Bank of North Carolina expands into Charlotte

A growing High Point bank has established its first branch in Charlotte and begun construction on a second, which will become its regional headquarters.

Bank of North Carolina opened a branch near Carmel Road and N.C. 51 about two weeks ago, shortly after work started on a 12,000-square-foot space in SouthPark. That location, which will be finished in October, will serve as the bank's southern region headquarters, regional executive Rob Ellenburg said.

"It's been really good to get that dirt turning and go from there," he said.

Bank of North Carolina, part of BNC Bancorp, has expanded in recent years, adding new N.C. branches and buying a failed bank in Myrtle Beach. In June 2010, it landed a $35 million investment from New York private-equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners, where former Wachovia chief executive Ken Thompson is a senior adviser. Thompson sits on BNC Bancorp's board of directors.

The new Charlotte branches join an existing commercial lending office on Fairview Road, which has eight employees, mostly commercial lenders, loan assistants and private bankers, Ellenburg said.

Bank of North Carolina, which has about $2.2 billion in assets, plans to grow further in the region, likely adding "spokes in the wheel" around the SouthPark location, he said. The bank's other area locations include branches in Mooresville, Concord, Harrisburg and Salisbury. Kirsten Valle Pittman

AAA honors service at area hotels and restaurants

Seven Charlotte hotels and three restaurants were honored Friday by AAA Carolinas with Four Diamond Awards, one of the most prestigious rankings given by the organization.

Hotel winners were the recently renovated Charlotte Renaissance SouthPark, Hilton Charlotte City Center, Duke Mansion Historic Inn & Meeting Place, Westin Charlotte, The Ballantyne, Omni Charlotte and Marriott SouthPark. Restaurants were Bonterra Dining & Wine Room, Zebra Restaurant and Fine Catering and McNinch House. Charlotte's Ritz Carlton is the only local property to receive a five-diamond rating from AAA.

Dave Parsons, president of AAA Carolinas, said inspectors from the organization examine 58,000 properties annually. Only about 3 percent earn Four Diamond ratings, and the Carolinas are disproportionately represented for their size. "Clearly, Southern hospitality is alive and well here," he told winners at a luncheon at the Omni. Mark Washburn

Olah to chair local chapter of Green Building Council

Nancy Olah of Parker Poe will lead the U.S. Green Building Council's Charlotte Region Chapter as 2012 chairwoman, the chapter said this week.

David Erckman of Wells Fargo will serve as vice chairman, Ben Yow of Lomax Tile & Marble as treasurer and Jenny Vallimont as secretary. The chapter has adopted a new tagline: "Build Green. Teach Green. Live Green."

Founded in 2005, the chapter has more than 600 members and covers 37 western N.C. counties. Its mission is to use education, promotion and advocacy of sustainable practices to change the ways buildings and communities are designed, built and operated. Bruce Henderson

Wal-Mart to change

the role of its greeters

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will move greeters into its stores from its lobbies to help with customer-service tasks as the world's largest retailer works to cut costs and keep merchandise prices low.

The greeters will move by the registers to direct shoppers to products or shorter checkout lines, said David Tovar, a spokesman for the Bentonville, Ark.-based company.

Wal-Mart has had greeters since 1980, when founder Sam Walton decided they would make his stores friendly and welcoming. The move shows Wal-Mart is rethinking long-standing practices as it tries to boost margins and same-store sales.

During the past six months, Wal-Mart reassigned greeters at its 3,000 U.S. supercenters from the 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift.

Greeters at different stores have been told for the past two days that they will be reassigned, said Janna Pea, a campaign specialist with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which assists a group of employees called the Organization United for Respect at Wal-Mart. Bloomberg