Raleigh City Council Work Session on Economic Development – June 9, 2026
Raleigh City Council Work Session on Economic Development – June 9, 2026
On June 9, 2026, the Raleigh City Council held a work session focused on economic development. The meeting featured a presentation from Kyle Touchstone, Director of Raleigh Economic Development (RED) at the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, who provided an overview of recent recruitment, retention, and expansion activities, as well as future strategies. Council members engaged in detailed Q&A, discussing project pipelines, incentive policies, workforce issues, and regional competitiveness.
Discussion Items
- Raleigh Economic Development (RED) Overview: Kyle Touchstone explained that RED is funded entirely by the City of Raleigh (with in-kind support from the Chamber) and operates with a team of two. The current budget is allocated as follows: just under 40% on marketing/PR, approximately 24% on project development/management, and the remainder on employee expenses.
- Project Pipeline: RED is currently working on 20 active economic development projects (within the last 60 days) representing a potential $3 billion in capital investment and 8,600 new jobs. 45% of these projects are in manufacturing, 25% in headquarters, 25% in engineering services/aviation/other, and 5% in technology. Since October 1, 2025 (start of their fiscal year), RED has handled 47 projects representing 13,000 potential jobs and $16 billion in capital investment. These include large advanced manufacturing projects in robotics and autonomous vehicles.
- Return on Investment: Since RED returned to the Chamber in 2021, eight projects have been announced (starting December 2023), adding 1,487 jobs and $139.8 million in capital investment. The total RED budget over that period is just over $1.6 million, yielding a 1.2% return on investment.
- Existing Industry Support: RED conducted 39 retention/expansion meetings this year and provided 21 technical assistance interactions (e.g., helping companies navigate permitting, pothole repair, or contracts with rail companies). Touchstone highlighted collaboration with city staff like Daniel Stiegall.
- Marketing Strategy: RED relies heavily on digital marketing and a national PR campaign with French West Vaughan. A new regional video was shown that emphasizes the broader Raleigh-Cary-Durham-Chapel Hill area (2.3 million population). Touchstone noted that RED competes with much larger metros (NYC, Dallas, Chicago) and must be creative. Future plans include a revamped tech strategy (AI, quantum) and a targeted marketing campaign with the Research Triangle Regional Partnership and Wake County Economic Development.
- Business Investment Grant (BIG): Touchstone reported that the incentive thresholds currently favor manufacturing and need revisions to be more accessible for office projects. He indicated that revised recommendations would be brought to council after the summer break.
Council Questions and Feedback
- Councilor Jones asked about integrating child care (e.g., Tri-Share program) into recruitment efforts. Touchstone said it is discussed but legally limited; he agreed to follow up with data on Tri-Share participation.
- Councilor Silver asked for feedback from site selectors on areas for improvement. Touchstone cited transit (Bus Rapid Transit was praised), affordable housing, and the perception of downtown density. He noted that downtown investment (Omni Hotel, Convention Center, Red Hat Amphitheater) is drawing attention, but Raleigh is “25 years behind Nashville, 50 years behind Austin” in population growth.
- Councilor Jones raised concerns about North Carolina being “dead last in workers’ rights” and wage policies. Touchstone responded that such issues rarely come up directly but acknowledged state policy context; he said RED does not turn away businesses but works to connect them with workforce training. Jones also questioned how many new jobs are filled locally vs. relocating workers. Touchstone said companies come for the talent pool and that RED does not track that specifically.
- Councilor Lambert Melton critiqued the marketing video’s line “you’re never a sardine on a subway,” arguing it undercuts transit investments. She urged highlighting transit and density, especially given that companies want a dense downtown. Touchstone acknowledged the feedback, explaining the video aimed to contrast with larger cities.
- Councilor Patton asked about industry diversification. Touchstone highlighted the region’s mix of tech, life sciences, and manufacturing, noting that the pandemic-era economy was stabilized by life science manufacturing. He also discussed corporate philanthropy (“civic rent”) and the importance of headquarters for community investment. Patton requested that the Business Investment Grant include a salary floor, not just an average. Touchstone said only one grant (Gilead) has been paid out this year, but he would provide historical data on fulfillment.
- Councilor Ford asked whether RED tracks long-term compliance with job creation and salary promises over a five-year period. Touchstone confirmed they do and agreed to provide a summary.
- Councilor Branch asked about support for small businesses. Touchstone noted RED works with companies of all sizes and partners with organizations like Wake Tech and the SBTDC, but startup capital is a common challenge. He shared a personal story of his father’s small business benefiting from large company recruitment.
- Mayor (and others) thanked Touchstone and noted the importance of bold investments (Dix Park, downtown projects) and partnerships with NC State.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken; the work session was informational.
- Touchstone committed to providing follow-up data on: Tri-Share program uptake, quarterly numbers of projects, compliance history for Business Investment Grant recipients, and a revised BIG proposal after summer break.
- Council feedback will inform revisions to the Business Investment Grant and future marketing strategies.
- The next public hearing was scheduled for 7:00 PM the same day (noted at meeting close).
Meeting Transcript
Well, we'll do it. Alright, we will call the work session to order, and uh counselor fort, maybe a few minutes late, but should be coming. And uh we appreciate this economic development topic, and we have Evan Raleigh here uh in lieu of Marshall Adams David. Yes, so good afternoon, Mayor, members of council. So uh we have with us Cal Touchstone today with uh the director of Raleigh Economic Development at the Chamber of Commerce to give you a rundown on uh the activities that uh he and his team have been undertaking for us on our behalf uh to promote economic development uh throughout the city and give you a glimpse into their future uh work plans. Uh so with that, I'll turn it over to Kyle Tushtone. Thank you so much. Uh, good afternoon, mayor, counsel. Good to see you all. I know that I stand between you and hopefully a win tonight by the hurricanes. So um I will uh go through a presentation, give you an overview of some of the things that we've been working on, where we are today and kind of what what's ahead for us. Um, and appreciate this opportunity to do so. So Raleigh Economic Development, we exist to raise awareness that Raleigh is the premier locale for jobs, business, talent, and innovation committed to helping businesses thrive within Raleigh and offer support in the areas of recruitment retention and expansion to help them grow and prosper. So the red acronym new. It's it's been there since it started, and I honestly wondered when we were going through the whole branding exercise why we didn't go why we didn't go with the color red, but the marketing the marketing experts told me no. Um has its advantages. We work hand in hand on uh most, if not all projects, and um really enjoy that partnership. Um, with me today also is Gabe is Gabriel El Hashash, who is economic development coordinator. We are a team of two. We are lean and mean, and um excited to work on behalf of the city of Raleigh. So what I wanted to share here is kind of the breakdown of our budget. So one hundred percent of Raleigh Economic Development's funding comes from you, the City of Raleigh. So congratulations on the budget that you approved yesterday, and we greatly appreciate the support for Raleigh economic development in that budget. Um, the Greater Raleigh Chamber does provide um in-kind services such as office space, technology, uh, administration, and finance uh personnel. But one hundred percent of our funding does come from the city of Raleigh, and that breakdown, um, you know, we really wanted to show that this, we do spend our dollars on actual uh work. So just under 40% is spent on marketing and public relations, and then uh right around 24% is on project development and management, with the other just under 40% being for employee expenses. So what do we do? You know, a lot of people, a lot of people I think know what economic development is, but economic development is really for us focused on building the relationships that help companies find their location to grow, to uh locate, but also working to help define quality of place and all of those initiatives that um really make this a wonderful place to live and for talent to come here and to stay here for companies to then take advantage of that and hire them and move here to hire our great talent. So, you know, that's in the form of business recruitment, business retention and expansion, but we spend a lot of our time marketing, and when companies are making their decisions on where to go, they're either using someone internally, a commercial real estate broker, or something that's called a site selection consultant. So we spend a lot of our time nurturing and building these relationships with site selection consultants. The majority of the companies that have located here that we've worked with have worked with the site selection consultant. Those site selection consultants kind of make it take the ease or take the hard work out of it for these companies and provide um comprehensive services of looking at thousands of data points to help them determine where the best location for them to be would be. And the city of Raleigh continues to show up as a top market for many of these companies, and um so through this we get project activity, and this quarter we've had we are currently working 20 active economic development projects, and by 20 active economic development projects, that means that projects that we have been talking to, continue talking to within the last 60 days. Um, and those 20 projects represent uh a potential of three billion dollars in capital investment, and could potentially hire 8,600 uh employees and create those jobs here. Forty five percent of that is in manufacturing, which is uh quite an uptick for us. We've mostly been seen as an office market, but we've had some uh industrial inventory come on the market, but also some industrial land that um is available. Um but then headquarters still represents about 25% of our projects, five percent in technology, but 25% showing up in engineering services, aviation, and other type projects. Just one quick question. The 8,600. I know this past year we just announced we had 13,000 jobs in Wake County. So is this countywide? And then how do you feel about the 8,600 versus last year's 13,000? Right. So these numbers that I'm showing you today are just projects that are looking at the city of Raleigh within Wake County, so they're part of Wake County's projected numbers as well, but then we drill down to where it's just the city of Raleigh. You know, on some of these projects there it depends on ultimately the project. Some do a nationwide search. Some by the time that they get to us, they are they're down to four or five locations. And so, you know, we really um are hopeful that when these companies come to us and can and start these conversations that we are you know on a shorter list. Um, however, we do know that there are some on this list that have done nationwide searches and they've just done a blanket search. Um but primarily these are projects that we are either hosting, planning to host, or have shortlisted us.
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