CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Feb. 21, 2008) — Continental Tire North America (CTNA) Inc. will relocate its headquarters' corporate staff next year to Lancaster County, S.C., from Charlotte, where the firm has had its headquarters since 1994.
Conti plans to relocate about 300 employees to the new office, a 75,000-sq.-ft. facility under construction in MacMillan Business Park in Lancaster County about 12 miles south of the existing headquarters. CTNA expects to spend about $11 million to build the office, including land acquisition.
CTNA will keep about 160 workers at the Charlotte facility in rubber mixing and warehousing activities. The tire maker recently sold the 40-year-old building—originally a tire plant until production was phased out in 2006—to a Philadelphia developer for $29.4 million and is leasing back about a third of the plant's 1.7 million square feet.
“The move to South Carolina is an important step in our overall growth strategy at Continental Tire,” said Allan Hippe, president of CTNA and CFO of parent firm Continental A.G. “We will be able to put CTNA in an enhanced competitive position and continue to invest in growing our business and our customer base.”
“Continental´s decision to locate here…is another sign that our efforts to improve the economic soil conditions and enhance the state's business climate are working to attract new investment and increase job opportunities throughout South Carolina,” said Gov. Mark Sanford in a statement.