Economic Development in South Carolina

[krazeeboi]

Calhoun County could definitely use the jobs, so good for them.

[Captain Worley]

I'm confused about the location of the plant. I kept hearing St. Mathews, but the maps show it in Calhoun industruial park, on the west side of 26 across the interstate from Sandy Run.

[krazeeboi]

I'm guessing that the park has a St. Matthews address, even though it's not technically located within its municipal borders.

[Captain Worley]

Its a pretty good distance from St. Matthews, but that could be the case.

[gs3]

Greenville based InSite Consulting (a site selection company) has acquired nationally known Site Location Advisors. This should continue to strengthen Greenville's large base of site selection firms. Always good to see local SC companies growing. Here's the article:

http://carolinanewswire.com/news/News.cgi?...d=3746&op=t

[Amapper]

An update on a large industrial development just outside Summerville:

Berkeley closer to large industrial development

Do not paste articles. You can summarize, but always include links. Thanks -Spartan

Edited April 11, 2007 by Spartan

[SimCity]

Starbucks to Build S.C. Roasting Plant, TheState reports.

The 150,000 square foot facility in Calhoun Co. will employ 160.

This is welcomed news for Calhoum county, I'm sure Starbucks will make a good corporate citizen in the community.

[Charleston native]

An update on a large industrial development just outside Summerville:

Berkeley closer to large industrial development

Do not paste articles. You can summarize, but always include links. Thanks -Spartan

Sorry Amapper, this forum is pretty strict about copying entire articles since it is worried about copyright violations. Next time, just do a brief summary. If you quote, just use the quote box. The article link below in the Chas Business Journal details what you said earlier.

Basically, HW Berkeley, a development firm, plans to develop 695 acres near the intersection of I-26 and Sheep Island Road near Jedburg to support manufacturing and distributing buildings. The tract will be split into four districts: industrial/commercial, industrial, industrial/residential and industrial/commercial/residential. Phase I on the proposed development would involve more than 2 million square feet of industrial facilities and Phase II would involve more than 7 million square feet.

The construction is estimated to cost between $400 million and $500 million with annual tax revenue for the project being around $4 million. The completed project could bring up to 5,000 direct jobs to Berkeley County and the Chas metro.

Berkeley closer to large industrial development

Edited April 11, 2007 by Charleston native

[krazeeboi]

^I didn't know that residential was to be a part of the overall plan. At any rate, it's good to see this go through.

[krazeeboi]

The Charleston metro area was the only MSA in the state to be named a 2007 "Five-Star Knowledge Worker Metro" by Expansion Management.

To go along with this, the expansion of GenPhar, Inc. in metro Charleston, which is a biopharmaceuticals company that specializes in the manufacturing of vaccines, was cited as an example in this article of being the types of knowledge-based jobs that college graduates are attracted to. A very pertinent quote:

John Dong, president and CEO of GenPhar, chose the Charleston metro over San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, Pittsburgh and the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, thanks mainly to the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).

[krazeeboi]

Florida-based JRS Custom Fabrication, a designer and manufacturer of custom sub-base fuel storage tanks for the power generation industry, will locate a new manufacturing facility in Chester. The $3.5 million investment is expected to bring 150 new jobs. The new facility will be built in the Chester Industrial Park and will be the first new construction in the industrial park in 20 years.

Good news for Chester! It seems as though things have been looking up for the area in recent months.

[MikesLogic]

The Charleston metro area was the only MSA in the state to be named a 2007 "Five-Star Knowledge Worker Metro" by Expansion Management.

To go along with this, the expansion of GenPhar, Inc. in metro Charleston, which is a biopharmaceuticals company that specializes in the manufacturing of vaccines, was cited as an example in this article of being the types of knowledge-based jobs that college graduates are attracted to. A very pertinent quote:

I always worry that not enough attention is payed to the contributions of MUSC to the Charleston area by leaders in Charleston.

[Charleston native]

I always worry that not enough attention is payed to the contributions of MUSC to the Charleston area by leaders in Charleston.

I worry about that myself. It was only until MUSC flirted with the idea of moving out of downtown that leaders clued in and gave MUSC a height allowance of 200 feet. Chas leaders need to be very attentive to MUSC's needs, growth, and future development with research like with GenPhar.

[g-man430]

Official groundbreaking of new South Financial headquarters in Greenville was yesterday. The entire project will consist of 13 buildings and 1.25 million square feet of office space. Phase 1 will consist of four buildings, a conference center, and create 600 jobs:

http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...INESS/704170364

A few renderings of phase 1 can be found here: http://www.wyff4.com/news/12188676/detail.html

[krazeeboi]

^Good to see this project underway!

[krazeeboi]

Inc.com's Boomtown 2007 rankings, which are based on job-growth data, are in. For the midsized city/metro category, Charleston ranks 15th (down from 12th last year), Columbia 24th (up from 50th last year), and Greenville 52nd (up from 81st last year). In the small city category, Myrtle Beach ranked 14th (up from 43rd last year), Sumter 53rd (up from 215th last year), Florence 103rd (up from 177th last year), and Spartanburg 217th (down from 189th last year).

[Charleston native]

Excellent! I wonder if Chas will move up in the rankings even more once that massive industrial-mixed use project (financed by Ross Perot, jr.) in Jedberg starts getting underway. The P & C said today that the current I-26 interchange for Jedberg may be upgraded if the project to build a newer interchange a little closer to Chas falls through, and the project will bring in 9,000 jobs once completed.

[SimCity]

Excellent! I wonder if Chas will move up in the rankings even more once that massive industrial-mixed use project (financed by Ross Perot, jr.) in Jedberg starts getting underway. The P & C said today that the current I-26 interchange for Jedberg may be upgraded if the project to build a newer interchange a little closer to Chas falls through, and the project will bring in 9,000 jobs once completed.

I don't see how Charleston could not move up with such a massive development. Aren't each of the 17 buildings supposed to be the approxomate size of Northwoods Mall? Also, the Jedburg interchange could use an upgrade now and even if the Sheep Island Rd, etc interchange is built. There has been a substantial increase in the amount of traffic and trucks using the interchange and traffic backups are now stretching to the Interstate which has never happened before. When this mixed use project gets off the ground the 500 or so homes and commercial/retail sites planned for Ridgeville will be all but garruanteed.

[g-man430]

Inc.com's Boomtown 2007 rankings, which are based on job-growth data, are in. For the midsized city/metro category, Charleston ranks 15th (down from 12th last year), Columbia 24th (up from 50th last year), and Greenville 52nd (up from 81st last year). In the small city category, Myrtle Beach ranked 14th (up from 43rd last year), Sumter 53rd (up from 215th last year), Florence 103rd (up from 177th last year), and Spartanburg 217th (down from 189th last year).

And how is this economic development? There is no company listed here bringing jobs to one of the cities or counties located in South Carolina. Looks just like another biased report that makes Columbia and Charleston look better than Greenville to me. Please do not post these biased reports anymore. Thanks.

[goodbye]

G-man, the report is based on job-growth data. That is "economic development" to most of us.

[g-man430]

I just don't like it when people post reports that show some cities to be better off than others in South Carolina. Can't all of our cities be equally represented and not stomped on with these reports? All these studies do is cause debates that say "my city is better than yours because...."

Edited April 25, 2007 by g-man430

[krazeeboi]

And how is this economic development? There is no company listed here bringing jobs to one of the cities or counties located in South Carolina. Looks just like another biased report that makes Columbia and Charleston look better than Greenville to me. Please do not post these biased reports anymore. Thanks.

My patience is wearing severely thin with you.

Go chill for a few days.

[Charleston native]

I don't see how Charleston could not move up with such a massive development. Aren't each of the 17 buildings supposed to be the approxomate size of Northwoods Mall?

More like the size of Citadel Mall which is larger than Northwoods Mall...about 1.6 million square feet!

[Amapper]

I just don't like it when people post reports that show some cities to be better off than others in South Carolina. Can't all of our cities be equally represented and not stomped on with these reports? All these studies do is cause debates that say "my city is better than yours because...."

I certainly understand your concerns there, but a little hometown pride and bragging is fine, as long as it doesn't cross the line into actually putting someone elses city down. At the same time, I would hope the same person would be able to rejoice with others when their communities land a big one, so to speak. Because no matter where a large commercial or industrial development lands, it usually spills over into the rest of the state somehow.

Living in the Charleston area, I can see how our port has benefited from Greenville/Spartanburg having BMW. We have even had a few suppliers locate here as a result.

From what I have seen in my short time in this forum, most areas in SC have reason to crow. There seems to be good things happening on the development front all around.

Edited April 25, 2007 by Amapper

[krazeeboi]

Well said.