In brief comments to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week, NCR chairman and chief executive Bill Nuti said the company has not made a decision on such a shift. The company received millions of dollars in subsidies to move to Duluth, which is in Gwinnett County northeast of the state’s capital.
“I don’t know about that yet,” Nuti said Wednesday. “Too far out.”
The AJC has reported that documents show NCR considered asking Georgia Tech’s foundation to spend up to $30 million to buy land for a new corporate campus near the Atlanta school to house as many as 4,000 NCR employees. The idea was floated in February as NCR explored relocating its headquarters to be close to the Tech campus, the documents show.
Such a move would come less than five years after the company announced it was leaving Dayton.
NCR announced in June 2009 it was relocating its world headquarters, which had nearly 1,300 employees, from Dayton to the Atlanta area by the end of 2010. Losing NCR cost Dayton its last Fortune 500 company headquarters, and ended what was a 125-year history in the city.
NCR was founded in Dayton in 1884 by John H. Patterson.
Phil Parker, president of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, expressed outrage that the company could extract more concessions for another move.
“Naturally, we were terribly disappointed that company management felt that they had to move away from Dayton to be competitive in the marketplace,” he said. “We just didn’t believe that was the full story, and certainly, because of that, we were very disappointed in their decision and their board’s decision.
“Now they are at it again just a few short years later,” Parker said. “This is not the way that public dollars should be used efficiently, by paying and then a short time later paying again just to move the deck chairs around by a few miles.”
At the time of NCR’s initial move, Ohio offered $31.5 million in tax incentives for NCR to continue operations in Dayton. However, Georgia offered nearly $60 million. NCR’s exit cost Dayton an estimated $2.6 million per year in income taxes.
“I think that is a ridiculous ask on NCR’s part,” Parker said, “and I think it would be a ridiculous answer and acceptance on any local or state government to acquiesce to that, because it just continues to open the flood doors.”
The AJC obtained an email Wednesday, apparently sent last week to company employees and authored by an NCR real estate executive, that said the corporation has “a plethora of options and locations” and that “nothing is changing any time soon.”The company publicly declined comment on “rumors or speculation.”
The email, identified as being from NCR Vice President of Corporate Real Estate Kris Beauchamp, said the earlier AJC story “simply identifies one discussion, out of a plethora of options and locations.”
The email also stated: “Through the employee engagement survey, you have clearly stated your desire for a state-of-the-art NCR campus and, while nothing has been decided, that is our long-term goal.
“It also is our responsibility to meet with government leaders, take into consideration your input, and review all the options that exist. We will continue to do this.”
The email went on to say that “any changes to real estate would be a multi-year process and nothing is changing anytime soon.”
A move now would be a blow to Gwinnett County and a potential coup for tech-hungry Atlanta. It also could help NCR consolidate operations scattered around metro Atlanta. About 3,000 of its employees work out of at least three Duluth buildings. Another 700 workers are in Alpharetta, Ga., 50 are at a mobile technology center in Midtown Atlanta and 1,000 are at a large Peachtree City training and distribution center, according to an assessment by Georgia Tech.
NCR also has a manufacturing plant in Columbus. Worldwide, NCR has about 29,000 employees.
On Wednesday, an NCR board member — Kurt Kuehn, chief financial officer of Georgia-based UPS — said a potential move to Atlanta has been mentioned to the board. The overall news for metro Atlanta is positive, he said.
“It is great they are continuing to invest in Atlanta,” Kuehn said. “The real issue is NCR is looking to expand its presence here.”
Asked Wednesday about NCR’s satisfaction with Gwinnett, Nuti, the chief executive, said, “We love being in Gwinnett. We’ve enjoyed the relationship. Expect it to continue.”
NCR, historically a maker of cash registers, has been in the midst of reinventing itself to supply software as well as hardware to handle a host of consumer transactions, including everything from ATMs to mobile technology.
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