Z-Man...When do you move to Atlanta?
 

I'm hearing rumors that M-B will join Porsche in relocating their North American headquarters down here.

Rumors and speculation at this point. I really don't know any more info than that...

-Z

Just noticed Legion's location :cool:. Parts of NJ are OK...used to make regular DR trips to Mawah/Sterling Forest, but GA would sure take a LOT of stress out of your life by comparison to where you now live Z :D.

Chris: How does it feel to be free?

Ok, I'll bite, as a NJ resident. Although I will admit trips to florida remove stress, but it's more related to distance from family ;)

College buddy lived in the Butler/Patterson area way back when, and I love to visit the city, but it causes me stress after just a few days of the "rat race" :p.

....and I wouldn't be caught living in Atlanta (proper) either btw....same :D

Funny, all this traffic has increased my stress level quite a bit. I used to have a 3 minute commute, either way. Now I have a 25 minute commute in and a 25-180 minute commute home. Taxes are way lower, and that's nice.

I previously lived in an area of Illinois that had no problem giving the iron boot of Chicago the finger. We were just expected to fund the city's largess.

NJ is one of the most corrupt places to live in the US. The school unions. The legislature. The mobbed up insurance scam artists. John Corzine/MF Global. The list is so long.

The net result is some of the highest taxes in the country, the highest auto insurance, declining schools with fatter and fatter administrative salaries and headcounts.

It's no wonder Corps want to relocate out of the state. i would NEVER live there.

Yeah, but we have lower gas prices! :D

True - the cost of living is high here -- but I think it is safe to say that government and union corruption is not limited to New Jersey alone: we just seem to air our dirty laundry more than most states!

I've lived in NJ all my life - I have no problem living here - yeah - parts are a bit crowded, but there is lots of greenspace, tons of high end communities (Mendham, Franklin Lakes, Saddle River, Alpine, Cloister...etc), and lots of opportunities.

-Z

I have had many, many job offers in NJ, (Teterboro) and there is no way in a monkeys butt I would live anywhere near that ****hole..! Of course there are nice areas in NJ, but the cost of 'nice' there vs here is a BIG difference.

And gas is way cheaper here than NJ!

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/frank...ices_final.jpg

Only by a penny. And we don't have to pump it! SmileWavy

Much of what you say about NJ is true - in particular the school situation is totally f_ed. However, we did boot John Corzine out of office - and he wasn't from Jersey anyway. Pretty sure he closed up shop in Hoboken and moved back to NYC once his term of "service" ended.

I notice you live in California, which is in my opinion one of the few places that can give Jersey a run for its money in terms of bureaucracy per capita. NJ, for instance, does NOT have a bureau of home furnishings like California has. Thus, I find your comments re: NEVER living in NJ just a tad ironic...

Confirmed. We had our President's reception today and he announced that indeed, we are planning to move our headquarters from Montvale, NJ to a suburb of North Atlanta.
Mercedes-Benz is latest to leave New Jersey; carmaker moving from Montvale to Atlanta - Business - NorthJersey.com

Most of the folk will be moving this summer. Several critical operations areas (Call center, service engineering, and my department - IT) will stay in NJ for about 2 years until the new infrastructure is built up. At least that is the plan for now.

The next couple of days will be more meetings to discuss one on one our options. I am not sure where I fit in the picture given my department's situation. Not sure what options will be offered to us.

The winds of change - they are a blowin'

-Z

If you like your company and want to stay with then my advice is to take any and every opportunity to travel to Atlanta. Invent reasons if you need to.

There will likely be some dedicated migration team. Get on it.

That may be nothing more than paranoia on my part but prior experience justifies at least some of it.

Here's the story from the Atlanta end... my SIL works for the Atlanta Business Chronicle, and they are lovin' this.

EXCLUSIVE: Mercedes USA chief says Atlanta HQ relo will help company stay 'competitive for the next 50 years.' - Atlanta Business Chronicle

Excerpt:

Mercedes move to Atlanta is likely to have a domino effect in northern New Jersey, home to BMW and Volvo U.S. headquarters.

"The next conversation will be at BMW," Boyd said. "The clock is now ticking."

The Southern migration of foreign automaker headquarters is driven by a maturing industry.

When these companies first entered the U,.S. decades ago, they had just sales and marketing outposts, noted Karl Brauer, senior analyst with Kelly Blue Book. That meant the automakers could put their headquarters in glamorous metros such as New York and Los Angeles," .

As these foreign automakers ramp up domestic manufacturing with new plants, logistics require them to relocate their headquarters closer to their manufacturing hubs, Brauer said.

He cites Toyota leaving California for Texas, and rumors of Honda considering bailing on Southern California for Ohio, where it has a large plant.

"I would not be surprised if BMW, Volvo or Subaru (Mercedes' North Jersey neighbors) relocate to the Southeast, if not in Atlanta." Brauer said.

Beyond the demographics (the Southeast has younger, growing populations) and the market realities (auto manufacturing especially for the imports have coalesced in the union-free South), is the issue of soaring taxes in the Northeast hubs.

Yup!

I'll second the advice - it's what we did before considering following the company to Charleston. We took about a 5 day trip to go play tourist and scope out the region, along with a few different parts of town. Long story short, it was totally worthwhile and was the motivation I needed to start putting in for job openings at this site.

Porsche just opened a new NA Headquarters here as well. Trust me...if you "like" NJ (I'm in NJ writing this), you'll love Atlanta!

My only question is why relocate to the N suburbs. Traffic and population density is insane and airport access is poor. Porsche built on the S end only a short distance from the airport and close to Peachtree City.

Cmon down!

Looks like your new building will be in Sandy Springs--walking distance from my building in Dunwoody.

I myself would have preferred if my employer was in Cumming and I had a reverse commute...

Interesting to me is the back story here. Our Governor Christie while grandstanding all over the country trying to make a name as king maker patting the Governor of GA on the back for his business savy in getting corporate moves like MB, all the while supposedly working to keep MB in NJ. Hummm...doesn't take much imagination to figure out how hard Christie really worked for that to happen. NJ sold down the river again!