Another tech company has opted to stay and expand in Raleigh. Citrix Systems will receive an economic development incentive grant from the City of Raleigh. By accepting the grant, Citrix promises to create 339 permanent, full-time jobs by 2016. The average annual salary for these jobs is about $71,000.
Most of these jobs include sales and engineering positions.
“It really helps us send the message that we have the workforce that you’re looking for,” said Mayor Nancy McFarlane. “I think the fact that we have great universities that we turn out a great workforce. We really value education here and that’s important.”
McFarlane explained that the grant will be based on the property tax value that is created by Citrix’s expansion. The company is currently located near Crabtree Valley Mall and is focusing on moving its office space to downtown Raleigh.
The grant will run for the next 12 years and be based on one half of the city’s current property tax rate. The total will be about 2.25 percent of the new tax based expected to be created by the expansion. For example, if they built a new building with a high tax value, they would get a big incentive for that new property with presumably higher value. But if they renovate an existing building and don’t add much value, the grant will be less.
Citrix plans on investing $12.5 million.
Citrix was also awarded a Job Development Investment Grant from the state under the same terms.
The international company made its way to Raleigh when it purchased ShareFile, a cloud-based data sharing company, last fall. ShareFile creator Jesse Lipson, a Duke University graduate, open the company in 2005 and is now the vice president and general manager of data sharing at Citrix.
When the company was first purchased, Lipson said that he and his employees were concerned that Citrix would move the company to one of its other national offices. He said he was excited when the decision was made to stay in Raleigh.
“I love Raleigh.” said Lipson. “I’m not a native, but I’ve been here for 16 years now. I think it’s a terrific area. I’m very, very excited that we’re going to be expanding our footprint in Raleigh.”
Lipson, a programmer, never thought his company would reach this level, figuring it would only have about five or 10 people. “I thought it would be a small business, but it’s just grown beyond my expectations,” he said.
The company currently has 130 people in its Raleigh office.
He said that he hopes this encourages more students to stay in the Raleigh area and open their own businesses after graduation.
