>relatively new.

0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.160
<v Speaker 5>What is the role of the business community and thinking

0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.480
<v Speaker 5>about how to create affordable housing?

0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:13.960
<v Speaker 4>And when I say affordable, I mean attainable. It is

0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:16.400
<v Speaker 4>not it's all layers of the status.

0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:18.000
<v Speaker 3>They should have an interest in it because if there

0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.400
<v Speaker 3>isn't housing, then it's expensive. Then you have to pay

0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:23.160
<v Speaker 3>your employees more, and that's honestly his margins. So they're

0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:24.680
<v Speaker 3>ripple effects throughout the economy.

0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:28.280
<v Speaker 5>If there's no housing, you've just captured what Ryan Marshall

0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:30.920
<v Speaker 5>says on a daily basis to us that is incumbent

0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:36.120
<v Speaker 5>upon us as an organization actually kind of push the

0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:38.959
<v Speaker 5>local and state governments to do more, and then also

0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:41.480
<v Speaker 5>as an organization, what can we do to support them.

0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.199
<v Speaker 1>You sound very optimistic, which I love, because you know,

0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:46.720
<v Speaker 1>it's certainly been an interesting year to say the least,

0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:51.640
<v Speaker 1>and interesting sometimes being difficult and stressful. Tariffs, other White

0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:55.319
<v Speaker 1>House policies, inflation. What impact is any of that having

0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:56.840
<v Speaker 1>a development in your city.

0:13:57.000 --> 0:14:01.000
<v Speaker 5>We haven't seen anything yet, and I think that's largely nothing. Yeah. No,

0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:05.920
<v Speaker 5>I haven't heard any companies make any major decisions.

0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:07.000
<v Speaker 4>Based on tariffs or trade.

0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:11.920
<v Speaker 5>We haven't heard of massive freezing or hiring, layoffs or

0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:15.240
<v Speaker 5>layoffs of individuals. I think that is largely and again

0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:17.320
<v Speaker 5>this is my personal opinion, but what I have gleaned

0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:18.120
<v Speaker 5>from CEO to.

0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:21.600
<v Speaker 1>Talk to CEOs, I do they talk to community leaders and.

0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:23.640
<v Speaker 4>They're not saying, yeah, we're not doing this project.

0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.560
<v Speaker 5>Because no, they in some ways have just said, Well,

0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.480
<v Speaker 5>we're sitting in what I would say watch mode for

0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:31.920
<v Speaker 5>the moment, like where are we going? Where are we heading?

0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:34.880
<v Speaker 5>What is that strategy and vision ahead? Remember we're only

0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:38.120
<v Speaker 5>nine months into this administration, so I think a lot of.

0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:41.320
<v Speaker 1>Members were only nine months look at all that has happened.

0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:43.880
<v Speaker 5>But what I am hearing from CEOs is they have

0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:46.720
<v Speaker 5>a strategy, yeah, that they have developed with their board,

0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:49.800
<v Speaker 5>their shareholders have adopted, and they are just controlling what

0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:53.000
<v Speaker 5>they can control, and that is moving forward. And that's

0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:55.120
<v Speaker 5>what I'm hearing from the C suite in Atlanta.

0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.080
<v Speaker 1>All Right, we only have about thirty forty seconds, But Brett,

0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:57.480
<v Speaker 1>I want to.

0:14:57.440 --> 0:14:58.440
<v Speaker 2>Tell you the last question.

0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.320
<v Speaker 6>Well, real quick, one of the big projects we talk

0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:05.600
<v Speaker 6>about things going forward Centennial Yards. Yeah, five billion dollar

0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:10.680
<v Speaker 6>project right around the Stadium's a big entertainment district. How's

0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:15.200
<v Speaker 6>that going? Tariffs are not slowing that down? And will

0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:16.400
<v Speaker 6>it be ready for the World Cup?

0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:18.280
<v Speaker 5>It will be ready for the World Cup at least

0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:22.240
<v Speaker 5>phase one, which includes a hotel and apartments. If you

0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:25.080
<v Speaker 5>are familiar with Hudson Yards, it's a stack on stack

0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.440
<v Speaker 5>on stack. It's the same developer that did Hudson Yards.

0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:34.040
<v Speaker 5>This was a fifty acre undeveloped for seventy years gash

0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.680
<v Speaker 5>in our downtown, and it is going to be ready.

0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:39.240
<v Speaker 5>We're not only going to have housing and hotels, we're

0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:41.400
<v Speaker 5>also going to have an entertainment space that will be

0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:46.000
<v Speaker 5>constructed an online called Cosm by June first. So we're

0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:50.040
<v Speaker 5>really excited about the opportunity to display that when World Cup.

0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.560
<v Speaker 4>Kicks off June first, just around the corner, yeah, right,

0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:54.760
<v Speaker 4>when they have a cowntown call.

0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:58.320
<v Speaker 1>Trust me, what a joy to have both of you

0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:00.840
<v Speaker 1>here in studio. Katie Kirkpatrick, President and CEO of the

0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.080
<v Speaker 1>Metro Atlanta Chamber, thank you, Thank you so much. Hope

0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:05.720
<v Speaker 1>we can catch up again with you in the future.

0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.520
<v Speaker 1>And Brett Pooley always good to have you normally in Atlanta,

0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:09.600
<v Speaker 1>but here in our.

0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:11.400
<v Speaker 4>New York studio. Good to have you here. He is

0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:13.760
<v Speaker 4>an Atlanta beer chief at Bloomberg News.