Fortune 500

[The North One]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Crawford has been in a sulk since Comerica left his old hometown of Detroit for the Metroplex.

LOLOLOLOL! NO! He's the most intense Detroit shit talker and hater. If anything that made him happy. Do not drag Detroit into this! Attack New York instead, that's his precious baby.

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Correct. Texas real estate really only blew up a few years ago. I bought my very modest 35 year old SW Austin home in 2012 for $172K. Similar homes today are selling for $500K to $750K. I paid cash. Clearly one of the best investments I ever made. I was damn near broke when I bought this place. Now it just might fund my assisted living for at least a few years. More will be revealed.

What are the property tax rates in TX? I heard they are close to 3%, possibly to make up for lack of income taxes.

[SLO]

Originally Posted by JManc

I guess it's relative. It's mild if you moved to Plano from Cleveland.

That’s exactly right. I moved from mild California but have friends from South Carolina, Michigan, Cleveland and think the weather is mild here. In the case of humidity my friends from the deep south think it’s dry here.

[SLO]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I'm not sure of the history, but I have several friends who interned at Toyota in Ann Arbor in college. It was fairly common for them to travel back and forth between Ann Arbor and Northern Kentucky. Toyota might have even had a private plane to shuttle workers back and forth? But the actual North American HQ was still in California in the mid 00s.

Toyota USA HQ was in Torrance, California along with all the Japanese and even South Korean manufacturers primarily because they were importing through port of Los Angeles. Now they’re manufacturing in the US so they picked friendly locales to relocate.

[SLO]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Correct. Texas real estate really only blew up a few years ago. I bought my very modest 35 year old SW Austin home in 2012 for $172K. Similar homes today are selling for $500K to $750K. I paid cash. Clearly one of the best investments I ever made. I was damn near broke when I bought this place. Now it just might fund my assisted living for at least a few years. More will be revealed.

Glad it worked out but yeah Texas was downright cheap 3-4 years ago and especially back to when you bought.

[Crawford]

I don't understand how North TX weather is mild relative to Cleveland. Makes no sense.

The central part of the continent has, by far, the most volatile weather. The stretch from the Dakotas to North TX is tornado alley, hailstorm alley, the windiest geography, etc. Summers are blazing hot, winters are cold. Wind is constant. Extreme weather events.

Cleveland is obviously colder in winter, but doesn't have comparable extreme weather, and is relatively mild much of the year. I can see people preferring Dallas for milder winters, but obviously not for less extreme weather.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by SLO

Toyota USA HQ was in Torrance, California along with all the Japanese and even South Korean manufacturers primarily because they were importing through port of Los Angeles. Now they’re manufacturing in the US so they picked friendly locales to relocate.

I don't think that was the reason... I don't think Toyota has any plants on the west coast. Most of Honda's manufacturing in North America is in Ohio. Also, I think Toyota is the only Asian automaker to officially leave the west coast so far. The likely reasons why they are/were ever there is because L.A. is the second biggest automarket in the U.S. and it is closer to Asia... and maybe it was a more appealing location for execs to live than the Midwest.

[SLO]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I don't think that was the reason... I don't think Toyota has any plants on the west coast. Most of Honda's manufacturing in North America is in Ohio. Also, I think Toyota is the only Asian automaker to officially leave the west coast so far. The likely reasons why they are/were ever there is because L.A. is the second biggest automarket in the U.S. and it is closer to Asia... and maybe it was a more appealing location for execs to live than the Midwest.

No, I’ve studied that history before because I lived in Torrance as a kid. Toyota, Nissan, and Honda all had HQs there because they entered the US market through Los Angeles and specifically the Port when they only imported. Everything radiated out from LA at that time. Things have changed and they don’t have that specific need to be in the west coast.

This article is primarily on Nissan but this guy has written about Toyota and Honda in the South Bay which is that area of Los Angeles.

For several decades, three of Japan’s largest automakers — Nissan, Toyota and Honda — based their American operations from headquarters in the South Bay.

I’ve written about Toyota, which moved its headquarters to 190th Street and Western Avenue in 1967, and Honda, which moved to Gardena in 1963 and to Torrance in 1984. That leaves Nissan, which had become the first of the trio to move to the South Bay by establishing its U.S. headquarters in Gardena in 1960.

In early January 1958, Nissan sent its first autos to the U.S. Three models of the company’s Datsun 1000 compact car arrived at the Port of Los Angeles in early January 1958, on their way to being exhibited at the Los Angeles Imported Auto Show at the Shrine Auditorium.

Two years later, the company established its first U.S. headquarters, Nissan Motor Corp. in U.S.A., at 137 E. Alondra Blvd. Sales grew steadily despite American consumers’ wariness of the smaller, lower-priced autos.

https://www.dailybreeze.com/2021/11/...a-century/amp/

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by JManc

Will Houston be the corporate behemoth it was 30 years ago, probably not as energy was 'tech' of that era absolutely dominating the F500 but that's not to say it can't be highly competitive in the future with a more diverse economy spread out over smaller more innovative companies. Houston's economy as it is rather limited in options considering how large and healthy it supposedly is; I am having to work out of the Bay Area and I have colleagues with similar backgrounds working (remote) for companies in other cities.

I didn't mean to suggest that Houston will completely nosedive, but that it's status as a Fortune 500 hub will probably be knocked down a tier or maybe even two. I think the rest of the 2020s may resemble the boom times we had during 2000s to mid 2010s. The Shale Boom didn't really help Houston that much as Houston booms when oil is booming globally. In hindsight, the Shale Boom was the opposite of profitable.

Biotech and aerospace have gotten a big boast these past few years and time will tell how the TMC expansion focusing on for profit bio tech will play out along with the "Spaceport" at the converted Ellington Base. Houston is a major engineering hub which is why TAMU is opening a bioengineering school in the TMC and aerospace companies have moved into the Ellington Base. Also Houston is the capitol of the Gulf Coast and still has many regional headquarters.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I'm not sure of the history, but I have several friends who interned at Toyota in Ann Arbor in college. It was fairly common for them to travel back and forth between Ann Arbor and Northern Kentucky. Toyota might have even had a private plane to shuttle workers back and forth? But the actual North American HQ was still in California in the mid 00s.

Fifth Third Bank is HQ'd in Cincinnati but has a second office in Grand Rapids, MI. They fly a private 20-30 seat plane every day back-and-forth called "the bus". Per Google Maps is a 5:30 drive but at most a 1:15 flight.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I don't think that was the reason... I don't think Toyota has any plants on the west coast.

I believe that the original Tesla factory in Fremont was originally a Toyota plant.

Most of Honda's manufacturing in North America is in Ohio.

There is one in Greensburg, IN, which was previously famous only for the tree that grows out of its courthouse tower:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/courthouse-tree

The Greensburg Honda plant opened right as the 2008 mortgage meltdown unfolded. They were producing a comically low number of cars - like 30 a week - for several years until the economy recovered.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ho...!4d-85.5448988

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I don't understand how North TX weather is mild relative to Cleveland. Makes no sense.

The central part of the continent has, by far, the most volatile weather. The stretch from the Dakotas to North TX is tornado alley, hailstorm alley, the windiest geography, etc. Summers are blazing hot, winters are cold. Wind is constant. Extreme weather events.

Cleveland is obviously colder in winter, but doesn't have comparable extreme weather, and is relatively mild much of the year. I can see people preferring Dallas for milder winters, but obviously not for less extreme weather.

Because Dallas isn't blasted with tornadoes every five minutes anymore than California isn't subject to a huge earthquake all that often.

We have a few hellish months from June to August down here in Houston with an odd hurricane every few years but I will still contend we are milder than Upstate NY which is mostly tundra from November to April or so. It's 96 out right now but I can still sit out on my back porch in shade and once the sun sets, the temperature is rather pleasant.

[SLO]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

I believe that the original Tesla factory in Fremont was originally a Toyota plant.

There is one in Greensburg, IN, which was previously famous only for the tree that grows out of its courthouse tower:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/courthouse-tree

The Greensburg Honda plant opened right as the 2008 mortgage meltdown unfolded. They were producing a comically low number of cars - like 30 a week - for several years until the economy recovered.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ho...!4d-85.5448988

The Fremont Tesla plant was originally GM then became a joint GM/Toyota plant.
It’s the last automobile manufacturing factory in California

[SLO]

Originally Posted by JManc

Because Dallas isn't blasted with tornadoes every five minutes anymore than California isn't subject to a huge earthquake all that often.

We have a few hellish months from June to August down here in Houston with an odd hurricane every few years but I will still contend we are milder than Upstate NY which is mostly tundra from November to April or so. It's 96 out right now but I can still sit out on my back porch in shade and once the sun sets, the temperature is rather pleasant.

Yeah I think the very hot summer in the south is much shorter than the very cold season in the upper Midwest

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by SLO

The Fremont Tesla plant was originally GM then became a joint GM/Toyota plant.
It’s the last automobile manufacturing factory in California

The supply chain for automobile manufacturing is all east of the Rockies, if not the Mississippi.

I have always been fascinated by the relationship of vehicle manufacturing and railroads - all of the big plants are located next to railroads and have their own switching operations. The sheer volume of automobile, truck, and military stuff that is clearly visible on the mile-long freight trains that rumble through the area can give you a boost of confidence in the ability of Americans to build sophisticated things of all shapes and sizes and uses.

This Taco Bell is a great place to watch the U.S. economy in action:
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0866...7i16384!8i8192

Several mile-long trains cross this bridge each hour, many of them consisting almost entirely of truck frames, assembled freight car bogies, steel coils, and finished automobiles and pickup trucks. Sometimes you're lucky and get to see a train of military equipment like humvees or Abrams tanks.

It's incredible how we have all of these sleepy railroads all over the place where you don't see a train for years, but then it's prime time 24/7 on a few of them.

[Steely Dan]

A "mild" climate to me is one where the temps rarely ever get above 80 and rarely fall below 50.

Dallas has 6 months out of the year where the AVERAGE daily high is above 80.

Some people love that hot shit, but it sure as hell ain't "mild" in my polar bear eyes.

Originally Posted by SLO

Yeah I think the very hot summer in the south is much shorter than the very cold season in the upper Midwest

You gotta define "very hot" and "very cold" first.

Different people will view those things differently.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by SLO

Yeah I think the very hot summer in the south is much shorter than the very cold season in the upper Midwest

The issue has nothing to do with hot and cold specifically. It's about severe weather vs. mild weather. Dallas has lots of severe weather and little mild weather.

And we aren't talking about "the South", we're talking about North TX.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by SLO

The Fremont Tesla plant was originally GM then became a joint GM/Toyota plant.
It’s the last automobile manufacturing factory in California

That's actually incorrect; the last automobile factory to close in California was the GM plant in Van Nuys (Los Angeles), which closed in 1992.

At one time, the LA area had a bunch of auto plants---one in Commerce, one in South Gate, Pico Rivera, the aforementioned Van Nuys one...

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

That's actually incorrect; the last automobile factory to close in California was the GM plant in Van Nuys (Los Angeles), which closed in 1992.

At one time, the LA area had a bunch of auto plants---one in Commerce, one in South Gate, Pico Rivera, the aforementioned Van Nuys one...

I think he's saying that the Telsa factory is the last remaining auto factory in California.

CA-based Rivian builds their vehicles in Michigan.

CA-based Lucid builds their vehicles in Arizona.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

CA-based Rivian builds their vehicles in Michigan.

Rivian's main vehicle assembly plant is in Normal, Illinois.

They are also planning to build another large plant in the Atlanta area.