As one Roxboro manufacturer is hiring 375 people to fill a new contract, another is shutting down and laying off 104 people.

The Loxscreen Co. is will shut down its Roxboro plant by Nov. 30 after 36 years of continuous operation. The average length of employment at the plant is 17 years and several have worked there 34 years.

The site, about 30 miles north of Durham, is down to 104 workers from 230 a year ago. In boom times the plant had provided jobs to more than 300 people, said Fred Vermeer, vice president of the aluminum group. As part of a restructuring, Loxscreen is shifting its manufacturing operations to its Missouri plant where labor costs are cheaper, Vermeer said.

It's not quite a Mini Cooper, but the Mangum 506 condo project in Durham is offering buyers a $2,500 IKEA gift certificate if they put a unit under contract by the end of the month.

Susana Dancy, a co-developer of Mangum along with Andrew Philipps and Scott Harmon, said nine of the development's 21 units are still available.

Mangum 506's units are small, 672 to 1,220 square feet, with big windows and 10-foot ceilings. Remaining units are priced between $159,000 and $299,000, Dancy said.

Mangum's model units are designed by Nicole Baxter using almost all IKEA furniture. Dancy said the popularity of the model units--and IKEA's affordable prices--made the promotion a good fit.

Mangum is also hoping to get potential buyers attention while they still may be eligible for the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit. The tax credit is set to expire Dec. 1.

Mangum 506's two buildings were completed in August. Dancy said one of the building's has received Fannie Mae approval, while the other needs a few more owner-occupied sales to qualify.

As for offering Minis, Dancy admitted "that would be a little decadent for us."

A former Raleigh mayor, a Raleigh restaurant entrepreneur and a Winston-Salem banker turned university professor will all be inducted in to the N.C. Business Hall of Fame next month in Charlotte.

Smedes York (at left), a developer who served as Raleigh mayor from 1979 to 1983, is being honored for his long career as a businessman, philanthropist and community booster.
York is chairman of three companies--McDonald York, York Properties and Prudential York Simpson Underwood--that today employ 600 people.

York will be joined by James Maynard, who along with his partner Bill Carl built Raleigh-based Golden Corral into a chain of 490 restaurants in 42 states that had annual revenue of $1.6 billion in 2008.

The third inductee is John Allison, who led BB&T Bank from $275 million in assets when he joined the firm in 1971 to more than $136 billion today. Allison is today a distinguished professor of practice at Wake Forest's business school.

Allison has also well known for being an enthusiastic advocate of the theories of the philosopher Ayn Rand.

The Hall of Fame's induction ceremony will take place Nov. 5 at The Weston in Charlotte.

Falling on her face and breaking a tooth helped steer Sallie Krawcheck to her new job as Bank of America's head of global wealth management.

During an on-stage interview this week with Fortune magazine at New York's Museum of American Finance, Krawcheck told a story about how she almost took another job before accepting the position with the Charlotte-based bank.

The other job was a "a leadership opportunity at a troubled financial-services company," Krawcheck told the audience. But on the way to an interview, the UNC-Chapel Hill alumnae caught the heel of her shoe in a crack in the Madison Avenue sidewalk.

She did not make the meeting, Fortune reported. "I ended up with six stitches, one broken tooth, a hairline jaw fracture, a dislocated jaw and whiplash," she said.

The Sanford-Lee County Regional Airport is changing its name to the Raleigh Executive Jetport @ Sanford-Lee County.

Officials for the 9-year-old airport say the name change reflects its increased role as an access point for private flights.

The airport will hold a ceremony Saturday at 11:30 a.m. as part of its family day aviation celebration, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The name change also reflects the airport's access from Raleigh, which will soon increase with the I-540 expansion that is supposed to be complete in 2012.

The economic slump is taking its toll on workers, especially those getting pink slips.

But even many who are still employed feel stressed, so much so that 28 percent of workers have used fake excuses to skip work this year because of burnout they blame on the recession. That's according to the CareerBuilder/Harris annual survey on absenteesim, which polled more than 4,700 workers and 3,100 employers.

The survey also found that nearly one-third of workers have called sick when they were feeling fine at least once this year.

While the majority of employers said they typically don't question the reason for an absence, 29 percent reported they have checked up on an employee who called in sick and 15 percent said they have fired a worker for missing work without a legitimate excuse.

Lulu.com earned a small but glowing plug from Esquire magazine.

The Raleigh-based online book publisher is included in Esquire's list of what to do with an extra $1,000. Along with suggestions such as making microloans, investing or gambling the money, the magazine points out that a grand will buy you "a few dozen copies of your 120-page masterpiece in hardcover."

The only downside for Lulu: Esquire mentions "two terrific sites" that help authors self-publish books to give or sell to friends and relatives. And Lulu rival Blurb.com gets the first billing.

Dell plans to repay much of the incentives money it received since opening a computer production plant in Winston-Salem four years ago.

The company shocked state and local officials Wednesday when it announced that it will close the factory in January, and lay off the remaining 905 workers.

Dell was lured to Winston-Salem by the promise of an incentives package worth as much as $280 million. But most of that money hinged on the company meeting hiring goals and keeping the factory open.

Winston-Salem issued a statement saying that Dell has promised to repay $15.6 million it has received so far from the city. And the company will give back $1.5 million it got from the state for meeting hiring goals in 2006 and 2007, N.C. Commerce Department spokeswoman Katharine Neal said today.

The company was eligible to receive another $1 million for meeting 2008 targets, but won't get that money, Neal said.

Dell has received a total of about $8.5 million from the state, but $3.6 million went toward workforce training that won't be repaid, Neal said. That money is "an investment that will continue to benefit individuals and employers," she wrote in an e-mail.

Dell officials also have pledged to provide workers with severance packages and help them find others jobs. About 600 workers will be laid off next month and the rest will lose their jobs early next year.

Durham's American Tobacco Campus has inked one of its original anchor tenants to an additional seven years.

Ad agency McKinney announced this week that it has extended its lease to 2021. The company moved from downtown Raleigh to American Tobacco in 2004 and now leases 55,000 square feet in the complex.

The agency, which has hired 60 people over the last six weeks and now employs 230, was halfway through its original 10-year lease.

Joni Madison, McKinney's chief operating officer, said the agency's lease terms didn't change but it did receive other benefits that she declined to name.
“It's not necessarily in the lease, but we were able to gain things that made it worth our while to extend the lease,” Madison said.

McKinney’s extension comes at a time when office demand is waning as the recession causes companies to shrink or close. Many tenants are hunting for discounts or trying to renegotiate existing leases. 

Madison said the company's American Tobacco space helps the agency compete for national clients and employees. 

"If your single motivation is I've got to reduce my overhead and my leasing expense, then great," she said. "But if you feel that your space is key to your culture. Is key to your ability to attract clients, those types of things. Then you really have to look at the whole picture." 

Michael Goodmon, vice president of real estate for Capitol Broadcast Company, which owns American Tobacco, said Capitol was able to retain a key tenant and ensure that McKinney’s lease wouldn’t expire at the same time as other tenants.

Goodmon said 97 percent of the 800,000 square feet of space in the entire American Tobacco Historic District is currently leased.

Ken Lewis, meet the Onion.

The online, satirical news outlet posted a mock list of "some key missteps" made by the Bank of America CEO. Lewis announced last week that he will retire later this year after coming under withering criticism from shareholders and others.

Among his mistakes:
* Accidentally set the Canton, Ohio branch on fire during a visit
* Mailed out millions of checks that incorrectly read "Bank of Armenia"
* Bank of America cash registers consistently $10 short on his shift
* Idea to have ATMs beep incessantly has driven away tens of thousands of irritated customers

Read the full list here.