What Should Columbia Do

[Spartan]

Ok, the bank announcements for Greenville are off topic in this thread.

[goodbye]

I agree, and that discussion has been over for a few days now.

Columbia has its fair share of headquarters and that should only continue to improve with the steady growth this region is experiencing.

[erm1981]

I can't see how the other 2 of the big 3 attracts more head quarters than Cola.

Greenville has been improving more in the past 10 years than they have in the previous 50 years. All the recent developements will keep pushing Greenville's success. I really dont know enough about charleston to say much but i do know its booming. Im sure Columbia will be able to rebound from the loss. 3 years is plenty of time to find and lure others into the city. I believe being between atlanta and charlotte is what really helps Greenville the most though.

[krazeeboi]

To reign the discussion back in a bit, Columbia's headquarters usually tend to either be manufacturing-related (e.g., Siemens North American headquarters) or regional (UPS Southeastern hub), and largely blue-collar. So it's time for some heavy recruitment of some white-collar companies. To be honest, it's kind of hard for me to see why Columbia doesn't already have a substantial business presence. It has just about every advantage you can think of that would appeal to company execs--great infrastructure, strategic location, state's flagship university downtown (with a highly ranked international business program), educated population, low cost of living and doing business, etc. I think for too long city leaders have rested on the traditional bases of the economy and been satisfied with that instead of being aggressive and going after more. So if it takes something like SCANA moving out of downtown to help Columbia reach its potential in this regard, so be it.