S.C. Delivers
Infrastructure
By Chuck Crumbo, Staff Writer
Boosted by recent announcements, alliance markets potential of I-77 corridor
F
www.scbizmag.com
ollowing the last of three news conferences in a five-hour period that announced the creation of 7,100 jobs and the investment of up to $800 million, the head of the newly founded S.C. I-77 Alliance vowed to keep the ball rolling. The back-to-back-to-back economic development announcements in Chester and York counties produced what officials think was the largest number of new jobs to be formally announced in S.C. history. “We hope to help build on that tremendous momentum,” said Britt Blackwell, chairman of the alliance. The alliance markets the four S.C. counties — York, Chester, Fairfield and Richland — intersected by Interstate 77. Fairfield and Richland are also is members of the Central SC Alliance, which markets the Midlands. Although the new investments target the northern end of I-77, Blackwell said the alliance aims to promote the benefits for office and commercial projects to locate along the 90-mile stretch of interstate between the North Carolina-South Carolina border and Richland County. The announcements “cement our marketing efforts to connect Columbia and Charlotte along the critical path of what we believe has unreserved potential,” Blackwell said. The corridor is anchored by Charlotte, the region’s banking and finance center and home to the sixth-busiest airport in the country, and Columbia, the Palmetto State capital and home to the University of South Carolina.
60
Officials in all counties and municipalities along I-77 are “working together as a team” to promote the corridor, Blackwell said. However, the alliance is so new that it’s still hunting for an executive director. Blackwell, who’s also chairman of York County Council, said the alliance has received about 50 applications for the job. The economic development announcements Blackwell and others celebrated on June 16 included: Giti Tire, the world’s 10th-largest tire manufacturer, plans to build a $560 million manufacturing plant and add about 1,700 jobs in Chester County. The plant at the Carolinas I-77 Megasite will be the Singapore-based company’s first manufacturing venture in North America. The Lash Group, a patient support services company, plans to consolidate the operations at three Charlotte locations into a new 250,000-square-foot corporate headquarters in Fort Mill. The initial $57.3 million investment could reach $90 million if the firm adds a second facility on the campus. The company plans to have 1,200 workers on the payroll when the Fort Mill campus opens in March 2016. Overall, the jobs total could climb to 2,400 employees over the next several years, the company said. Independent broker-dealer LPL Financial plans to invest at least $150 million and add 3,000 jobs in a new headquarters in Fort Mill. LPL said its investment, which will run through 2022, aims to accommodate its
growing customer service operations. LPL presently employs more than 1,000 workers at three locations in Charlotte. The LPL and Lash Group announcements involve moving offices and jobs from Charlotte across the state line to Fort Mill. Blackwell points out both announcements also could lead to the creation of thousands more jobs. And those jobs could lead to thousands of people moving into the area, buying and building homes, and sending their children to local schools. “We have the benefits of being in South Carolina and having the best school system in the state here in Fort Mill,” Blackwell said. Being located off the transportation corridor, which links the Upstate to the Port of Charleston via interstates 77 and 26, was important to his company’s decision to locate in Chester County, said Lei Huai Chin, managing director of Giti Tire Group. The location offers an “extensive and efficient infrastructure network including interstate highways, rail, close proximity to airports and a major metropolitan area to support the company’s needs and growth for many years to come,” Chin said. The S.C. Department of Commerce has encouraged the formation of regional alliances to promote common assets and pool resources, both public and private funding, to recruit new companies and help existing firms expand and create jobs. The I-77 alliance is a public-private, nonprofit economic development corporation.
The new I-77 Alliance serves the area bound by Charlotte, shown here, on the north and Columbia on the southern end.