Cincinnati’s iconic skyline has been called one of the most beautiful around. One building that helps make up that skyline is the Chiquita Center. Today Chiquita has announced that they are moving their operations from Cincinnati to Charlotte, North Carolina:

Chiquita Brands International, Inc. will relocate its headquarters to Charlotte, N.C., the company announced Tuesday afternoon. The move is expected to be complete by the end of 2012.

A North Carolina economic development panel approved a $22 million incentives deal to bring the global headquarters of banana giant Chiquita Brands International to Charlotte earlier in the day.

Members of the committee said the move of Chiquita’s headquarters, along with research and development laboratories, will eventually bring a total of about 417 jobs to the area. The jobs are supposed to pay an average of about $107,000.

Cincinnati, like many other towns in America, is struggling economically. This loss of high paying jobs and revenue will be a serious blow to the area.

But this story comes as no shock. These talks have been going on for sometime. Even Governor John Kasich’s office was involved with trying to keep the banana man here, but they failed. I guess working to strip public employees of bargaining rights was much more important that focusing on keeping a key employer in the region?