Charlotte area in the running for hundreds of new call center jobs

Gaston County Commissioners this week unanimously approved an incentives package to try to lure Charlotte-based Sonic Automotive to build a call center in Lowell, which is about 18 miles west of uptown.

In a meeting Tuesday, Leslie Hardwick, the county’s Economic Development Commission manager, said the company would invest $11.3 million to hire up to 500 people in Gaston County over a five-year period. Hardwich said Sonic would have to hire 275 employees before becoming eligible for the incentives.

The average annual salary for workers at the site would be $50,000, Hardwick said, well above the county average of about $38,000.

The county did not provide a timeframe for Sonic’s decision on the project. Sonic’s spokeswoman Marti Eulberg declined to comment.

This is the only North Carolina site Sonic is considering, Hardwick said. The company is also considering locations in Texas, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. The Gaston Gazette reported Oct. 5 that Sonic bought eight acres off Interstate 85 in Lowell.

“This would be the largest office project in the county’s history, and we believe it will pave the way for other office projects in the county,” Hardwick said of Project Phoenix, the county’s code name for Sonic’s proposed development.

Sonic is a Fortune 300 company that has its corporate headquarters in Cotswold. It was founded by motorsports executive Bruton Smith, who remains with the company as executive chairman of the board. Smith also started Speedway Motorsports, which owns Charlotte Motor Speedway and several other race tracks around the U.S.

Last month, Sonic announced that Smith’s son, Scott, would be stepping down as CEO and would be replaced by Smith’s other son, David.

Lowell City Council this month approved property tax reductions for the project, which at one point was thought to be a used-car dealership, EchoPark, the Gaston Gazette reported Oct. 13. Sonic opened its first EchoPark in Denver in 2014 and recently opened its first in Charlotte in the spot of the former Coliseum Center shopping complex.

This story was originally published October 25, 2018 at 4:19 PM.