CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) -
With Miss Chiquita among the well wishers in Center City, this clearly is a day that Charlotte has gone bananas.
It isn't a bad thing when you consider Chiquita is doing for the local economy.
Bob Morgan heads up The Charlotte Chamber.
He said, "Welcome Chiquita you are a great new diversity to our economy. You are also a great corporate citizen."
It was the celebration of a corporate relocation with dozens on hand across Stonewall Street from the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
For years, Cincinnati has been headquarters of Chiquita, but Fernando Aguirre of Chiquita said the relationship between the public and private sectors that influenced the move.
"Government and business leaders in Charlotte worked in seamless fashion with a single minded objective to improve our community," Aguirre said.
While unveiling the bright blue and yellow logo may be an exercise of symbolism, within the confines of the NASCAR tower, construction workers are on a tight schedule.
Brian Newton is the company's director of corporate services.
He was showing off work on the 15th floor.
"This will be the welcome reception desk .We'll have a grand stair case going to the 16th floor, he said. "We are planning to occupy this floor by the end of August, and have the 16th floor in early September, and we already have two floors below us occupied."
That's good news for the folks at Trinity Capital who manages the building.
According to David Allen of Trinity Capital, two years ago, it was less than half full.
"We're very excited about having Chiquita as a tenant in the building. It's brought our occupancy up to the mid 80's.
When we acquired this property it was in the mid 30's."
Company officials also announced that the Chiquita Classic Golf Tournament will come to Charlotte in September.
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