Charleston Regional Business Journal's Newsmakers 2015

2015

NEWS MAKERS December 28, 2015

www.charlestonbusiness.com

Vol. 21, No. 27

Sponsored by

LOWCOUNTRY NEWSROOM Managing Editor - Andy Owens aowens@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3142 Senior Copy Editor - Beverly Barfield bbarfield@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3115 Staff Writer - Liz Segrist lsegrist@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3119 Staff Writer - Ashley Heffernan abarker@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3144 Editorial Assistant - Steve McDaniel smcdaniel@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3123 Research Specialist - Melissa Verzaal mverzaal@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3116 Senior Graphic Designer - Jane Mattingly jmattingly@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3118 Graphic Designer - Andrew Sprague asprague@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3128 Assistant Graphic Designer - Emily Matesi ematesi@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3124 MIDLANDS NEWSROOM

ABOUT NEWSMAKERS 2015 A

s you tie the bow around the year and get ready to grow into 2016, we’ve put together a cornucopia of content to remind you what a year is worth.

Charleston and South Carolina had a dramatic 2015, including tragic events across our community and the state. Citizens rose up to help each other and the nation paused to wonder how we handled adversity so well.

We also rocketed out of the economic doldrums in many areas of the economy. Commercial and residential real estate is booming. Manufacturers — large, small, larger and largest — are moving and expanding here.

Associate Publisher - Licia Jackson ljackson@scbiznews.com • 803.726.7546

In Newsmakers 2015 we look back at the stuff that had the biggest impact on the business community along with the most compelling art and information gathered during the past 12 months.

Our team of writers, page designers, photographers and editors pored through piles of papers and clicked through so many Web pages that we killed more than a few mice.

We debated, sometimes heatedly, what would be chosen. The publication you are holding is what made the cut.

Each inside page in the 2015 edition of Newsmakers consists of two stories

and photos from the movements and shifts in the Charleston region’s business community, including a quick bite at a secondary story called Other Newsmakers.

We start off with the Best of Upfront from the first pages of the Charleston Regional Business Journal’s biweekly print edition, where we present information graphically with quick hits that you could live without but are better off with.

This isn’t the kind of holiday gift where you say, “You shouldn’t have.”

This is the kind of holiday gift where you say, “Thank you! I never knew I wanted that!”

FROM OUR SPONSORS

Editor - Chuck Crumbo ccrumbo@scbiznews.com • 803.726.7542 Chris Cox - Staff Writer ccox@scbiznews.com • 803.726.7545 Research Specialist - Patrice Mack mverzaal@scbiznews.com • 803.726.7544 UPSTATE NEWSROOM Editor - Matthew Clark mclark@scbiznews.com • 864.235.5677, ext. 107 News Editor - Don Fujiwara dfujiwara@scbiznews.com • 864.235.5677, ext. 106 Staff Writer - Bill Poovey bpoovey@scbiznews.com • 864.235.5677, ext. 104 Staff Writer - Tereas Hopkins thopkins@scbiznews.com • 864.235.5677, ext. 103 Graphic Designer - Kim Davenport kdavenport@scbiznews.com • 864.235.5677, ext. 115 LOWCOUNTRY ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Senior Account Executive - Sue Gordon sgordon@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3111 Senior Account Executive - Robert Reilly rreilly@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3107 Account Executive - Sara Cox scox@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3109 Account Executive - Bennett Parks bparks@scbiznews.com • 843.849.3126

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Charleston Southern University has been recognized as One of America’s Best Christian Colleges, and received a top ranking from U.S. News and World Report for best online degree program.

CSU offers undergraduate, certificate and graduate degree programs in nursing, business, computer science, biology, health sciences, education, graphic design, engineering, criminal justice, music, mathematics, Christian studies and more. Our flexible schedules and central location, allows students to earn a degree in the classroom, online or in a blended format. Explore your options at CharlestonSouthern.edu or contact our enrollment team at 843863-7050 for more details.

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Welcome to Newsmakers 2015, sponsored by Trident Health. On behalf of the hundreds of talented Trident Health physicians, staff and volunteers who serve the community, it is quite an honor to introduce you to the highlights of the people and places in this issue.

South Carolina’s Lowcountry is a robust place in which to live and work. We are fortunate. All of us together — large organizations and small — have created a vibrant, dynamic region that we are proud to call home. Trident Health is honored to be your neighbor.

Enjoy reading!

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It is our pleasure to introduce Newsmakers 2015, a collection of the Lowcountry’s most impactful people and headlines of the past year. For over 20 years, Choate Construction Company has lived, worked, and played in the great state of South Carolina. From the renovation of the Bowman Place retail center in Mt. Pleasant to the Boeing 88-20 Dreamlifter Operations Center in North Charleston and SCRA’s new headquarters in Summerville, Choate is proud to provide the gold standard in construction management services across the tri-county and honored to call Charleston our home.

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NEWS MAKERS 2015

Best of Upfront

The Best of Upfront Craft brewers hopping on the beer bandwagon It’s been a few months since the passage of the so-called Stone Law, which didn’t have the desired effect of luring Stone Brewing Co. to the Palmetto State but which did loosen the grip of regulations — which has been a bonus to existing brewers and could help further expand this growing sector. How much depends on what entrepreneurs do with a more business-friendly regulatory climate, but we looked to the Craft Brewers Association in Boulder, Colo., for regional comparisons to see where we are right now. Expect this trend to continue upward as more folks discover the burgeoning craft beer culture growing in the state and region, with a lot of food and beverage establishments focusing on the sector and annual events such as Brewvival next month and the Charleston Beer Garden in May. Source: Craft Brewers Association, 2012 stats

California

Washington

North Carolina

Georgia

South Carolina

$4.7 billion (Ranked No. 1) 381 Breweries

$1 billion (Ranked No. 9) 201 Breweries

$791.1 million (Ranked No. 14) 91 Breweries

$671 million (Ranked No. 17) 28 Breweries

$254.3 million (Ranked No. 34) 20 Breweries

Jobs your significant other will hate Some jobs attract more stress than others, just like some businesses attract more business than others. But there are breaking points at which the person with whom you’ve chosen to spend the majority of your nonworking time with decides your working life and personal life are incompatible.

If you’re thinking of a career change or of starting a new business, you might pause for a moment and go over this list of some of the worst jobs for relationships, based on demographic and other data from many sources, such as the Census Bureau, Statista.com and CheatSheet (no pun intended).

5 Worst Jobs for Relationships Job

% divorce Avg. salary

5. Extruding machine operator 32.74%

$33,160

4. Casino chip cashier

34.66%

$26,190

3. Massage therapist

38.22%

$40,400

2. Bartender

38.43%

$21,770

1. Dancer/choreographer

43.05%

$49,930

Source: CheatSheet, Statista.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau

ONE NUMBER

2,588

Number of square miles in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties

All of South Carolina has 30,060 square miles, which allows for 153.9 people per square mile, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Compared with North Carolina, at 196.1 people per square mile, we’re fairly sparse.

4 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Dig into some of the most interesting and (somewhat) relevant factoids from the Upfront feature in the pages of the Charleston Regional Business Journal in 2015.

One number

308,520

Number of workers employed in the Charleston metro region as of May 2014, when the latest regional occupational report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics was released. Most of those were employed, respectively, as office workers, in sales, food and beverage, health care, and materials handling and logistics.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

A reason to actually try Texas barbecue Southern Living recently named the 20 top barbecue joints across the South, and no fewer than five were in the Lone Star State of Texas.

South Carolina had two, which makes us think Southern Living needs to get out more.

We’ve always heard from Texans that Texas does beef barbecue better than South Carolina does pork barbecue. Southwest Airlines just gave us a reason to decide for ourselves.

Southwest Airlines will start daily, nonstop service between Charleston International Airport and Dallas Love Field on Aug. 9, which is significant since the airline had just announced it would do weekly flights beginning April 11.

Along with Southwest, Delta Air Lines, US Airways, American Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue and Porter Airlines give Charleston passengers access to 23 airports in 17 cities in the United States and Canada.

Sure, you can fly to Texas for business, but you know, a lot of deals get done over a plate of ’cue. (House of Cards, anyone?)

Best BBQ Joints in the South We only pulled barbecue places that Southern Living listed for South Carolina and Texas, but there are 13 others on the magazine’s list.

South Carolina • Scott’s Bar-B-Que, Hemingway • Sweatman’s Bar-B-Que, Holly Hill Texas • Smitty’s Market, Lockhart • Black’s Barbecue, Lockhart • Lamberts Downtown Barbecue, Austin • City Market, Luling • Sonny Bryan’s, Dallas Source: Southern Living

Pilot pay depends on your airspace

Even if you just fly in the cabin of big jets and not in the cockpit, you probably think a lot of the person actually flying the aircraft. So you may be interested in this wage and salary data that we stumbled across on Salary.com. The numbers vary by ZIP code, and other Salary.com data show the top 10% of pilots working in the Charleston area make more than $144,000. But here’s how they stack up:

Selected median salaries for pilots of large jets: Region Median annual salary Seattle $130,745 Chicago $128,629 Denver $123,626 Atlanta $123,357 Source: Salary.com

National median $122,318 Charlotte $122,049 Greenville $118,367 Charleston $116,079 Columbia $114,575 Norfolk, Va. $112,948 Savannah $109,132

NEWS MAKERS 2015

Best of Upfront

Where is the most expensive place to live in South Carolina?

You’re in it!

Although not likely a surprise to most people living and working in the Charleston area, recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis showed that this metro area has the highest cost of living in South Carolina.

24/7 Wall Street, an online publisher of business news and information, analyzed the bureau’s data to find the top regions in each state and pulled out specific regions with high costs of living, including rent vs. income.

We’re not going to give you the whole sack of data, but here are some statistics:

Regional median rent and annual income In metro areas with the highest cost of living across the Southeast.

People would rather live in S.C. than New Jersey OK, so that’s probably not news, but the latest inbound survey of moving trends shows that South Carolina is the No. 2 place to which folks across the U.S. are moving. New Jersey, on the other hand, is the No. 1 place people are leaving.

All this somewhat obvious data comes from United Van Lines, which surveys its customers each year in its National Movers Study.

If you’re looking for ways to to capitalize on this trend of folks coming here, United Van Lines found that 36% of those moving to South Carolina are coming here to retire.

Don’t feel bad for New Jersey alone. The entire Northeast is seeing a bit of an exodus, with New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut all showing up on the list of outbound states. Meanwhile, several Southern states are luring a lot of folks in, with North Carolina and Florida joining South Carolina on the top destinations list. West Virginia was the only Southern state on the outbound list.

What about Ohio? The Buckeye state is No. 6 on the list of states people are leaving. We can only guess where they’re moving.

Top 10 states to which people moved in ’14 1. Oregon 2. South Carolina 3. North Carolina 4. Vermont 5. Florida 6. Nevada 7. Texas 8. Washington, D.C. High Inbound 9. Oklahoma High Outbound 10. Idaho Balanced Source: United Van Lines 2014 Annual National Movers Study

One number

34,428,000,000

$

The gross domestic product in the Charleston metro area in 2014, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Compared with five years ago, the region’s GDP has risen by 19.7%, from $28.8 billion in 2010.

6 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Region Miami Norfolk, Va. Charleston Jacksonville, N.C. Atlanta Nashville, Tenn.

Rent Income $1,120 $46,946 $1,052 $56,161 $952 $51,771 $949 $51,495 $947 $55,733 $849 $51,996

Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis/ 24/7 Wall Street

Auto theft comes down to a business decision We get the pickup trucks — those things last forever and, you know, you always need to haul stuff. But what’s the fascination with the Honda Accord?

That’s the car thieves go after the most in the Carolinas and Georgia. And not just any Accord, but the 1996 and 1997 models, according to data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau. South Carolina is tracking nationally on this stat: In 2013, the Honda Accord was the most stolen vehicle across the U.S. As it turns out, thieves are savvy about their business.

While you can’t respect or condone the crime, the rip-off artists understand what the market wants.

The bureau says thieves pick the 1990s-era cars because anti-theft technology wasn’t incorporated into the Accord some 20 years ago. The numbers back that up: Fewer than 300 of the 2013 model year Accords were stolen in that same year, but car thieves took more than 8,100 Accords built in 1996. The Accord has been one of Honda’s most popular models for a long time, and a lot of those cars built 20 years ago need parts, so there’s likely a robust aftermarket for ... ahem ... used car parts.

It’s really just supply and demand, and we’re guessing not a lot of car thieves went to business school to learn that.

Top 10 stolen vehicles in S.C. 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

’97 Honda Accord ’99 Ford Pickup (full size) ’99 Chevrolet Pickup (full size) ’02 Ford Explorer ’98 Chevrolet Pickup (small)

Source: National Insurance Crime Bureau

6. ’05 Toyota Camry 7. ’01 Ford Crown Victoria 8. ’05 Dodge Pickup (full size) 9. ’00 Jeep Cherokee/Grand Cherokee 10. ’07 Chevrolet Impala

NEWS MAKERS 2015

What would the real Sgt. Jasper think about his namesake high-density, multiuse development?

So there’s a lot of hubbub over the future of the Sergeant Jasper apartment building on Broad Street. Enough dissatisfaction was expressed during a public hearing on the plans that The Beach Co. withdrew its proposal for the large-scale, multiuse development.

We fully expect The Beach Co. to come back to the table on this piece of property that’s gotten up the hackles of a lot of South (and slightly North) of Broad folks, but when and how big is anyone’s guess.

But it got us to thinking — who was this Sgt. Jasper guy anyway, and what would he think looking ahead 235 years Sgt. William Jasper raising a makeshift flagafter he died in the Revolutionary War? staff during a battle that inspired Carolina Day. He’s got a statue in Savannah. He’s got (Photo/National Park Service) a county in South Carolina. He even has an official state holiday, known as Carolina Day, though that’s not totally his. Now he’s got a controversial multiuse development that’s causing his name to be uttered in not the most favorable conversation.

Not everyone knows about South Carolina’s and the Lowcountry’s critical role in the American Revolution, but the story of William Jasper gives a small glimpse.

A historical marker in Savannah reports that Jasper died near the city on Oct. 9, 1779, during a Revolutionary War battle. Jasper, ever the Palmetto Statesman, died trying to plant the flag of the 2nd Regiment of South Carolina Continentals on top of British embattlements.

But in this state — Charleston in particular — he’s known for not dying during a defining battle with Gen. William Moultrie. Here’s how we paraphrase the story: During the Battle of Fort Sullivan on June 28, 1776, the S.C. crescent flag was shot down by the Brits. They hit the wooden flagstaff and snapped it in half. The flag fell.

Jasper saw it happen and freaked out. He was like, “Gen. Moultrie, we gotta get the flag back up or our allies and even our enemies will think we’ve given up!”

Moultrie was like, “Dude, they shot it down. Do you have a new flag pole?

Because I don’t.”

Jasper then probably replied, “Well, no, but I’m sure we can find one since you cut down all those Palmetto logs to make this fine fort we’re trying to defend.”

So that’s what Jasper did. He found the shot-down flag, got something to stick it on and ran through a hail of British gunfire to plant that sucker back where it belonged, in the sand atop the fort, so everyone could see the resolve of South Carolina’s rebel forces. Everyone loved the act of symbolic heroism. Too bad when he tried to do a similar thing in Savannah, the British forces were having none of it and killed him.

So what would Sgt. Jasper think of the Beach Co. being rebuffed by those residents who oppose the company’s plans for a namesake development?

Who knows, but we’re 100% sure that if he saw a building that big, he’d definitely want to put a flag on top of it.

Fort Moultrie monument in Charleston, also known as Sgt. Jasper Monument.

(Photo/Brian Stansberry via flickr)

8 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Best of Upfront

We beat Kentucky! Growing our income like it’s 1979

The Economic Policy Institute’s treasure trove of data details the percentage of income growth among states across the U.S. starting in 1979 and stopping at 2007 — which makes sense because the Great Recession took us all for a ride after 2008.

STATE

INCOME GROWTH 1979-2007

Virginia

58.2%

North Carolina

44.8%

Florida

38.8%

Georgia

37.5%

Tennessee

35.3%

Alabama Mississippi South Carolina Kentucky

33.7% 31.8% 25.4% 19.9%

Source: Economic Policy Institute

Stuck in traffic? You could be more miserable...

People in the Charleston area love to complain about traffic, and we’re among them. Partly it’s because we’re impatient, we don’t plan our commutes as well as we could and we have so many bridges that one broken-down automobile can jackknife major arteries and alternative routes in one fell swoop.

While we don’t want to deny our traffic problems, or our lack of regional infrastructure and policies that could alleviate and mitigate these looming disasters, we South Carolinians also don’t always have the perspective of other locations with much worse trouble. Even if you don’t have someone from up North to tell you how bad it was when they lived there and how we don’t know how well we’ve got it, we’ll just go ahead and say that they’re right.

TomTom’s Annual Traffic Index recently released data for 2014, identifying the worst places for traffic, and thankfully we’re not on it. Here’s where you’d be stuck in worse traffic if you lived there. Yes, No. 3 Seattle, we’re looking at you.

The thing they all have in common is a large and growing population demographic, something Charleston doesn’t have compared with many large metropolitan areas on the list. But we’re clearly working on that, with a 9.4% increase in population from 2010 to 2014 in the three-county Charleston region, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

CITIES WITH THE WORST RUSH-HOUR TRAFFIC EVENING PEAK CONGESTION Los Angeles

80%

San Jose, Calif.

75%

Seattle

74%

Honolulu

68%

Houston

68%

San Francisco

68%

Portland, Ore.

61%

Austin, Texas

61%

Atlanta

59%

Chicago

59%

Source: TomTom’s Annual Traffic Index

NEWS MAKERS 2015

Best of Upfront

Turns out, millennials do want to mow a lawn ... in the South

The Charleston economy thanks you for the I do’s Charleston’s reputation as a wedding destination is much-deserved. The city’s history, beauty and overall reputation for ambience pulls in brides, grooms and dollars from around the world. But how much of our economy can be directly related to the wedding industry?

We checked in with industry research company The Wedding Report Inc. to get some hard data on places where people get hitched in South Carolina and in the Southeast. With $160 million in annual wedding revenue, the Charleston metro region accounts for more than 19% of all income coming to South Carolina by way of I do’s.

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF WEDDINGS REGION

REVENUE

Charleston Columbia Greenville Myrtle Beach Spartanburg Hilton Head Island Florence

$160 million $123 million $107 million $86 million $45 million $44 million $29 million

{ {

Virginia Revenue: $1.6 billion # of Weddings: 56,191

North Carolina Revenue: $1.5 billion # of Weddings: 66,951

{

6,511 5,818 5,116 4,013 2,101 1,935 1,472

{

{

Georgia Revenue: $1.5 billion # of Weddings: 60,885

{

# OF WEDDINGS

Florida

Residents: We’re sick of ever-growing traffic and buildings that encourage high-density living.

Developers: Data show high-density buildings help alleviate traffic. And besides, millennials want to live in places like this, because it’s a lifestyle choice, and they are innovators.

We’re not going to wade into who is right in this ongoing debate, because every development, every community and every public official has competing interests, pressures and configurations. Simply put, one size doesn’t fit all, and that’s why we have open debate about land use.

However, Nate Silver — the guy who called the 2012 presidential election dead-on even when the polls were mixed and picking Romney — recently posted a story on his FiveThirtyEight blog that used data to challenge at least part of that supposition.

Turns out, millennials do want a lawn in the suburbs, according to census data on demographic mobility in 2014.

“Indeed, for all the talk of the rebirth of American cities, the draw of the suburbs remains powerful,” writes FiveThirtyEight’s Ben Casselman (who is 34 and lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., for the record). “Across all ages, races, incomes and education groups, more Americans are still moving out of cities than in.”

Here’s how the data stand that FiveThirtyEight pulled nationally, and we’re adding some from the Census Bureau that’s closer to the Lowcountry:

Who’s moving where across the U.S.

{

Revenue: $3.4 billion # of Weddings: 142,691

Here’s what we usually hear at city planning discussions when it comes to approving, denying or modifying developments —mixed-use or otherwise — across the Charleston region:

{ {

South Carolina Revenue: $840 million # of Weddings: 38,548

{

Source: The Wedding Report Inc. for 2013

Kid finds economics 100% boring Catherine Wilcox, 9-year-old daughter of Purdue University economist Michael Wilcox, is no stranger to “Daddy’s work.”

Having accompanied her father to countless workshops and academic conferences during her lifetime — she is headed to the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association meeting in San Francisco in July — she prefers to focus her creative nature on less “boring” things like creative writing, illustration and joke telling.

She and her family are friends of the Biz Journal’s, so when she offered us an illustrated analysis of “economics,” we thought: What a great idea!

Enjoy Catherine’s work (above) ... we certainly did, and now we’re inviting your kid (no one older than 15, please) to submit his or her own interpretive drawings and creative writing related to the business news of the day or their parent’s job.

We’re going to publish what we get (aside from potentially awkward submissions, and you likely know what we mean). If we get enough, we’ll do a drawing for something cool. If we only get a few, we’ll give everyone ice cream!

10 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

529,000

426,000

721,000

551,000

Total number of Americans ages 25-29 who moved out of cities and into suburbs in 2014.

Number of 25- to 29ers who moved into cities from the ’burbs last year.

Number of Americans in their early 20s who moved away from cities.

Number of those in their early 20s moving into the cities.

Millennials moving South

A March Census Bureau report showed the highest number of people moving to the Southern states from other areas, including other countries, were ages 20-29 in 2014.

Age Moved South in 2014 20-24 248,000 25-29 279,000 30-34 177,000 35-39 165,000 40-44 130,000 45-49 81,000 50-54 70,000 55-59 69,000 60-61 15,000 62-64 56,000 65-69 48,000

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 1.12.15 Issue

January 12 -

25, 2015 • www.charle

Funding restored

Ports authority to give $5M for conservation along Cooper River

stonbusines

s.com

Coalition pursu ing Not the MOST unhealthy state

South Carolina isn’t in the South when alone comes to health it issues.

Page 2

After months of debate, counties agree to pay development alliance.

Page 3

Airport conside asking for cash rs

Aviation Authority hopes to recoup nearly $1 million for asbestos removal.

Page 9

Manufacturer expands

World Heritage designation for Charleston Volume 21, No.

COMMO

GROUNDN

1 • $2.00

See UNESCO,

The S.C. State Ports Authority plans to provide Cooper River $5 million for to strengthen land conservatio ties with Conservation n along the League and Lowcountry environmental groups. Leaders from the Coastal Open Land Trust joined the port to announce a pact.

Full story, page 8

Hubner Manufactur ing adding jobs, investment in Mount Pleasant.

Page 3

INSIDE

Upfront ................... ......... 2 In Focus: 2015: The Year List: Financial Ahead ....11 Brokerage Firms .......... 15 At Work ................... ...... 17 People in the News Business Digest ........ 17 Hot Properties ............. 17 ................

Viewpoint................... 20 .... 23

By Ashley Hefferna n

aheffernan@ include the scbiznews.com Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Great Wall here are places of Being on the the Cathedral China, Old Havana in Cuba, around the world list brings have been deemed of Notre Dame that Acropolis in France, the al publicity and differentiat a site internationso significant in Greece and humanity es a place economic competitor to United Stonehenge ing for all time. that they are worth preservKingdom. in the and s, which helps from its talent recruitmen The United States business The cultural of America has Aspinwall, executive t, according to Heritage sites, UNESCO World and natural sites on Tom 22 World including Yellowstone the ton World Heritage director of the CharlesHeritage list, ly comprises which current- Park, the Statue of Liberty, National Coalition.

1,007 spots The coalition Yosemite National Park, Everglades around the has developed National Park, globe, and Independence Taos Pueblo possible places in the Lowcountr a short list of Hall. y to nominate

T

Photo/Liz Segrist

B

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb iznews.com

oeing South Carolina delivered 787 Dreamliner more though Boeing s in 2014 than planned, executives declined say by how much or break to eries between down North Charleston 787 delivWash. and Everett, Aerospace analyst Uresh Sheth All Things 787 said on his ton plant built blog that the North Charlesand delivered in 2014. Sheth 33 Dreamliner tracks Boeing s through sources 787 production tomer deliveries. inside the facility and cusBoeing Commercia l Airplanes and CEO Ray President Conner said North Charleston during a visit to last month that Boeing on track to deliver was of the year between110 Dreamliners by the end Sound operations. its Lowcountry and Puget Boeing recently confirmed ers delivered in 2014, including114 Dreamlindelivery to Middle its Eastern carrier first 787-9 ways and its Etihad Airfirst 787 delivery can carrier Avianca, to Latin AmeriBoeing currently both in December. produces 10 airplanes See BOEING,

By Liz Segrist

How do you see the year ahead?

We asked business owners, readers and an economist us what the Lowcountry to tell ’s economy will look like in 2015.

Page 11

Dana Beach, executive director of Coastal Conservation League; Elizabeth Hagood, former director of Lowcountry Land Trust; and Jim Newsome, head of the S.C. State Ports Authority, announce a new partnership. (Photos/ Liz Segrist and S.C. State Ports Authority)

G

roups often at odds with one another came together in January to announce that the S.C. State Ports Authority plans to allocate $5 million to land conservation efforts along the Cooper River Corridor.

Officials from the Port of Charleston, Lowcountry Land Trust, Coastal Conservation League and Southern Environmental Law Center reached an agreement to protect land, wildlife and waterways along the river.

The port also hopes the agreement will help resolve the environmental groups’ concerns about the port’s plans to deepen Charleston Harbor to 52 feet to accommodate larger ships.

The ports authority board unanimously approved the resolution minutes before port officials, environmentalists and politicians gathered for the

announcement at Silk Hope Plantation in Huger.

Elizabeth Hagood, the former executive director of the Lowcountry Land Trust, said the groups hope to leverage the money from the port with additional funding, such as from the state Conservation Bank, to protect more acreage through conservation easements or fee-simple acquisitions. Thus far, 425 acres have been protected.

The Lowcountry Land Trust works with the port to protect land from development.

“The threat is tremendous because this whole corridor is right on the edge of this urban growth boundary,” Hagood said. “If we don’t proactively protect it and do it with a sense of urgency now — that these funds from the port help us do — then we will lose it.”

Hagood said the port’s funding and land conservation efforts are voluntary and go “well beyond” required mitigation plans, such as those included in the harbor deepening project.

Ports authority President and CEO Jim Newsome said economic development and environmental groups have to collaborate to yield creative solutions.

The speakers said other corporations and environmental groups statewide should use this collaboration as a model when disagreeing about development and conservation.

They pointed to Boeing, Nucor Steel and BP as other companies that have preserved Lowcountry land as part of their mitigation plans.

Dana Beach, executive director of the Coastal Conservation League, said the $5 million will help augment

otherNEWSMAKERS There are places around the world — such as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Great Wall of China and Stonehenge — that have been deemed so significant to humanity that they are worth preserving for all time. A group in the Lowcountry is working to add parts of Charleston to the UNESCO World Heritage list, which comprises 1,031 spots around the globe.

12 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

decades of effort to protect the Cooper River Corridor.

Beach said it is important to prevent extensive development along the rivers to preclude runoff, which he said is the biggest pollutant affecting species and vegetation in the waterways.

“The harbor deepening project has broad and long-term implications for South Carolina’s economy and environment,” Beach said. “Our goal has been to support the positive aspects of the project while preventing the degradation of two of South Carolina’s greatest assets — Charleston Harbor and the Cooper River.

“Perhaps the single most important step we can take to secure their health is to protect the watershed of the Cooper River. ... Land conservation should be an ongoing agenda item for the business community.” cr bj

Page 6

Boeing S.C. beats 2014 delivery goals

Page 7

➤

➤

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 1.26.15 Issue

January 26 -

February 8,

Cut and grow

North Charleston’ Apparel opens s Vapor Upstate cut-and-sew facility.

Page 3

E-cigarette market grows in Charleston, awaits regulation

2015 • www.charle

stonbusines

s.com

Haley, tech CEOs send Beer stats

How deregulatio n could grow fledgling industry across South Carolina.

Page 2

By Liz Segrist

Volume 21, No.

pro-Uber letter s following cease -and-desist

T

See UBER, Page

Massive cargo

Port handles generator weighing more than 1.5 million pounds.

Page 7

New pilot

Boeing S.C.’s VP retiring from company after 787 facility growth.

Page 9

VAP NG REGULATION

INSIDE Upfront ...................

In Focus: Health ......... 2 List: Hospitals Care .. 17 List: Urgent .............. 22 Care Centers ...................

At Work ................... ...... 23 ...... 25 People in the News Business Digest ........ 25 Hot Properties ............. 25 ................

Viewpoint................... 30 .... 31

UNCLEAR

As electronic cigarette retail Lowcountry, shops continue business is to open around good, competitio the are watching n is increasing for possible and owners state and federal regulations.

Full story, page 8

A

By Ashley Hefferna n aheffernan@

See COLLEGE,

Top spot

U.S. News & World Report names MUSC’s online nursing program the best in the country.

Page 19

Palmetto Puffin employee Denver Watts (left) and owner Charlie Howle sell e-cigarettes and flavored liquids in West Ashley. (Photo/Liz Segrist)

W

A failed, S.C. bill would have created a tax of five cents per milliliter of vapor liquid in an e-cigarette, compared with the S.C. tax of 57 cents per cigarette pack. The state now awaits federal regulation.

Public health experts say regulatory oversight could inform consumers of the ingredients and require warning labels. E-cigarette proponents say their products should not be taxed in the same way as cigarettes because they do not contain tobacco.

“Something is coming. The question is what and when,” Howle said. cr bj

otherNEWSMAKERS The College of Charleston opened the School of Professional Studies for nontraditional students, typically working adults looking to advance their careers, at its North Campus. Dean Godfrey Gibbison said nontraditional students are highly motivated to learn as much as possible in the quickest amount of time as they balance family and job responsibilities.

14 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Photo/Ashley Heffernan

scbiznews.com

35-year-old college student education much treats differently from 20-year-old a student, and of Charleston the College is targets the older hoping a new school that the Lowcountr demographic will help boost y’s workforce.

Godfrey Gibbison, School of Professiona dean of CofC’s new l Studies, said ditional students, who are typically nontraadults looking working highly motivatedto advance their careers, are in the quickest to learn as much as possible amount of time family and job as they balance responsibilities.

ey Heffernan

hen Charlie Howle wanted to quit smoking before his first child was born, he turned to electronic cigarettes to help kick his 15-year, pack-a-day habit.

E-cigarettes are devices that convert a solution of nicotine and flavored liquid into a vapor that can be inhaled, often called “vaping.” Howle wanted to help others do the same, so he opened Charleston Electronic Cigarettes — now known as Palmetto Puffin — in West Ashley in 2013.

At the time, Howle said he had two competitors. Today he has many more, including Carolina Vapor, E-Cigs Depot, eVapors LLC, Mizfit Vapors, ECig Charleston and The Planet Vape.

Many have multiple stores around the state.

“The e-cigarette market has since exploded here, as it has everywhere,” Howle said.

The regulatory environment remains unclear for the e-cigarette market.

6

➤

CofC recruits working adults back to school

Photo/Ashl

By Liz Segrist

2 • $2.00

lsegrist@scb did not obtain iznews.com a Convenience required Certificate of Public he S.C. Public and Necessity operations. before beginning pointing” and that Service Commissio has ordered her administrat the General n Uber to halt Uber, which ion and Assembly have operations, spurring South Carolina worked to make began operationsoffers rides through an tech company Gov. Nikki Haley and business-friendly app, in Charleston local Greenville with limited , Columbia, government. support of the executives to write letters company. in even thoughand Myrtle Beach this “The action The state commission taken by the summer in the PSC direct conflict said it was illegalS.C. Office of Regulatory sent desist order with the efforts yesterday is Staff by thousands at the time. earlier last month a cease-andundertaken In a letter to of because Uber vants who have South Carolina public Haley said the the commission, Gov. serfought every order was “extremely Nikki day to make our disap-

Page 10

➤

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 2.9.15 Issue

February 9 -

22, 2015 • www.charle

s.com

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb

Tech-focused organization holds its biggest event ever in Charleston.

Page 2

New rules, new budget for CRDA

Alliance rewrites bylaws after year of turmoil.

Page 3

North Charleston votes to give Stingrays hockey team up to $500K

stonbusines

Riley says chan ge Tech over 300

takes ‘unrelen ting

Volume 21, No.

“W

See RILEY, Page

e

Photo/Ashley

Volvo S.C.?

INSIDE Upfront ................... ......... 2 In Focus: Residential Real Estate ...................

15 List: Homebuilde rs....... 22 At Work ................... ...... 27 People in the News Business Digest ........ 27 Hot Properties ............. 27 ................

Viewpoint................... 30 .... 31

Heffernan

GAME ON

North Charleston’s

$500,000 face-o ff with

The S.C. Stingrays hockey team, which loses $500,000 to $700,000 each year according its owners, says to it had two options finances: Ask to fix its North Charleston for money or cease operations .

Full story, page

12

Stingrays

By Ashley Hefferna n aheffernan@

scbiznews.com ven though all the Lowcountr four school districts in y were recently as excellent rated by the S.C. Departmen Education, the t of Collaborative Tri-County Cradle to Career doesn’t want to think there business leaders isn’t The collaborativstill work to be done. e used regional examine where data to disparities exist dents of different between stusocioeconomic backgrounds, and racial then eight core indicatorsbroke the information into ranging from ten readiness kindergarto postsecond and compiled ary enrollment that data in tion report that a regional educawas released Jan. 29.

Ted Legasey, data committee, chair of the collaborativ e’s said businesses attention to should pay more uation and collegethan just high school enrollment data. gradpreparation He said for kindergarte on children’s n future proficiency has an impact math, their graduation in reading and rate and transition into the workforce. their ability to “Ultimately, it’s all about readiness,” Legasey our said. “Just think workforce crime it would of what a be if we have all this financial

E

See CRADLE

By Ashley Heffernan

TO CAREER,

Page 10

Multifamily building boom

Apartment projects rising across the Lowcountry as generational trends shift.

Page 15

N

orth Charleston City Council approved an ordinance to pay the S.C. Stingrays hockey team up to $500,000 over the next two years.

The Stingrays have played home games in the city-owned North Charleston Coliseum 40 to 50 days each season since the facility opened in 1993. But it has been difficult to keep the team financially viable, according to city documents.

“At this point, the Stingrays ownership must consider whether to continue subsidizing the team or to cease operations,” a summary of the city ordinance says. “The Stingrays approached the city to explore ways in which the city could adjust its relationship in order to lessen the team’s yearly shortfall.”

The East Coast Hockey League team is owned by the Zucker family, which also owns The InterTech Group and the

Fans take their seats before the S.C. Stingrays game against the Reading Royals on Jan. 24.

(Photo/Ashley Heffernan)

Carolina Ice Palace in North Charleston, among other properties. Jonathan Zucker said the family has been losing between $500,000 and $700,000 each year for the past several years.

“It’s a service to provide family-

friendly entertainment to the people of the community,” Zucker said. “We do believe the city is and should remain our partner in providing this. That’s how my family looks at it.”

The city will pay the Stingrays during

fiscal years 2016 and 2017. The amount each year will total 50% of the Stingrays’ net loss up to $250,000, and the city’s finance director will be given access to the team’s books.

Councilman Todd Olds was the only member to vote against the ordinance.

“I am not here against the Stingrays.

I am not here against Anita Zucker, the Zucker family or the city of North Charleston. I am here about what my constituents expect me as a representative for them to do, and that’s to preserve and protect their tax dollars,” Olds said.

Mayor Keith Summey argued that losing the Stingrays would cause a negative ripple effect throughout the community. He said the employees who work in the coliseum’s food and merchandise sectors would lose work hours and possibly their jobs, and the city would lose food and beverage taxes. cr bj

otherNEWSMAKERS MWV, a global packaging company that has Charleston ties, merged with RockTenn to form a $16 billion global packaging company called WestRock. MWV’s land division, now called WestRock Land and Development, is developing a 700-acre industrial park in Charleston County and two mixed-use communities in Summerville.

16 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

8

➤

Cradle to Care er report pinpoint s where gaps begi n

Total packag

Deal merges MWV and RockTenn into $16 packaging company.billion Page 6

Automaker looking toward Southeast for expansion, and S.C. likely on the list.

Page 7

4 • $2.00

commitment’

stint as mayor iznews.com and shared a long would like to achieve before list of goals he not resting e began this January 2016. his term ends journey in do,” Riley on our laurels. We have in 1975,” Charlestontogether Riley much to said.

Mayor museumswants to focus on creating When Riley 39th and final Joe Riley said to kick off new parks, came into and green spaces; State his term infrastructu completing long- City Council developed office 40 years ago, Standing before of the City address. mixed-use spaces re projects; and developing redevelop “the economica a strategic plan to residents, family, Council and within the city lly devastated media in City City of our city: King center while mainback over the Hall, Riley looked taining Charleston’ Street,” Riley city’s progress said.

Riley said the “I’m also prouds character. during his 40-year make the right city has worked for decades fame that Charleston of the recognition investments to and and slowly rebuild has received, but we are

➤

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 2.23.15 Issue

February 23

- March 8, 2015

Money to dig

Boeing South Carolina expands with opening of propulsion plant

stonbusines

s.com

By Ashley Hefferna

PROPELLI

GROWTNG HS

Need a lift?

Charleston startup free rides to collegegives students.

Page 14

Supply and demand

SCRA, Commerce

establish center to companies with help supply chain issues.

Page 8

INSIDE Upfront ...................

In Focus: Energy ......... 2 the Environmen and List: Heating t .......... 19 and Air Contractors List: Employee ............ 22 Benefits Brokers .......... 23 At Work ................... ...... 25 People in the News Business Digest ........ 25 Hot Properties ............. 25 ................

Viewpoint................... 29 .... 31

Volume 21, No.

tourists off bea ten path 5 • $2.00

n aheffernan@ scbiznews.com “Charleston only was it No. is our international gem. ites such as Not 1 in the U.S., Parrish said the there Harold’s CountrySheldon Church ruins, the world in destination but it was No. 2 in cific s to come marketing effortswill be destination-spetor Duane Parrish Club, Charles Landing and to entice people said, referencingto,” Direc- Summervil Hampton PlantationTowne wins from to visit le’s Sweet Tea soon see an the city’s Conde Nast could Trail, which uptick in tourist Traveler magazine. people from the takes South Carolina traffic if the “It’s been discovered.”

Interstate through five Department One of the departmen ation and Tourism districts in the 26 interchange of Parks, RecreCypress Gardens town, along t’s goals has its way. to bring visitors and the not-so-popwith to the undiscover for 2015 is beaches. the state. ed parts of ular

S

Most common job is the same for in S.C. all the U.S. Page 2

President’s budget includes cash for Charleston Harbor.

Page 5

• www.charle

S.C. hopes to dra w

Keep on truckin’

The opening of Propulsion South Carolina brings additional work to Boeing South Carolina. The new facility in North Charleston makes engine parts for the 737 Max and 777X, expanding beyond Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner campus.

Full story, page

6 Photo/L

777-9X in flight.

iz Segrist

(Rendering/B

oeing Co.)

See TOURISM,

By Ashley Hefferna n aheffernan@ scbiznews.com

.C. representat ives are at odds how to handle about the funded historically state’s only publicly black university.

Two House mittees voted Ways and Means subcomin that would shut mid-February for a plan beginning July down S.C. State University 2017 with a new1 and reopen it in the fall of faculty and staff. board of trustees, president, To be enacted, the plan approved by the House Waysstill must be Committee, and Means as well as the Senate. full House and During the possible closure, committee would an advisory create a plan university’s finances to rebuild the

by Jan. 1, 2017, ulty, reconstitute hire facnew curriculum athletic programs and set a approved by the state Commission on Higher The state would Education. and pay vendors, assume S.C. State’s debt bonds and contingency reserve fund. loans from the Current S.C. GPA or higher State students with a 2.5 would be allowed to another in-state to public institution transfer historically or S.C. black would pay tuition university, and the for those transferred state dents for up to four stuHouse Speaker years.

Jay Lucas, R-Hartsvill e, See S.C. STATE,

By Liz Segrist

Dumping e-waste

California company partners with County to get Charleston rid of electronic Page 20 refuse.

“It wasn’t even two years ago when we were in leased space with just a handful of us in a room dreaming this dream.”

Nicole Piasecki Vice president and general manager of Boeing’s Propulsion Systems Division

777-9X in flight. (Rendering/Boeing Co.)

P

ropulsion South Carolina is officially open for business — designing, engineering and assembling engine parts for Boeing’s 737 Max and 777X. The new propulsion engineering and assembly facility in North Charleston extends Boeing South Carolina’s manufacturing capabilities beyond the 787 Dreamliner family.

Propulsion South Carolina, which broke ground in November 2013, will be responsible for designing and assembling the 737 Max engine nacelle inlet, designing the 737 Max engine nacelle fan cowl

and integrating the design and engineering for the 777X nacelle.

Production of the 777X will begin in 2017 and first delivery is scheduled for 2020. Production of the 737 Max began in 2015, with first delivery set for 2017. Final assembly for both planes will be in Washington state.

Currently, more than 150 engineers, mechanics, designers and support staff work at the 225,000-square-foot facility. It includes office space, assembly space and automated manufacturing equipment, including large, orange robots that help assemble

engine nacelle inlets for the 737 Max. Propulsion South Carolina teams will build two inlets a day once the facility is producing at its full rate, according to Charlie Hix, director of Propulsion South Carolina. Hix said more propulsion projects could come to the facility in the future.

“It wasn’t even two years ago when we were in leased space with just a handful of us in a room dreaming this dream,” Nicole Piasecki, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s Propulsion Systems Division, said. “It’s really exciting that we’ve come this far.” cr bj

otherNEWSMAKERS Six College of Charleston buildings, portions of George and St. Philip streets and several businesses were closed for hours because of a bomb and gun threat. The college initially sent a message to the entire campus community saying a bomb had been found, but a spokesman said later that a college police dispatcher pressed “the wrong button.”

18 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Charleston Police Officer Jessica Hans walks along St. Philip Street on the College of Charleston campus during an investigation into bomb and shooting threats.

(Photo/Ashley Heffernan)

“South Carolina now is part of a much bigger family of Boeing airplanes than we ever could have imagined back in 2008 when we made the decision to do the second (787) line.”

Ray Conner President and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes

“What we’re telling the world is that it doesn’t have to be the -87. It can be the -37 or other parts.”

Jack Jones Former vice president and general manager of Boeing South Carolina

Page 16

➤

Lawmakers deba te S.C. State’s futur e

Page 12

➤

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 3.9.15 Issue

March 9 - 22,

2015 • www.charle

Architects seek to preserve history while pushing new designs

stonbusines

s.com

New Boeing leade r wants efficient

By Liz Segrist

O

BATTLE

Vice visit

Vice President Joe talks infrastructu Biden re at Port of Charleston.

Page 3

ON BROAD

Incubating biotech

Roper Innovation looks for startup Center ideas from around the world.

Page 8

Some downtown Charleston residents proposal for are against The a multiuse developme Beach Co.’s Emotions were nt in the old Sergeant Jasper piqued and pandemoni Charleston Planning site. um erupted during Commission a recent meeting when with hundreds the chairman of residents who sparred wanted to hear about the project.

Full story, page 11

Tech roundup

Latest industry news from Charleston’s fast-growing tech sector.

Page 10

INSIDE Upfront ................... ......... 2 In Focus: Architecture , Engineering and Constrcution ................ 11 List: General Contractors ..................

Certified Commercia 30 Investment Membersl At Work ................... ... 33 ...... 35 People in the News Business Digest ........ 35 Hot Properties ............. 35 ................

Viewpoint................... 38 .... 39

Volume 21, No.

6 • $2.00

production, diver sity

lsegrist@scb region and more iznews.com local suppliers for the locally garner work built 787 Dreamliner ver the next Wyse said five years, Beverly She aims to it is critical wants the Dreamline follow through s.

Wyse increases to on planned maintain on-time, during rate r campus in rate increases — up to North eries to customers. seven quality delivmonth — and benchmark for Charleston to be Boeing’s integration of Dreamliners a efficiency and “We need to without any 787-10 assembly focus so we don’t productivity.

Wyse, who will delays or production we go through miss a beat as Wyse issues. general manager become vice president production changes,” and increase said many techniques “Stability is what Wyse said. she used to May, wants to of Boeing South Carolina rates to 42 planes the outside world we want it to look like see more suppliers in 737 plant per month she managed while we’re increasing from open in the for five years at the we’re doing from on, Wash., will what in Rentthe inside.” work well at Boeing S.C.

Best in Beard

Chef Sean Brock competes for top award among James Beard finalists.

Page 9

Rendering/Pro

vided/The Beach

Co.

See BOEING,

F

By Ashley Hefferna n aheffernan@ scbiznews.com

inding capital is a lot of the work almost never easy and ing relationship comes down to builds with the right according to people, Josh CEO of Charleston Silverman, founder and -based Jericho “A few years Advisors. go, and I think ago there wasn’t anywhere to the market has up. There’s a really opened lot of different said. places to look, ” he Lowcountry ing to Capital Local First hosted a Connectevent last month ups learn about their options. to help start“Sometimes if you can’t get bank, then a loan from that’s when a the nonprofit er comes in and lendyou to get you could be a great partner for started,” Jamee Haley, tive director execuof “Crowdfunding Lowcountry Local First, said. is also a great raise capital but also to test way to not only out your market.”

During the banking world event, panelists from the and business along with nonprofit lenders owners who have had successful crowdfund ing funding options. campaigns gave advice on See CAPITAL,

CHARLESTON UNDER CONSTRUCTION

By Liz Segrist

Who is building Projects, companies what in the Charleston area? , prices, projected timelines, photos and stories.

Page 11

Planners wanted the Midtown condos to be modern and fit the neighborhood.

(Photo/Neil Stevenson Architects)

I

n a city known for its charming streets, rich history and old buildings, architects and the city’s Board of Architectural Review are trying to find a balance to preserve Charleston’s buildings and also create new spaces for a swiftly changing peninsula.

The city of Charleston’s population is expected to grow from 35,000 to 60,000 residents by 2030. Lower King Street has 0% vacancy, and Upper King Street has several large, mixeduse developments under construction, such as Midtown and Courier Square.

A city experiencing this much growth needs a balance of architectural styles, preservation and bold designs, several local architects said.

Traditionalists, as well as neighborhood and preservation groups, have blocked plans to build more modern designs, saying the designs were not strong enough or do not complement the older buildings that make downtown Charleston memorable.

Modernists argue that copying traditional styles prevents future generations

Neil Stevenson, the architect of the Midtown of Charleston development, said many downtown projects are ideal for mixing modern and traditional styles.

(Photo/Neil Stevenson Architects)

from seeing the contemporary architectural designs of today. Most agree that preservation is crucial for keeping Charleston’s character intact, but Brown-Architecture owner Brad Brown said making new construction look old means “You start to get a Disney-esque take on history. ... There is a need for new architecture. It’s part of telling the story of a city and letting the city develop in a real way through time.”

Jay White, an architect with Liollio Architecture and a BAR board member, said many of the buildings considered “perfect Charleston buildings” today were considered very progressive and controversial at the time they were built.

“That’s the basis of a lot of debate: Do we put new construction or major renovations in the heart of the historic district? Will it be built in such a way that it will be a lasting and beautiful contribution to the city? ... I would hope over the next few years we do not see urbanization influence abating. I would hope that above all else the city finds its courage again,” White said.

otherNEWSMAKERS

20 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

cr bj

Dr. Jacobo Mintzer, executive director of Roper St. Francis’ Clinical Biotechnology Research Institute, is recruiting ideas from physicians and researchers all over the world.

He created the Innovation Center, an arm of the research institute, to bridge the gap between ideas and profitable companies.

Page 5

Entrepreneur s capitalize on funding options

Page 6

➤

➤

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 3.23.15 Issue

March 23 - April

5, 2015 • www.charle

I

Conference preview

S.C. Manufactur ing Conference and Expo set for next month.

Inside

Daimler brings van manufacturing to Lowcountry with new plant

stonbusines

s.com

North Charleston

By Ashley Hefferna

campus on MU SC’s Volume 21, No.

EDUCATING THE PRINCIP AL

787 support

INSIDE Upfront ................... ......... 2 In Focus: Hospitality and Tourism .................

List: Area Attractions 15 At Work ................... .. 20 ...... 23 People in the News Business Digest ........ 25 ............. 26 Viewpoint................... .... 27

Burke Middle High School Principal Maurice Cannon says he doesn’t know how to talk to his students about the manufacturing industry.

That’s why he is building a relationship with DuPont manager Paul Patterson (right).

Full story, page

See MUSC, Page

6

Photo/Ashley

Mercedes-Benz town Vans automotive manufacturbrings ing operations to North along with 1,300 Charleston jobs.

Page 14

12

Cell service cost increase creates static

S

Rolling into

By Liz Segrist

horizon

➤

By Ashley Hefferna

n aheffernan@ scbiznews.com ome cellphone bill in the S.C. carriers are fighting a Rankin argues Senate that Sen. Luke will level the field between playing landline and panies. cellphone comRankin, R-Conway, co-sponsored 277, also known Bill as the State in Funding Act, in January Telecom Equity Thomas Alexander along with Sens.

Currently, only and Brad Hutto. landline customers a fee into the pay which helps S.C. Universal Service Fund, landline companies cost of installation and maintenancoffset the phone lines e of in telenew bill would rural areas of the state.

The add a similar customers. fee for cellphone Rankin, who businesses are also runs a law practice, said landline carriersthe primary customers for proportionately and they’re paying a discustomers aren’t higher fee because cellphone paying anything.

“When the created almost Universal Service Fund was all citizens to 20 years ago, the goal was have access for vice, and all to who used the affordable sernetwork would

Aerospace structural component supplier in North Charleston. opens Page 3

Turmoil at S.C. State

Orangeburg businesses worried about future.

Page 10

7 • $2.00

n aheffernan@ women’s pavilion scbiznews.com in downtown could follow Charleston f the Medical in 2019. pital.

University of Patients across na’s plans go South Carolithe country according to To keep up increasingly with the changing schedule, a $40 want their health care million pediatric landscape and options to where they live health care medical open in North because the and are requestingbe closer to ric ambulatory Charleston as campus could patient hospital’s 2017. A $350 ambulatory early clinics in Rutledge pediatservices than more out- downtown million children’s as summer according Tower in Charleston ever before, to Dr. hospital and need to be MUSC is building executive director Patrick Cawley, CEO updated, a campus at of Medical University and the corner of Hos-

Heffernan

See CELLPHONE,

MERCEDES-BENZ VANS PLANT

Page 8

EXPANSION

➤

200 1,300 $500M ACRES of land for a new body shop, jobs initial investment

paint shop and assembly line

ly reassembled after being manufactured in Germany and shipped to the United States.

The new van manufacturing campus will include a plant, body shop, paint shop and assembly line, where employees will build next-generation Sprinter vans for the U.S. and Canadian markets. The German automaker will begin construction on the plant in 2016. An opening date was not provided, which the company said was for competitive reasons.

The new production facility will enable the company to get the vans to market faster, to be closer to North American customers and to be more economical, according to Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans.

“This plant is key to our future growth in the very dynamic North American van market,” Mornhinweg said. cr bj

Largest* auto-related locations or expansions since 2011 in S.C.: COMPANY

Volker Mornhinweg, head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, and Gov. Nikki Haley unveil plans for the new facility that will manufacture Sprinter vans in North Charleston. (Photo/Kim McManus)

M

ercedes-Benz Vans, a division of Daimler, plans to build its Sprinter vans and create 1,300 jobs at a new manufacturing facility in North Charleston.

The company will invest about $500 million to build a full-scale production facility on more than 200 acres in North Charleston. This is one

of the largest economic development announcements ever made for the Lowcountry and it brings car manufacturing to the region.

This new Mercedes-Benz plant brings another vehicle manufacturer to South Carolina — in addition to BMW in Greer and now Volvo in Berkeley County — that will pro-

duce U.S.-made vehicles from start to finish.

“Now these (vans) will be made in America,” Gov. Nikki Haley said.

This new automotive manufacturing campus will build off Daimler’s current operations at 8501 Palmetto Commerce Parkway in North Charleston, where vans are current-

otherNEWSMAKERS In March, President Barack Obama visited S.C. for the first time since winning the state’s Democratic primary in 2008.

He held a town hall event at Benedict College in Columbia, focusing on higher education. He returned in June to deliver the eulogy for Rev. Clementa Pinckney, a state senator and one of nine victims of the Emanuel AME Church shootings.

22 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

President Barack Obama at Benedict College in Columbia.

(Photo/White House)

CAPITAL JOBS

BMW Manufacturing Co.

$2.0 B

1,900

Bridgestone Americas

$1.24 B

850

Michelin

$1.15 B

870

Giti Tire Holdings

$560 M

1,700

Continental Tire

$504 M

1,700

Mercedes-Benz Vans

$500 M

1,300

Volvo Cars

$500 M

4,000

ZF Transmissions

$255 M

750

JTEKT Automotive

$232 M

275

$215.4 M

733

Tognum America

$62.5 M

30

Kimura

$14.2 M

169

$7.3 M

300

Schaeffler

Kongsberg Automotive

Source: S.C. Commerce Department *This includes aggregated data from companies that announced multiple projects.

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 4.6.15 Issue

April 6 - 19,

2015 • www.charle

stonbusines

s.com

Mount Pleasant plan

Startup cash

AOL co-founder Steve Case will visit Charleston to invest $100,000 in a startup. Page 3

By Andy Owens

aowens@scb

calls for higher

Volume 21, No.

8 • $2.00

taxes, lower dens ity

South Carolina, iznews.com and how many other places? were from uring a recent playing by and visit to Laurel Out of 22 students mary School, Hill flourish in the economic development Mount Pleasant Pri- from South Carolina, in one class, two can town of more were Linda Page Mayor other and the rest than 74,000.

She said only said the locations, including first-graders were from a handful of and second-gra kindergartners, Washington heard in the six her that the town, and she’s voices are being and one child from the state of tive town continues ders reminded hoping an initiato scale back from Ethiopia.

The visit grows. to change as commercia incentives and it term mayor, made an impression on decrease housingl development As she toured the first- bring who is struggling densities will more people to bring where they were classes, Page asked students opment issues under control so that develfrom. How many “Mount Pleasantto the table. meetings are planning were from manageable, become somewhat is a community that commercial has interests know developers and of a melting pot, and we’re the rules they are

D

See MOUNT

Global teams test humanoid robots at SPAWAR research range

The city of Charleston wants cycling to be safer on the peninsula.

Page 8

Director leaves

Charleston School of Law co-founder Ed Westbrook resigns from the board.

Page 15

Life-size, humanoid robots that are designed to enter disaster zones and save human lives tested their skills on a Goose Creek course in front of dozens of students who already program their own robots.

Full story, page 12

By Liz Segrist

A

Photo/Ashley Heffernan

See UNIONS,

By Ashley Heffernan

Regional Educati

on

A report on public Report disparities among education shows socioeconomic students of different and racial background INSIDE s.

University of California, Los Angeles Professor Dennis Hong, team leader for the Tactical Hazardous Operations Robot – Open Platform, answers questions from Lowcountry students while students from UCLA and the University of Pennsylvania watch the robot perform tasks. (Photo/Ashley Heffernan)

The University of Japan’s Aero robot practiced at a Goose Creek range.

(Photo/SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic)

I

magine sitting at your desk, chatting with your co-workers about an upcoming meeting, when the floor begins to rattle. Walls crack, and fluorescent lights snap off as they fall from the ceiling. Foundations rip apart, causing building after building to collapse.

An earthquake rearranges the Lowcountry.

Moments later, the quake initiates a tsunami that sends a 50-foot wave crashing onto the S.C. coast, leveling Charleston.

Rubble is all that remains after the water recedes.

Crushed Shem Creek shrimp boats litter the streets, bits of 787-10 Dreamliners lay scattered miles away from a destroyed Boeing S.C. assembly plant and waves bring wooden planks of old horse carriages to the shore.

Trapped in crumpled homes, beneath fallen debris and within smashed cars, survivors moan throughout the city.

Many will be saved only with the help of robots.

Teams of engineers from around the world are building life-size, humanoid robots programmed to enter disaster zones.

The idea is that they will assess damage, move wreckage and turn off valves — which could keep radioactive chemicals from seeping out of nuclear power plants and into the air or water, similar to what happened in the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan.

Twenty-two robot teams developed by academic institutions, defense con-

otherNEWSMAKERS During a visit to Laurel Hill Primary School, Mount Pleasant Mayor Linda Page said the students reminded her how the town continues to change as it grows when she asked where they were from. Out of 22 students, two were from S.C., and 20 were from other locations, including six from Washington state and one from Ethiopia.

24 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Page 10

lsegrist@scb iznews.com t a time when state union bership is at memits a contentiou lowest in a decade, s election this month at Boeing South will be held determine whether Carolina one of the state’s to gest manufactu bigrers will be unionized.

Through marketing efforts and ings over the meetpast tional Association several years, the Internaof Machinists space Workers and Aerohas rallied attracting more Boeing than 3,000 eligible workers, the April 22 voters for election.

While the Machinists union has inroads in the made Lowcountry, down more union rates than were year compared 40% in South Carolina last to data from with the year prior, according the U.S. Bureau tics. of Labor StatisAbout 2.2% 41,000 workers, of the state’s workforce, or were members 2014, down of unions from 3.7%, or 69,000 workers, in 2013. in

INSIDE

Upfront ................... ......... 2 In Focus: Education and Development Workforce ..................15 Lists: Private Schools .. 23 Colleges and Universities .................. 25 At Work ................... ...... 27 People in the News Business Digest ........ 27 Hot Properties ............. 27 ................

Viewpoint................... 30 .... 31

PLEASANT,

Union rates drop in S.C. as Boeing election approaches

Duany’s vision

A Miami-base d architect reviews Charleston’ building policies. s Page 6

People Pedal

tractors and private businesses in the United States, Japan, China, Hong Kong and the European Union tested their skills on a course in Goose Creek — at SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic’s Unmanned Systems Research Range on Joint Base Charleston — that was similar to the one they would go on to encounter at a U.S. Defense Department competition in California in June. cr bj

Page 5

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Me t. gS etin

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 4.20.15 Issue

April 20 - May

3, 2015 • www.charle

g led Ru t

Decades-long debate swirls around peninsula restrooms

Leveraging

data

Blue Acorn partners with Demandware, plans to hire 20 new employees.

Page 5

Research center

Lockheed Martin opens new North Charleston facility for information dominance. Page 9

Apple Pay

Conversation about payment technology may be changing.

Page 15

s

s.com

OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO

INSIDE Upfront ....................

In Focus: Banking ........ 2 and Finance .................

List: Banks ................... 15 At Work .................... 21 ..... 23 People in the News Business Digest ........ 23 Hot Properties ............. 23 ................

Viewpoint.................... 26 ... 27

9 • $2.00

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb to Boeing South izbews.com Carolina workers’ talk about the homes to he union election upcoming election their likelihood scheduled and to gauge port on April 22 so when 22 at Boeing to you go cast your ballot, South Carolina for April If the union vote “yes.” you know you’re to work to take place if does not feel the Internation might not support to going to be it has enough winning,” Evans said ation of Machinists win, al in a video union’s election and Aerospace Associ- its petition with it will consider withdrawin thinks it cannot website. “If there on the local Workers Board, the National g win. isn’t enough Labor Relations support during this effectively In the two weeks process, we leading up will considelection, according canceling the upcoming er withdrawing just the IAM has sent 125 organizersto the election, Mike to IAM lead more going forward.”to fall back and educate Evans. organizer door to door Just this month, “It’s imperative the IAM canceled that we have enough supits

T

See UNION,

For more than two decades, concerns about a lack of public restrooms south of Broad Street have plagued downtown Charleston.

City leaders think new signs and a mobile app pointing tourists to the 24 public restrooms on the peninsula will end the debate. But some residents think it’s time to return toilets to the bandstand at White Point Garden so the historic park can become a community venue again.

Full story, page

12

Photo/Ashley Heffernan

T

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb iznews.com

he Charleston region has been ing a decision awaitthe location from the Pentagon on of U.S. Africa headquarters Command for eight The wait is likely years.

Africa Command,to continue. one of the military’s known as AfriCom, six regional headquarter is It was created in 2007 when s.

W. Bush consolidate President d three regional George headquarter combat s into one.

AfriCom is responsible American military for coordinatin ing with nations affairs in Africa and work-g regional security, on the continent to build stability and capacity. crisis response The Departmen t of Defense command headquarter located the s in Stuttgart, ny, in 2007 with Germathe intent of manent site in the U.S. later. selecting a perbeen on the Charleston has short list of possible ing to a 2008 sites, accordstudy by the move has been Pentagon, but the stalled for years.

The Pentagon line for relocatinghas not determined a timethe AfriCom but members headquarter of ton city leaders the S.C. Legislature, Charles-s, and Charleston Metro ChamSee AFRICOM,

New Jasper

plan The Beach Co. wants to build residential, office and retail space at 310 Broad St. Page 14

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.

Ave Broad St. No Public Restrooms South of Broad Street

Public Restroom =

Photo/Ashley Heffernan

A

lfred Ray, who has been a tour guide on the Charleston peninsula since 1979, remembers going to White Point Garden as a child for family picnics and get-togethers. He fondly recalls running beneath the low-hanging branches of the large oak trees at The Battery and spending time with his mother as the breeze floated across the harbor.

Back then, restrooms below the bandstand were open to the public. With those now gone, Ray doesn’t think families will have those kinds of memories anymore.

“We’re going to have to have an adult conversation about restrooms south of Broad Street,” said Ray, immediate past president of the Charleston Tour Association. “One thing

Crush Rush / Shutterstock.com

otherNEWSMAKERS

26 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Page 6

➤

Legislators, cham ber continue AfriC om recruitment effort s

ve. eA

By Ashley Heffernan

stonbusines

Union, Boeing ramp up efforts prior to election Volume 21, No.

Airport upgrade

Consolidated security checkpoint opens at Charleston Internationa l.

Page 3

According to city maps, the Charleston peninsula has 24 public restrooms, mostly within parking garages. They are all located north of Broad Street.

(Map/Ryan Wilcox)

that makes Charleston such a special place is our long tradition of kind consideration of others. A lack of restrooms south of Broad, well there is no kind consideration there.”

Charleston leaders released an updated Tourism Management Plan and addressed the restroom topic by deciding to add signs pointing guests in the direction of restrooms. They also plan to create a free mobile application to help tourists find public facilities.

New signs in White Point Garden now send visitors to 24 restroom sites on the peninsula, including City Hall, which is now open on weekends after public comments during meetings about the new tourism plan. cr bj

Prior to announcing his run for president, international real estate mogul Donald Trump spoke to state treasurers during the national State Financial Officers Foundation meeting in Charleston. “I think Charleston is a fantastic place, becoming an unbelievable tourist destination, one of the finest in the country,” Trump said. “I like Charleston very much, and I like the people very much.”

Page 8

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NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 5.4.15 Issue

May 4 - May

17, 2015 • www.charle

stonbusines

s.com

Tech startups wan t flexible commer cial options Volume 21, No.

Biggest markets for port cargo

Data show largest commodities, trading partners for port.

Page

15

10 • $2.00

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb iznews.com Good Done Great President started the software Earl even moves company from Bridges Digital Corridor in three Island home his Daniel along with company That’s how many years. day and hired in 2012. He moved in Barach, times Good CEO David that his first employee Great has Done They who runs the Tacoma, that week.

Wash., office. The company operated created software ations since relocated its Charleston out of five oper- itable 2012 — and offices altogether Charleston giving easier that would make charit’s not the within Flagships different tech only 500 for 1 and companies like employees at Fortune downtown Charleston multiple moves. company to have to before relocating 2 in make and 2,500-square-foot clients IBM, Staples.

Monsanto to a “I remember office on Daniel Island.

Bridges looked walking in and at space at the thinking that Charleston

S

See OFFICE

Musicians, fed up with big labels, open own studio

What do you want from a

T

Page 3

Volvo or not?

Filing shows Berkeley County has economic development prospect that could bring 4,000 jobs.

Page 5

INSIDE Upfront ...................

In Focus: Ports, ......... 2 and Distribution Logistics ........... 15 List: Motor Freight Companies ...................

24 At Work ................... ...... 27 Business Digest Hot Properties ............. 27 ................ 29 People in the News ........ 30 Viewpoint................... .... 31

8

➤

IN THE Mix

Madam Adam bandmates Scott Alan Price started Gould their own recording (left) and West Ashley to distance themselves studio in labels and create from major homegrown music. Page 10 Photo/Hybrid

Audio Solutions

By Ashley Hefferna n aheffernan@ scbiznews.com

he days of having to charge a phone with mobile a cord, dial into a conference presentation call with a phone and send to be numbered. colleagues via email mighta Laura Blackmer, business-to-businesssenior vice president of sales for Sharp tronics Corp., Electhe future of gave a presentation about office Charleston Business work during the North Expo last About 175 exhibitors came month. long conference for the daythat drew hundreds nesses and of busientrepreneurs and see new to hear speakers technology Sharp is developing and office trends. a cloud-base form, tentatively d platcalled Centro, gather details that will from a Microsoft calendar, a Outlook Word document sentation, and or a Prezi preorganize it to manage workflow. help employees Blackmer described what she encounters each morning and said the when she arrives at work experience is practically same for many the office employees country. around the See SHARP,

By Ashley Heffernan

NEEDS, Page

Businesses see trends in offic wireless devicese,

job?

Company asks students.

Here’s how they answer.

Pages 2, 16

Union cancels vote at Boeing

The Machinists union could come back another election for in six months.

Conference puts focus on manufacturing

Page 6

➤

in State leaders, manufacturers, S.C. job seekers and developers, students flood TD Convention Greenville’s Center for conference Pages 16-17 .

Photo/Hybrid Audio Solutions

Photo/Alan Price

Charleston-based bandmates Scott Gould and Alan Price renovated a 2,000-square-foot facility in West Ashley and opened Hybrid Audio Solutions in January. The recording studio includes a central live tracking room (pictured) and three control rooms. (Photo/Hybrid Audio Solutions)

A

fter working with music producers at Capitol Records and Virgin Records, among others, Charleston musician Scott Gould finally got fed up with what he called their “relentless quests” and decided to open a studio and start a label with bandmate Alan Price.

“Screw those guys and their tall buildings and their fancy suits,” Gould said. “We can do it ourselves, and we can do it organically. I think that’s

where music is going. I think it’s going to be more homegrown instead of major, super-suit guys.”

Gould and Price, who are members of the rock band Madam Adam, leased a 2,000-square-foot facility in West Ashley and opened Hybrid Audio Solutions in January.

Inspiration for the studio came from a recording facility in Tennessee.

“We recorded a record in Nashville at Kent Wells’ place, which is where

Dolly Parton records her records,” Gould said. “It kind of gave us the idea of how to set this place up and get the best possible results. It’s all about hearing as clearly as possible in the recording process and in the mixing process.”

The pair recorded the Charleston Battery soccer team’s fight song with punk rock band First World Problem and has produced for country singer Mitchell Lee, rock band Unit 8 and alternative rock duo Ultra Lo-Fi. cr bj

otherNEWSMAKERS Citing “a toxic environment and gross violations of workers’ lawful organizing rights,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers withdrew its petition for a unionization election at Boeing South Carolina days before it was to occur. More than 3,100 workers at the 787 Dreamliner campus in North Charleston would have been eligible to vote.

Photo/Kim McM

anus

28 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Photo/Alan Price

Top: Madam Adam bandmates Scott Gould (left) and Alan Price started their own recording studio in West Ashley to distance themselves from major labels and create homegrown music. Musicians Tristina Miller (middle) and Todd Hutzler (bottom) play at Hybrid Audio Solutions.

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 5.18.15 Issue

May 18 - 31,

2015 • www.charle

Charleston sta rtups gain stonbusines

s.com

Dig South connec ts Southeast tech hubs to investors, ideas

S

tanfield Gray went to the Ad Age Digital ence in New York Conferby the innovators, City in 2011 and was inspired startups Web and digital companies that and forward-thinking “I came back presented the Southeast, and couldn’t believe this there. didn’t exist in particularly in Charleston, ” Gray said.

See DIG SOUTH,

Workforce, $204 million in incentives bring Volvo to S.C.

Page 6

➤

national attenti on Volume 21, No.

11 • $2.00

Case pushes S.C. startup enviro to cultivate nment

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb iznews.com

Gary Vaynerchuk of Dig South attendees.VaynerMedia talks marketing with (Photo/Adam Chandler)

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb iznews.com harleston almost didn’t make Case’s Rise of the cut for Steve the Rest roadshow.

Case, the co-founder Washington, of AOL D.C.-based venture capital and CEO of tion, is visiting firm Revolubudding tech to highlight hubs around entrepreneu the country rs outside of the tech giants of

C

ECONOMIC See CASE, Page

Valor in combat

National Medal of Museum opening Honor at Patriots Point. in 2018 Page 10

$101M project

Bennett Hospitality

building 185-room on former library hotel site.

Page 9

DRIVER V

Photo/Volvo

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb iznews.com olvos will now be built in South The Swedish automaker plansCarolina. manufactur to build the cedes-Benz Vans ing plant in Berkeley company’s first County, joining as S.C. automakers U.S. In one of the BMW and Mer. the Lowcountry largest economic developmen t announcem the Camp Hall , Volvo Cars said it plans ents ever made to invest $500 Tract in Ridgeville in decade. million in a and create 4,000 facility at jobs there over the next See VOLVO,

Another round

By Liz Segrist

➤

Workforce, $204 incentives bring million in Volvo to S.C.

INSIDE

Upfront .................... ........ 2 In Focus:

Human Capital List: Employee ............. 13 Benefits Brokers .......... 16 Executive Recruiting Firms .................... ........ 18 At Work .................... ..... 19 People in the News Business Digest ........ 21 Hot Properties ............. 22 ................

Viewpoint.................... 22 ... 23

8

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on Kiawah

The Wanamaker Trophy will once again be up for grabs at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course.

PGA officials earlier this month announced that the PGA Championship will return Island Golf Resort to the Kiawah in 2021. Page 5

V

olvos will now be built in South Carolina.

Volvo Cars, a Sweden-based, Chinese-owned automaker, plans to build the company’s first U.S. manufacturing plant in Berkeley County, joining BMW and Mercedes-Benz Vans as South Carolina-based automakers.

The announcement is one of the region’s largest economic development deals ever made, following Boeing, Benefitfocus and Daimler. Volvo plans to invest $500 million in a facility and create 4,000 jobs over the next decade.

The automaker will build on 2,880 acres at the 6,800-acre Camp Hall Tract in Ridgeville. The remaining land will be used for future industrial projects, Volvo suppliers or future Volvo expansions.

“The transformation of South Carolina into an advanced manufacturing state has just been an incredible change

that continues at a remarkable pace,” S.C. Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt said.

Construction of the Volvo plant began in early fall; the first vehicles are expected to roll off the assembly line in 2018.

The plant will have the initial capacity to produce up to 100,000 cars per year.

Volvo plans to build the S60 sedan at the S.C. plant. Volvo officials said they hope the plant will improve lagging U.S. sales.

Georgia and North Carolina were among the finalists for the plant. The recruitment process involved collaboration among numerous state agencies, meetings all over the state and in Sweden, $204 million in incentives and a rigorous site selection and vetting process.

“What I believe won Volvo Cars in South Carolina is our workforce. ... If we build it, we build it well. ... That’s something you can’t just find anywhere,” Gov. Nikki Haley said. cr bj

Graphic/Ryan Wilcox

Growing a workforce Volvo Cars has received more than 18,000 applications for the initial 2,000 job openings, said Lex Kerssemakers, Volvo Cars of North America president and CEO. The campus will employ up to 4,000 workers over time.

Similar to other advanced manufacturers, Volvo plans to partner with readySC and the state’s technical colleges to customize a workforce training program for the plant, which will

initially produce the S60 sedan.

Volvo also plans to build an on-site training center, though a timeline for that was not disclosed. Employees will travel to other Volvo facilities in Sweden and China to learn firsthand about Volvo operations, Kerssemakers said.

Katarina Fjording — who spent three years in China building two Volvo factories and is now general manager of Volvo Charleston — said creating a skilled automotive workforce pipeline is crucial for sustaining Volvo’s U.S. site.

Photo/Volvo

otherNEWSMAKERS Nine years after its first visit, the PGA Championship will return to Kiawah Island Golf Resort. The 103rd edition of the PGA Championship will be held in August 2021 at The Ocean Course.

The 2012 PGA Championship’s economic impact on S.C. was estimated at $193 million, according to a study by the College of Charleston School of Business and PGA of America data.

Photos/Ashley Heffernan

30 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 6.1.15 Issue

June 1 - 14,

2015 • www.charle

VOLVO VOLVO IN SOUTH

HOW SOUTH CAROLINA

37

the first the final decision

Gov. Nikki Haley talks about tense negotiations, site swap

CAROLINA

LANDED THE CAR

38

The Road The story of to Ridgeville the Volvo deal

A timeline charting

phone call to

44

MAKER

46

The ‘Volvo Effect’

How the state’s third car plant will grow the automotive sector

‘Change is coming’

Ridgeville residents see growth, jobs coming to their small town

THE ROAD TO RIDGEVILLE

Find in-depth reports on the deal that brought to S.C. and what’s Volvo Special Section: next.

Page 35

Animation growing despite exclusion from incentives

S.C. State issues

New board elects chairman, gets rundown of school’s problems.

Page 3

Building with collaboration

GreenBy3 works with contractors to manage projects, source material.

Page 11

stonbusines

s.com

Benefitfocus CEO give

By Ashley Hefferna

BEHIND THE SCENES

New digital production arts degrees in Charleston to help local filmmakers develop a talent pipeline, but animators might be stuck in the fundraising without access phase to state incentives.

Page 6

INSIDE Upfront ................... ......... 2 In Focus: Architecture , Engineering and Construction ................ 11 List: Architecture Firms ................... ......... 26 At Work ................... ...... 31 People in the News Business Digest ........ 31 Hot Properties ............. 31 ................ 34

Volume 21, No.

12 • $2.00

s $25M for child ren’s hospital

n aheffernan@ rights to the scbiznews.com hospital, according Vice President to MUSC he CEO of Daniel who made the for Development Jim Fisher, Fisher said.

Island-based ware company announcem softThe hospital’s ent in mid-May. Benefitfocu “The university’s goal is to raise $25 million naming guidelines from donors to the Medical s donated ulate that ty of South prior to constructio $50 million any person stip- payment UniversiCarolina for or entity providing n as a on the $350 its new children’s least half the philanthro hospital and at far, about million price down women’s pavilion. pic funding to execute any $40 million tag. So Shawn Jenkins capital improveme needed The new hospital has been pledged. will receive nt here at full naming MUSC becomes eligible will be named Shawn Jenkins to have his name placed the MUSC Children’s Hospital. or her on that capital improvement, It will ”

T

A still image from one of Moondog Animation Studio’s Orbie for Orphans animated episodes.

See MUSC, Page

➤

C

By Ashley Hefferna n aheffernan@ scbiznews.com

harleston School open and accept of Law will remain new first-year dents in stusome downsizing the fall, but there will be .

A cost-cutting initiative is institution to remain open, allowing the man Andy Brack school spokessaid May 22.

“The school’s landlords ing with the school in efforts are cooperatfacilities. Also, to consolidate reduce the size the school’s yearlong effort level consistent of the faculty and staff to to a with the reduced enrollment will continue and begin to ary impact in September,” have a budgetemailed statement.

Brack said in an Since last May, faculty members 24 staff members and four have left the buyouts, voluntary school through attrition, according separation packages and A news release to Brack. from the school with these right-sizing said, “Even efforts, continued to outstrip revenues.” expenses still An additional terminated the seven faculty members were day “It’s been hard of the announcement. to lose these our staff and members of faculty, but it’s been a necessary See SCHOOL

CHARLESTON UNDE R CONSTRUCTION

By Ashley Heffernan

8

Charleston Scho ol of Law cutting faculty, facilities

OF LAW, Page

9

➤

Who is building Projects, companies what in the Charleston area? , prices, projected timelines, photos and stories.

Page 11

The Moondog Animation Studio team created short, animated episodes for Orbie for Orphans. The group plans to use the episodes to help orphans and foster children learn about compassion and deal with abandonment and anxiety issues.

(Still images/Moondog Animation Studio)

South Carolina film production incentives Robert Geist (from left), a professor at Clemson University, works with students Christian Weeks and Jenny Thompson in a digital production arts lab. (Photo/Clemson)

C

harleston’s art crowd, combined with its growing technology sector, is setting the scene for an emerging film industry.

Robert Geist, a Clemson University professor and interim director of the school’s digital production arts program, said that to make a film, you need a “Leonardo da Vinci — an artist and a scientist in one body.”

Next year, Geist will teach at Clemson’s new Zucker Family Graduate Education Center on the former naval shipyard in North Charleston. The $21.5 million facility, which is scheduled to open in fall 2016, will offer a doctorate in computer science and a master’s degree in digital production arts.

For Bryan Ransom, co-founder and CEO of Moondog Animation Studio based in Mount Pleasant, the entry of a trained local workforce is going to help him build the “ecosystem” he needs to create his animated film, called Hi5.

“We’re trying to create a talent pipeline for ourselves, which doesn’t benefit just us. It’s the state as well,” he said.

The state offers rebates, tax exemptions and tax credits to feature films, documentaries, TV programs, sound recordings, videos, music videos, commercials, videogames and digital media.

But reality shows and animated films don’t qualify, according to Duane Parrish, director of the S.C. Department of

otherNEWSMAKERS

Shawn Jenkins speaks at MUSC. (Photo/Ashley Heffernan)

The new hospital will be named the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital. (Rendering/ McMillan Pazdan Smith Architects)

32 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Parks, Recreation and Tourism, which oversees the S.C. Film Commission.

“There is no tourism value to animation,” Parrish said.

Ransom said he thinks animated films should qualify too.

“When I gear up for Hi5, I have a 150-man crew that live in the state over a three-year period, and I try to keep them on for the second film and continue the business and raise it up to 250 (crew members) for the second film,” he said. “I’m putting good people to work, raising their families here. It’s developing in the community.” cr bj

For productions that spend at least $1 million in South Carolina: • 25% rebate on all in-state wages • 20% rebate on all out-of-state wages • 30% rebate on supplies purchased, rented or leased from S.C. suppliers For productions that spend at least $250,000 in South Carolina: • 6% to 8.5% exemption of state sales taxes on purchases, rentals and leases from S.C. suppliers • Pay no location fee to film on state-owned properties Other incentives: • 20% income tax credit of taxpayer’s cash investment in development or production of a single South Carolina motion picture (limited to $100,000 per taxpayer; all credits cannot reduce a taxpayer’s income tax liability by more than 50% for any given year) • 20% income tax credit for construction, conversion or equipping of a motion picture production or post-production facility (total credits claimed by all taxpayers may not exceed $5 million in single facility; credits cannot reduce a taxpayer’s income tax liability by more than 50% for any year) • 10% income tax credit for companies that produce commercials in S.C. (must invest more than $500,000 during a calendar year; total amount allowed to all production companies each year cannot exceed $1 million)

The CEO of Daniel Island-based software company Benefitfocus donated $25 million to the Medical University of South Carolina for its new children’s hospital and women’s pavilion. The new hospital, to be located off Calhoun Street between Courtenay Drive and the new McClennan Banks Court, will be named the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital and is expected to open in 2019.

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 6.15.15 Issue

June 15 - 28,

2015 • www.charle

Legal discove

ry

S.C. shrimp boat captains expect large harvest

stonbusines

s.com

Legislature post pones medical marijuana Volume 21, No.

What’s Montan got on S.C.? a

S.C. would have thousands more small businesses if it had a comparable rate to Montana’s. ownership Page 2 Interim president named at Charleston School Law as bar associationof makes site visit.

Page 11

What Charles lawyers earn ton

Starting salaries in Lowcountry among in South Carolina. lowest Page 11

J

Hauling ’em in Last year, trawlers landed 1.6 million shrimp, valued pounds of at more of S.C. A mild winter than $8 million, off the coast above $9 million. could push this year’s harvest Page 6

bill

Page 8

Jasper plan rejected despite shorter tower

T

INSIDE Upfront .................... ........ 2 In Focus: Law............. .. 13 List: Law Firms ............ 16 At Work .................... ..... 19 People in the News Business Digest ........ 19 Hot Properties ............. 19 ................

Viewpoint.................... 22 ... 23 Heffernan

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By Ashley Hefferna n aheffernan@ scbiznews.co m

See JASPER,

Volvo’s big

By Ashley Heffernan

See MARIJUANA,

he Beach Co.’s Sergeant Jasperthird proposal for the site in downtown Charleston was denied month by the earlier this city’s Board Review. of Architectur al The board had deferred the redevelopment controversia l marily on an plan on May 13, based pri18-story, 214-foot tower. But reducing residential the tower to 159 feet tall 13 floors, or — the Sergeant Jasper same height as the current was not enough building on Broad Street — or many area to convince board members residents of the project’s the neighborho fit for od.

Beach Co. CEO John Darby disappointed said he was with the vote, plan incorporate adding d feedback from that the 50 meetings more than with ervation groups neighborhood and presover a span He said the of eight years. company remains developing a “quality project.” committed to None of The Beach Co.’s welcomed by plans has been the majority of meeting had to be deferred the public. One because an angry

Boeing cleared from complai

nt National Labor Relations Board drops accusation brought by Machinists union. Page 15

Photo/Ashley

13 • $2.00

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb iznews.com “That is something I will Jayden said. ayden Kozak, “She would have never forget,” “Look at my 11, so many seizures sister now,” Jayden stop breathing has seen his little sister it was very difficult to a medical marijuana be her big brother.” from epileptic said during Robynn Kozak, many times seizures so that Sophia cannabidioltheir mother, started giving Statehouse steps. “Sherally last month on the Seven-year-old he stopped counting. is able oil, a substance the CBD oil, Sophia Kozak so frequently she could not to walk. Before derived had seizures from marijuana plants. The that walk up those treatment helped. stairs. ... Look at her ing and smiling. she stopped walking, speak- Sophia now has a now. She is few seizures the hundreds joyful. She a day, but not has a smile on her face. a The S.C. Legislature” most of her life. day she had experienced for and Gov. Nikki Haley

Page 5

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play

New models, rebranding figure automaker’s Berkeley County into plan.

Page 3

Photo/Kathy

Allen

Capt. Wayne Magwood, aboard the Winds of Fortune in Shem Creek, divides shrimp into buckets before weighing his catch. Magwood, who has been in the business for about 40 years, said a successful day on the water means pulling in at least 500 pounds of shrimp.

(Photo/Ashley Heffernan)

Lewis Howard, a deckhand on the Winds of Fortune, pulls the heads off shrimp caught off the S.C. coast. The commercial shrimp trawling season opened in the general trawl zone waters May 27. (Photo/Ashley Heffernan)

C

apt. Wayne Magwood was up at 3 a.m. on a Saturday in June. An hour later, he and a crew of three were floating through Shem Creek on the Winds of Fortune heading for shrimp territory.

On the way out, they cooked shrimp and grits for breakfast on a small stove in the galley while sitting around a table adorned with photographs of familyowned vessels trawling in open water.

By noon that day, they were docked

again in the creek with hundreds of pounds of shrimp waiting to be divvied up, weighed and sold straight from the deck behind The Wreck of the Richard and Charlene restaurant.

Magwood’s first customer walked away with 50 pounds of shrimp — heads on — in a pair of coolers, while the next debated whether 100 pounds or 150 pounds would be enough. Lewis Howard was busy heading shrimp on a nearby table for customers who wanted

to pay a premium.

In 2014, about 1.6 million pounds of shrimp, measured with heads off, were landed off the S.C. coast, with a dockside value of just over $8 million, state reports show. The previous year, the harvest was valued at $5.9 million.

The 2015 commercial shrimp trawling season opened in the state’s general trawl zone waters on May 27. Mel Bell, director of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Fish-

eries Management, predicted the harvest could reach $9 million for the first time, but that depends on several factors.

“We could have a bumper year for landings, but if prices are driven down due to lots of product on the market overall, our guys can still not do as well,” Bell said. “What would be ideal for them, of course, would be sustained relatively high prices and abundant shrimp.” cr bj

otherNEWSMAKERS South Carolina legalized cannabidiol oil in 2014 to treat severe cases of epilepsy. This year, a group of families and legislators pushed for legalization of medical marijuana and expanded access for patients. Two bills created a framework to regulate the industry, including registering patients and opening dispensaries. The debate is expected to resume in 2016.

34 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Jayden Kozak, standing with his sister, Sophia, and mother, Robynn, says cannabidiol oil helped decrease his sister’s seizures dramatically.

(Photo/Liz Segrist)

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 6.29.15 Issue

June 29 - July

12, 2015 • www.charle

stonbusines

s.com Volume 21, No.

Confederate flag removed from Statehouse grounds

Winery for sale

A cool $1.6 million get you the winery; will the Firefly distillery is part of the deal. not Page 6

Up close at auto auctionan

The cars and the action move fast and furious in the controlled chaos of an auto auction.

Page 17

INSIDE In Focus: Disaster Preparedness ................. 9 List: Office Supply and Equipment Companies At Work ................... .. 14 ...... 19 People in the News Business Digest ........ 19 ............. 19 Viewpoint................... .... 23

S

Photo/Liz Segrist

REDEFINING MO

Days after a gunman fatally shot nine people in a Charleston church, state lawmakers voted to keep the legislative session open to discuss the removal of the Confedera te battle flag, which the suspect charged in the shootings was seen displaying in photos on several websites. Many business and political leaders across the state support the effort.

Hundreds of people Full story, Page flooded the support for 2 Statehous removing to offer support

Dennis

By Ashley Hefferna n aheffernan@ scbiznews.com

ome downtown Charleston bars might start staying open until 3 a.m. as soft closings a test to see whether would help the nightlife industry and nearby residents mingle. comAt a meeting June 16, Charleston’ 21-person late-night s activity review committee proposed soft private security closings, prepaid parking in parking garages, tality employees, vouchers for hospia nonprofit and a special-exc group eption zoning, among other suggestions.

Soft closings would be tested 90-day pilot program beginningin a September, in when a one-year torium is set morato would require expire. The program participatin owners to stop g bar remove drinks serving alcohol and the traditional from tables at 2 a.m., closing time, the establishme but keep nt open until 3 a.m.

Committee member Daniels said the idea is for Marvetta patrons to trickle out of the bars during hour instead of experiencin the extra g the mass exits that currently Chris DiMattia,occur at 2 a.m. owner of Recovery Room on King Street, The he will participate said in the pilot gram. pro“When you to leave at 2 have everyone trying a.m., it is, it’s of everyone just fighting a cluster as they hit the street for that soon as or everyone first cab, is in a rush to get to the

MENT

e grounds the Confeder to show ate battle their for keeping it up. (Photo/Ci flag. Some also came apha Dennis)

See BARS, Page

By Liz Segrist and Ashley Heffernan

Photo/Ciapha

14 • $2.00

Soft closings, new zoning possible for late-night bars

Profiles in Business

Your guide to businesses and entrepreneu rs making an impact on the local, regional and economies. Inside state

Bullets that community tore through

8

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changed it forever Remembering the nine who lost their lives the local community and that pulled of a tragedy.

Viewpoint, Pagestogether in light 22-23

On July 10, an honor guard from the S.C. Highway Patrol lowered the Confederate flag from its pole on the Statehouse lawn. The flag flew atop the Capitol dome for nearly 40 years and was moved to the Statehouse grounds in 2000. (Photo/Ashley Heffernan)

O

n the night of June 17, eight black parishioners and the Rev. Clementa Pinckney were sitting within Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston for a Bible study when a white man shot them to death.

Dylann Storm Roof, 21, has been charged with the crime. Discussion about the Confederate flag’s placement on the Statehouse grounds reached a boiling point after the shootings. Roof flaunted the flag.

Many business executives pushed for its removal, saying it could harm the state’s image or dissuade businesses from moving operations to the state. But

Photo/Ashley

among other legislators, business leaders and residents, strong opposition remained.

Sen. Paul Thurmond, R-Charleston, said sometimes good ideas come from ugly beginnings: “I think the time is right and the ground is fertile for us to make progress as a state and to come together and remove the Confederate battle flag from the prominent statue outside the Statehouse and put it in a museum,” he said. “It is time to acknowledge our past, atone for our sins and work towards a better future. That future must be built on symbols of peace, love and unity. That future cannot be built on

Heffernan

symbols of war, hate and divisiveness.”

Gov. Nikki Haley held a news conference calling for the flag’s removal on June 22. Lawmakers discussed it the next day while hundreds of people rallied outside, chanting “Take it down.” The flag had flown atop the Capitol dome for nearly 40 years and on Statehouse grounds for the past 15 years.

Three weeks after the shooting, the S.C. Legislature voted to remove the flag. It was taken down July 10, in front of thousands of onlookers.

“150 years after the end of the Civil War, the time has come,” Haley said. cr bj

otherNEWSMAKERS After a year of regulatory pingpong surrounding Uber’s controversial entree into the state in summer 2014, the S.C. Legislature passed a law regulating the transportation app’s operations. Gov. Nikki Haley signed it into law within a week. Uber angered taxi drivers and municipalities who said Uber did not have to adhere to the same regulations. Uber has since surpassed 1 million rides in S.C. 36 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 7.13.15 Issue

July 13 - 26,

2015 • www.charle

President attends for Sen. Clementa funeral Pinckney. Page 9

Offer rejected

Breakaway churches say no to settlement offer from national church.

Page 26

Upper peninsula attracts commercial developments

T

INSIDE Upfront ................... ......... 2 In Focus: Commercial and Residential Real List: CommerciaEstate ..11 l Real Estate Companies At Work ........................... 25 ...... 27 People in the News Business Digest ........ 27 Hot Properties ............. 27 ................

Viewpoint................... 30 .... 31

new owner See CSOL, Page

Building up business

As commerci

al space tightens in much of downtown developers build high-dens Charleston, ity, mixed-use Crosstown Expresswa projects near y and along the upper peninsula. the

Full story, Page

Within a few blocks of each other, three mixeduse commercial spaces — the Cigar Factory, Courier Square and Midtown — are under construction. Half Mile North is expanding along upper Meeting Street.

Three other developments — Flagship 3, the Pacific Box & Crate project and WestEdge — are in the planning stages. Magnolia, a master-planned community, is also projected for the Neck area.

Stephen Zoukis of the Raven Cliff Co., which owns several swaths on the upper peninsula, said the land around upper Meeting Street and Morrison Drive was bustling with warehouses and car dealerships a

11

B

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb iznews.com

y 2020, the city have spent more of Charleston will than $243 million drainage on ongoing floodingprojects since 1990 to solve problems on Many developme the peninsula. nts, houses sit on top of creeks and waterwaysand streets filled in the that were 1700s and 1800s, utes to today’s flooding issues. which contrib“Approximately half of the filled land and those are mostly peninsula is flood,” said Laura Cabiness, the places that director and public service engineer for the ton. “When they filled those city of Charlesdidn’t fill quite high enough.” creeks in, they The peninsula water and only is flat, mostly surrounded a tides can lead few feet above sea level. by High to because there more flooding when it rains is less area into can drain, according which the rain to a city presentatio The flooding n. ous for businesses,can be costly and dangerhomeowners, drivers. schools and See FLOODING,

few decades ago, but many have since relocated to the suburbs. Now he sees a growing shift back toward urban living, and developers are eyeing the other side of the Crosstown.

“This is the next up-and-coming area of Charleston for the next 50 years,” Zoukis said.

Robert Clement, president of CC&T Real Estate, said he expects office developments to continue on the other side of the Crosstown.

“It is now spreading out, and we are seeing a new world on upper Morrison Drive and the upper peninsula,” Clement said. cr bj

a mixed-use create WestEdge, alth care The city plans to he ’s pport the area development to su (Rendering/WestEdge) s. or ct se and biotech

fice rth, a group of of loped Half Mile No Drive. (Photo/Liz Segrist) ve de .

Co iff Cl n rison Rave urants along Mor buildings and resta

otherNEWSMAKERS The Charleston Trident Association of Realtors launched a multiple listing service specifically for commercial real estate.

Commercial brokers and agents were using a residential real estate platform. The new S.C. Commercial Multiple Listing Service includes custom reports, listing presentations, market statistics, mobile access and search and mapping tools.

6

City works to alleviate downtown flooding

Beach Co. fights

t at d-use developmen Midtown, a mixe streets, ng Ki d an g rin the corner of Sp ist) ll. (Photo/Liz Segr opened in the fa

38 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

15 • $2.00

Jasper decision After the Charleston Board of Architectura Review rejected l the latest plan the developer for The Jasper, appealed the decision in circuit court. Page 22

with four-story building Corridor plans a al . git ps Di rtu n to sta les ch ar te r e fo The Ch g-term office spac short-term and lon n Architect) xo Di (Rendering/Rush

The previously ory vacant Cigar Fact d an at Columbus East Bay streets ted has been renova ent ev d an e fic of into iz /L to space. (Pho Segrist)

s.com

By Ashley Hefferna

n aheffernan@ scbiznews.com Harbaugh was in 2003 to write a member of a team chosen lthough he’s “The one word been the Charleston S.C. Commissio a fact-finding report for we insisted School of Law’s the report be put when deciding n on Higher Education to was ‘naive,’ ” only a month, interim president for use knew if the school Harbaugh said. in that should be The team nothing about Joseph Harbaugh “They known from legal its has school’s reviewed a plan proposedlicensed. didn’t know anything about education. They in for a bumpy founding that the school was Edward owners: Robert Carr, George by the it.” ride.

He said the Westbrook, Ralph McCullougKosko, know how to five owners didn’t appear Alex Sanders. develop the to h and school into a long-

A

Driving Uber

S.C. law provides guidelines for transportation network companies. Page 10

Home prices

Median residential up prices jump $15,000 in one month. Page 18

By Liz Segrist he upper peninsula of Charleston is poised for the next wave of commercial development.

As space gets constrained on the peninsula, developers and investors are looking for older buildings they can revamp or tracts of land they can buy on both sides of the Crosstown Expressway.

Most large commercial developments underway in the area include mixed-use, higher-density buildings along Morrison Drive and upper King and Meeting streets with office, retail, event and restaurant spaces.

Residential units are built into some of these developments or alongside them.

stonbusines

Law school pres ident on the hun t for Volume 21, No.

Obama speaks in Charleston

Page 5

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NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 7.27.15 Issue

July 27 - August

9, 2015 • www.charle

Tech roundup

Investors plan to jump-start Magnolia project

stonbusines

s.com

Investors plan to jump-start Mag nolia project Volume 21, No.

Flag taken down

Confederate battle flag removed from grounds of S.C. Statehouse .

Page 3

Updates and news from Charleston’s fast-growing technology sector.

Page 16

Liability shift

Retailers urged to upgrade card readers to handle new chip technology.

Page 13

Lowcountry

POLITICA

PRESEASONL Full story, Page

A

T

8

life

Charleston region among the nation’s expensive places most to live.

Page 2

Upfront ................... .......... 2 In Focus: Technology and Innovation .............. 13 Lists: IT Services and Networking Companies .. 22 Business Telecom Companies ................... . 24 At Work ................... ....... 27 People in the News Business Digest ......... 27 Hot Properties .............. 27 .................

Viewpoint................... 30 ..... 31

Photo/Ciapha

paved bridge with a pedestrian path leads from downtown Charleston to a destination that was never built.

The 182-acre site was supposed to be a bustling, mixed-use development by now. But instead of leading to the large Magnolia project, designed to be an extension of downtown, the 7-year-old bridge ends at huge, vacant lots between the Ashley River and Interstate 26. Some of its lights still come on at night.

See MAGNOLIA,

Page 5

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Downtown startu want faster, cheapps Internet servic er e

South Carolina eager to stand has seen an influx of presidential out by nailing hopefuls And it’s just down an early primary getting started. state.

INSIDE

By Liz Segrist

16 • $2.00

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb ect, designed iznews.com to the 7-year-old be an extension of downtown, paved bridge bridge ends Many of the at between the with a pedestrian parcels are Ashley River huge, vacant lots sites, leads from downtown path Some now brownfield meaning the and Interstate of its lights still Charleston to Environme destination come on at night. 26. Agency has a Large slabs found that they ntal Protection The 182-acre that was never built. of concrete contain hazardsite was supposed remains of and crumbling ous pollutants or contaminan bustling, mixed-use buildings to be removed before ts instead of leading development by now. a ti. They are remnants are covered in graffiredevelopment that must be In the early 2000s, of former industrial to the large Magnolia But plants that can occur. polluted the city officials proj- and of investors surrounding and groups waterways. saw the area land as a place the city

A

Dennis

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb iznews.com

he lack of high-speed , affordable Internet in parts of could hinder downtown Charleston the tech to grow there, according to sector’s ability of tech firms and incubators. several founders Better access number of tech could create a boom in the insula and give workers coming to the penin recruitmen the area a competitive edge t, said Chris O’Rourke, CEO Soteria, a security of consulting and ics firm in downtown data analytCharleston.

“These days you can start ness anywhere, a high-tech busiBusinesses flockas your customers are global. to high speed, comfortable living,” O’Rourke low costs and we are losing said. “I’d argue out to a lot of other cities of this. As someone that moved here because Francisco — from the heart of startups — I’ve San what impacts seen this has had.”

When The Harbor Entrepreneur co-founder Center’s John Osborne signed a five-year lease for the space at 633 Crosstown Expressway King St. near the , he said he realize he would did not not Startups leasing have fast Internet access. space at the companies center and in boot camp were the center’s entrepreneu rial frustrated with the DSL. One See INTERNET,

Page 20

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Behind schedul

e

Drainage issues Rutledge Avenue on have delayed Colonial million renovation,Lake’s $5 which is expected to be complete in late February.

Page 6

Large slabs of concrete and the crumbling remains of buildings are covered in graffiti. They are remnants of former industrial plants that polluted the surrounding land and waterways. Many of the parcels are brownfield sites, meaning the Environmental Protection Agency has found that they contain hazardous pollutants or contaminants that must be removed before redevelopment can occur.

In the early 2000s, city officials and groups of investors saw the area as a place the city could grow into — one that could handle more-dense developments, said Yvonne Fortenberry, Charleston’s deputy planning director.

Ashley I LLC and Ashley II of Charleston LLC, along with their main financial backer, Cherokee Investment Partners, began acquiring the land for Magnolia in 2003 with plans to create a large neighbor-

hood with homes, offices, hotels and parks.

Then the recession hit. Ashley I and Ashley II defaulted on their loan in 2010. Plans came to a halt.

Today, WestRock Land and Development, formerly MWV, along with Atlanta investors Branch Properties LLC and Pope & Land Enterprises, hope to reignite the project and close on the property next year. Lingering environmental issues and related litigation are holding up progress.

If built, Magnolia would have 3,500 residential units, 850,000 square feet of office space, 420,000 square feet of retail space, 690 hotel rooms and several parks, according to city records.

“I think it’s a logical extension of the North Morrison area. We would expect it to have an urban feel as opposed to suburban,” said Ken Seeger, WestRock Land and Development president. “We hope to have a fun, vibrant neighborhood once it’s fully developed.

That’s today’s vision for it.” cr bj

The “bridge to nowhere” leads from a downtown Charleston neighborhood to a gravel road and vacant lots where the mixed-use Magnolia development stalled out as the recession hit. The project is gaining momentum again with new investors. (Photos/Liz Segrist)

otherNEWSMAKERS Every four years, South Carolina hosts an influx of presidential candidates eager to stand out by nailing down an early primary state — and those presidential hopefuls impact the S.C. economy. The state’s 2012 Republican presidential primary produced about $31 million in economic activity, a report by S.C. Republican Party chair Matt Moore found.

40 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spoke at Trident Technical College in North Charleston.

(Photo/Ciapha Dennis)

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 8.10.15 Issue

August 10 -

23, 2015 • www.charle

Area growth

A breakdown of population density and median income by ZIP code.

Page 2

Donor steps

up

Anonymous donation keeps local Big Brothers Big Sisters program open.

Page 3

Park dispute

Family tradition of giving drives Destiny Community Cafe creators

Citizens debate plans for a cafe and event space at Hampton Park.

Page 4

stonbusines

CARTA undergo es managemen t transition s.com

Volume 21, No.

17 • $2.00

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb Mitchum, the iznews.com council’s executive is the new director, executive director he Charleston sit authority, Area Regional of the tran- after the agreement was portation Authority according Trans- CARTA approved, said a statement. is undergoing Summey, also board approved to an agreement the in major transition County Council the in June.

The change in as a new agency a executive director Chairman, did Charleston leadership is and costs not return intended to cut calls seeking comment. for the agency As of July 1, take the helm.

CARTA is run Jeff Burns, as well as provide through shared resources, ley-Charleston-Dorche who by the more regional interim executive has served as CARTA’s ster Council Berke“CARTA will routes. ernments through director since fundament will remain Sept. 30, 2016, of Gov- the coming June 2014, with the months,” Elliott ally change in and and Ron operations manageragency as planning stepped down Summey, who as board chairman and as lead on the a few weeks

T

Everyone eats

See CARTA,

A

Flying high

Beverly Wyse, new head of Boeing S.C., talks career, diversity and Dreamliners.

Page 9

INSIDE Upfront ................... .......... 2 In Focus: Aerospace ....... 9 Lists:

Recycling Companies ... 30 Aviation and Aerospace Companies .. 32 Regional Airports .......... 33 At Work ................... ....... 35 People in the News Business Digest ......... 35 Hot Properties .............. 35 .................

Viewpoint................... 38 ..... 39

Photo/Ciapha

Dennis

By Ashley Hefferna n aheffernan@ scbiznews.com

partnership announced in late July between Boeing Roper St. Francis South Carolina and Health Alliance another Lowcountr has y health care worried that company services will be duplicated.

Beginning Jan. South Carolina 1, more than 6,000 Boeing dents, which employees — and their depencould top 15,000 ance enrollees — will choose health insurhealth care between two plans Blue Cross Blue currently offered through Shield and two through the plans offered Roper The newly created St. Francis Health Alliance. alliance includes Francis and Roper more than 600 St. cians at 228 tri-county physiseparate locations.

Beverly Wyse, Boeing South president and general manager, Carolina vice ance partnership said the allipersonal health is “more comprehen sive, employee betweencare” that could save each $350 and $1,000 average. a year on About 3,000 seeing providersBoeing enrollees are currently affiliated with mary Care Physicians, Palmetto Priaccording cians group’s CEO, Dr. Richard to the physiLauve. If those See HEALTH

By Ashley Heffernan

CARE, Page

5

Meet 40 of the Charleston region’s best and brightest young professio nals. Page 13

Ra’Gina Saunders (left) and Vina Scott work in the Destiny Community Cafe kitchen. (Photos/Ashley Heffernan and Ciapha Dennis)

G

iving away food runs in the family tree of Ra’Gina Saunders.

“I can remember as a little girl, when I was 7, my grandmother used to give me a plate of food wrapped in aluminum foil, and she’d tell me, ‘Take this down the street to Mrs. So-and-So. She’s not feeling well,’ ” Saunders said. “I’d walk down the street with the little plate, knock on the door and give it to the person.”

Her maternal grandmother, Ruth Scott, worked in the mess hall at the Charleston Naval Base and was known for always having plenty of food for the community.

“That’s the kind of family we had.

Her house was the house that everybody would go to. They could bring extra friends home from college, and she had that magic, supernatural pot that just kept going until everybody was full,” Saunders said. “We’ve got that pot in the kitchen now.”

Saunders and her family opened South Carolina’s first pay-what-you-can restaurant, Destiny Community Cafe, in North Charleston in the spring.

Their “supernatural” pot is staying busy.

“We really feel a need for that com-

otherNEWSMAKERS

Jeff Burns served as CARTA’s interim director for about one year.

Burns has continued as the transit agency’s planning and operations manager. (Photo/Liz Segrist)

42 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

munity nurturing to continue on. We just grew up that way, and we want to continue to see our community have that same spirit,” she said. “We hope that we can pass that along.”

Destiny Community Cafe opened April 6 inside the family-owned Scott’s Grand Reception and Corporate Center at 5060 Dorchester Road in North Charleston. With no outside signage, people typically show up for lunch based on word-of-mouth recommendations, Saunders said.

“It’s soul food, and everyone gets full,” she said.

Page 8 ➤

Physicians grou p, Roper disagree on Boeing contract

No bill is left on the no cash registers table, and there are at Destiny Community Cafe in North Charleston. Diners leave as little can or as much as they want in an envelope after finishing food lunch. Page their soul 6

No bill is left on the table after the meal, and there are no cash registers.

There are just empty envelopes inviting customers to pay what they can and drop the donation in a box as they leave. The suggested donation is $10 per meal.

“Everybody eats with dignity,” she said. “We’re averaging between 20 and 30 each day. Sometimes it’s more.”

Saunders said some people don’t pay anything and instead do volunteer work to pay for their meals; others pay $10 each trip. Some pay far more as a way of paying it forward. cr bj

In an effort to cut costs and provide more regional routes through shared resources, the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority underwent a major transition. CARTA is now run by the BerkeleyCharleston-Dorchester Council of Governments, and Ron Mitchum, the council’s executive director, is the new executive director of the transit authority.

➤

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 8.24.15 Issue

August 24 -

September 6,

Cold capacit

y

A mayor’s perspective: 40 years of changing Charleston

2015 • www.charle

stonbusines

Port of Charleston adding cold-storage cargo capacity to handle growth.

Page 8

Fastest-growin

Lowcountry companies g make the Inc. 5000 list.

Page 45

Trending up

Lease rates increase in the Charleston area’s industrial real estate market.

Page 47

INSIDE

By Ashley Hefferna

Volume 21, No.

pushing for new system funding model 18 • $2.00

n aheffernan@ the board of scbiznews.co m Trident’s Area given approval Commission or the past has pay for for four personnel. The For more than her to pursue changing has been allocated years, state funding it. more 30 years, state got, the more to South Carolina’s allocated to the funds teachers you’ve students you’ve 16 technical technical colleges were more librarians,” got primarily on enrollment figures colleges mostly based Thornley said. to have, the based a three-year on of enrollment The funding rolling average Trident Technicalfrom 2003-2004. formula was figures, which reviewed in quently, according College President fluctuate fre- and 2009, by different Thornley said 2005 committees, Mary to Thornley. and both For instance, times, the committees chose System’s base the S.C. Technical College Trident Tech’s enrollment funding model historical formula, to stay with in fall 2003 the is not fair, and 11,791. It was just over according to was 16,000 by fall In 2010, however, Thornley.

“The state appropriati 2014. a committee on is designed without a to

F

Riley’s Legacy

Special section,

Upfront ...................

Special Section: .......... 2 Mayor Joe Riley ...................

At Work ................... .... 13 ....... 51 People in the News Business Digest ......... 51 Hot Properties .............. 51 .................

Viewpoint................... 54 ..... 55

O

Page 13

stands on the

stage of the

newly renovated

By Liz Segrist

See TECH FUNDING,

Dock Street Theatre

2015 Market

Page 5

➤

3-D printer used to replace miss ing Yorktown parts

By Ashley Hefferna n aheffernan@ scbiznews.com

ne of the most commonly items aboard stolen the USS Yorktown Patriots Point at are the tect parts of the aircraft carrier’scaps that proered phone system. sound-powWhen a phone’s earpiece is not the phone jack plugged in, is left exposed — including to the elements salt rode the system water, which could easily cor— Those caps are unless a cap is fitted over it. a favorite souvenir visitors to the among Patriots Point time Museum.

Naval and Marithe years, and Many have gone missing over there used to to replace them. be only one way “We actually had to take balled fleets trips to mothto ships and see go through decommiss ioned if we could get find them,” Patriots Point lucky enough to exhibit technician Brian Parsons said.

Those trips aren’t necessary that a 3-D printer anymore now has been brought Stewart Flood, onboard.

Patriots Point, a networking consultant bought a modified at Wanhao

Charleston Mayor Joe as the chief executive Riley’s tenure of the Holy City spans nearly 40 years and crosses two centuries.

The impact of his legacy on the business community and culture of the entire Southeast will continue long after he leaves office. Here’s how it all started.

Mayor Joe Riley

Photo/Kathy Allen

s.com

Trident Tech presi dent R&D partner

Boeing, University ship of S.C. collaborating on research and technology.

Page 3

in 2010. (Photo/File)

See 3-D PRINTING,

Page 9

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Facts

You need data to make decision We have data s. ... and then some.

Inside.

J

oseph P. Riley Jr. rushed to get his holiday shopping finished on Christmas Eve in 1975.

He parked his car and hurried up to King Street, where he stopped short. The street was completely devoid of pedestrians. A few stores were open, but most were boarded-up or empty.

King Street, a shopping destination in the 1940s and 1950s, was like many other main streets around the country at the time: Few shops remained, many storefronts were vacant and crime was high.

“It was going the route that most American Main streets went: dying, gone, eliminated as a shopping destination,” Riley said.

Riley wanted to transform Charleston’s crumbling city center into a bustling downtown by cutting down on crime, creating new parks, improving race relations and bringing businesses back to the peninsula. He focused on developing Belmond Charleston Place, a hotel development at Market

and Meeting streets, which he saw as the catalyst to King Street’s rebirth.

“And then gradually, adjacent buildings got redeveloped into retail,” Riley said. “Downtown became desirable again. ... Then citizens made it a lively place, an interesting place, a fun place. ... Then something wonderful happened. We started to attract young people back here.”

As he prepares to retire from office after 40 years as mayor, Riley leaves behind a legacy of what he hopes is a better Charleston.

“This is the question that you should have as a leader: Is what we’re doing right now responding to the hearts of the people so that when done, the citizens will say, ‘This is wonderful.’ ” cr bj

Photos/City of Charleston

otherNEWSMAKERS One of the most commonly stolen items aboard the USS Yorktown at Patriots Point are the caps that protect parts of the aircraft carrier’s sound-powered phone system. Stewart Flood, a networking consultant at Patriots Point, bought a modified Wanhao 3-D printer from a fellow 3-D printing enthusiast in the Lowcountry for about $1,000. Printing phone caps was one of its first jobs.

44 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 9.7.15 Issue

September 7

- 20, 2015 •

Launch pad

Harbor Accelerator picks nine startups for next entrepreneurial boot camp. Page 2

Growing industry

Forest products sector adds $19 billion to Carolina’s economy.South Page 5

Panhandlers expect new Charleston law to push them off streets

Sky high

Leaders say state be ready for high might school focused on aerospace.

Page 18

www.charle

stonbusines

s.com

S.C. aerospace

By Liz Segrist

job growth outp

S

‘Flying a Sign’

Early resigna

I

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb iznews.com

he S.C. State Ports Authority has plans for finally Daniel Island hundreds of acres on that were at a failed port the center of expansion The ports authority plan two decades ago. unveiled a proposal the late 1990s

the new terminal disposal sites, for in anticipation increases. To of huge cargo Port time, the project of Charleston leaders at the was crucial to position as cementing one Eastern Seaboard.of the biggest ports on its the The Global run through Gateway project would have Daniel Island neighborhoods

because they’re afraid they’re going to get thrown in jail,” Hilton said.

Ordinance in effect

The ordinance prohibits the passing of items to or from the occupant of a motor vehicle on a roadway.

Charleston Police Lt. Heath King said the law is intended to keep people safe and keep traffic flowing freely.

In early 2014, Charleston lifted its ban on begging after the American Civil Liberties Union and the Homeless Justice Project complained that the ban was unconstitutional. Since that change, King said there was an “exponential increase in parties on the corner waiting to get something handed to them from a vehicle.”

King said when a vehicle rearends another vehicle because the first one slowed down or stopped to hand money to a panhandler, the party at fault is the party in the rear because he or she was following too closely.

“But the person in the front is aiding in that by not stopping ... for an emergency reason. They’re stopping for different reasons,” he said.

“They are aiding in these accidents that we’re having.”

The ordinance, which also bans firefighters from walking in the roadway to pick up donations through the popular “fill the boot” fundraiser, allows only law enforcement officers and emergency workers to pass items to and from cars.

It does not ban people from flying a sign.

Drivers are required to pull into a permitted parking area or private property to donate.

Top: James Boone drinks water that a driver handed him at the intersection of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge and Meeting Street.

(Photo/Kathy Allen) Left: 47-year-old Robert Hilton, who said his Orlando, Fla., home burned down, lived in a tent under the Ravenel Bridge in Charleston.

He panhandled at the corner of Meeting Street and the bridge’s exit ramp. (Photo/ Kathy Allen) Center: Jacob Robards and Brittany Johnson put a tent together while Johnson’s boxer, Jasmine, waits on a blanket.

(Photo/Ashley Heffernan)

cr bj

otherNEWSMAKERS Sixteen students at Goose Creek High School were trained by the Heritage Trust Federal Credit Union’s staff to operate a student-run branch that opened in late August inside the school. The branch is open during the two-hour lunch period on school days and is available only to students, faculty and staff members.

46 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Jim McDaniel, president and CEO of Heritage Trust Federal Credit Union, cuts the ribbon on the credit union’s first student-run branch at Goose Creek High School.

(Photo/Ashley Heffernan)

Page 6

Panhandling, begging, in soliciting — for containershto build a $1.2 billion terminal everyone agrees ips on the Daniel southern asking for money at face the Island. The massive terminal end of Charleston’s intersection Wando River. was to s has increased Between 1997 in frequency and visibility. A new law least 1,500 acres and 2000, the port bought at of land in Berkeley is for more changing requiremen than $3.83 million, County ts for handouts. records show.

Port officials planned Page 9 well as some of its dredgeto use that land, as

Photo/Kathy Allen

t’s 11:30 a.m. on a Tuesday, and Robert Hilton’s shift begins.

Standing in the nearly 90-degree heat, his exposed skin pinks and sweat darkens the color of his faded, partially unbuttoned, collared shirt. Sunglasses, long pants and laced-up shoes act as a shield.

When asked how he’s doing, he stares straight ahead and says, “I’m hungry.”

Hilton stood at the corner of Meeting Street and the exit ramp of the Ravenel Bridge, in the shade of a nearby tree, practically every day, until the city of Charleston passed an ordinance prohibiting it. With dry, cracked hands and dirt-encrusted fingernails, he held up a cardboard sign to earn his only income.

Hilton showed up for his shift having eaten half a sandwich made with red pepper flakes, which he doesn’t like. A driver stopped at the red light and handed it to him during his shift the previous day.

“I can’t work. I’m mentally disabled, and I’m physically disabled,” Hilton said.

His only form of income is “flying a sign,” a phrase used to describe the act of standing at an intersection with a sign seeking donations. The prominent intersections in Charleston, such as the bridge exit ramps leading onto the peninsula, were so popular in early 2015 that fliers agree to take 30-minute shifts.

Prior to the ordinance, Hilton said he made about $80 a day by flying a sign during five or six shifts.

A new ordinance passed by Charleston City Council on Aug. 18 caused the donations to shrink to about $20 per day, he said.

“It’s scaring people from giving

See AEROSPACE,

Financial literacy Credit union trains high-schoolers to run branch operatio professional skills. ns and gain Page 15

By Ashley Heffernan

19 • $2.00

SPA plans for Global Gateway land include green space, sale

T

Charleston School tion interim president of Law decides to step down early.

Page 19

INSIDE Upfront ...................

In Focus: Education.......... 2 and Workforce Developmen t15 Lists: Postgradua Degree Programs te .......... 25 At Work ................... ....... 27 People in the News Business Digest ......... 27 Hot Properties .............. 27 .................

Viewpoint................... 30 ..... 31

Volume 21, No.

aces Washingto n, Southeast

lsegrist@scbiznews.com School of Business

— but it falls spot when comparing from its No. outh Carolina 1 employee compensati Although is currently aerospace employees hiring more and total aerospace firms on employmen South Carolina had the in the state.

South Carolina’s strongest than Washington t growth during The Palmetto private aerospace space that ment grew by State is outpacing . bama, Georgia, employ- with sector is still small and time, its aero15.5% from Alanew compared that of the other ton in private North Carolina and Washing- most recent data available 2010 to 2012 — the sen, a USC research states, said Joey Von sector aerospace — compared growth, according Nesemployment 2.5% growth in Alabama, 10.7% in North with the study with the economist who worked on to a new olina and University of S.C. Council Car- tiveness and South Carolina’sstudy from the Georgia’s 11.2% in Washington on CompetiHarvard aerospace employmen , data show.

Darla Moore For comparison Business School.

2.3% during t was down that time. , Boeing employs 80,000

See PORTS,

Page 13

➤

➤

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 9.21.15 Issue

September 21

- October 4,

Step off the

gas

Which cars get the most tickets in the U.S.? might be surprised. You Page 2

Credits rolling

S.C. film incentives to be exhausted this year for first time ever.

Page 3

Post-recession construction boom needs workers

Going deeper

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signs off on harbor project.

Page 8

Spring Grove

Plan in western Charleston County includes industrial park and future mixed-use development.

Page 12

2015 • www.charle

stonbusines

Companies pre p for overtime changes s.com

Volume 21, No.

20 • $2.00

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb salaried employees iznews.com time-and-a working more than 40 hours -half pay for architects illions more a week.

U.S. Under the proposal, are among some eligible for overtim workers will be ing of the employees less than $50,440, salaried workers earn- likely to qualify.

House proposal e if a new White be or $970 a week, The Departmen eligible for overtime, next year. goes into effect would to update overtimet of Labor said the failure up from cutoff of $23,660 Companies regulations per year, or $455 the current overtime are preparing Accountants, eligibility exception, has taken the ity that they a week. for the possibilwill have to meant for highly agers, salespeoplegraphic designers, store pay many of compensated which was man, journalists, their port executive and customer sup- professional employees, workers, marketing and instead professionals applied and

M

Rebuilding a workforce

Regional growth helped pull the Charleston construction sector out of the recession, industry now but the faces a shortage of skilled workers.

Page 11

INSIDE Upfront ................... .......... 2 In Focus: Architecture , Engineering and Construction ................. 11 List: Engineering Companies ................... . 32 At Work ................... ....... 35 People in the News Business Digest ......... 35 Hot Properties .............. 35 .................

Viewpoint................... 38 ..... 39 Bridgeside at

Patriots Point

luxury apartment

complex (Photo/Liz

Segrist)

See OVERTIME,

A

By Ashley Hefferna n aheffernan@ scbiznews.com

change in the process could mortgage disclosure result in home taking longer. closings A new regulation — called the Lending Act-Real Estate SettlementTruth in dures Act Integrated Disclosure rule, Procemonly referred comto as TRID — Oct. 3 across will go into effect the country.

The change is meant to better understand help consumers what they’re when they buy signing up current home, a new home or refinance for their according to division manager Pat Polson, central SunTrust Mortgageand senior vice president for The rule, also in South Carolina. called “Know Owe,” was Before You handed Financial Protection down by the Consumer Bureau. It existing Good Faith Estimate, combines the the closing costs which explains and terms of the loan, and initial Truth in Lending disclosure, the the actual details which gives percentage rate of the loan — such as annual and total amount er will have the borrowpaid at the end one Loan Estimate of the loan — into form. Under the new rule, See REAL ESTATE,

CHARLESTON UNDER CONSTRUCTION

By Liz Segrist

Who is building Projects, companies what in the Charleston area? , prices, projected timelines, photos and stories.

Page 11

Midtown, a mixed-use development at the corner of King and Spring streets, will include 433,000 square feet of hotel, office, retail and restaurant space.

(Photo/Liz Segrist)

Patriots Point Bridgeside at ent complex. luxury apartm /Liz Segrist) (Photo

H

alf-built neighborhoods stood empty. Contracts slowed to a drip.

Layoffs and business closings were common.

Construction firms competed to secure what little work was available, much of which was renovations.

These are among the memories that Charleston-area builders and contractors recall from the recession, when many companies struggled to keep their doors open.

The sector lost skilled laborers who decided to either work odd jobs or pursue new careers to make ends meet,

Skylar Ashby, president of the Charleston Contractors’ Association, said.

Years later, the Charleston region has mostly recovered as it attracts new business and residents. The construction sector is reaping the benefits of a growing market in need of multifamily, industrial, office, retail and residential developments. But the surge in construction work comes at a cost — firms are having difficulty finding quality workers.

General contractors need more experienced project managers, superintendents and estimators for their firms and subcontractors need more skilled

crafts workers, carpenters, electricians, masons, plumbers and drywallers.

General contractors said it is a struggle to find quality subcontractors and prices are going up as the skilled labor pool tightens.

Matt Brewer, division manager for Choate Construction Co. in Charleston, said contractors around the region are seeing this more as demand for new construction rises.

“We face a constant struggle to find enough local craft workers,” Brewer said. “The net result is that this shortage of skilled labor is having an adverse

otherNEWSMAKERS A new regulation — called the Truth in Lending Act-Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act Integrated Disclosure rule, commonly referred to as TRID — went into effect across the country in October. The change was meant to help consumers better understand what they’re signing up for when they buy a new home or refinance their current home.

48 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

effect on construction costs.”

As the market rebounded, the workforce has not kept pace, said Phillip Ford, executive vice president of the Charleston Home Builders Association.

He said he wants to see a bigger push for the construction industry in schools.

“The younger generation is not necessarily looking to get into this field. It’s not considered sexy to be a plumber.

But we have this void and we have to fill it,” Ford said. “We need to get into the high schools and explain to the kids that they can make a great living even if college isn’t for them.” cr bj

Page 7

➤

New mortgage regulation coul d slow closings

Page 9

➤

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 10.5.15 Issue

October 5 -

18, 2015 • www.charle

s.com Volume 21, No.

INSIDE

Tips, contacts, checklists and vendors for all your event-planning needs.

Special Publicatio n

On the low

Volvo Cars begins construction of Berkeley County campus

stonbusines

Tech college pres idents to review funding model

S.C. holds No. side 5 rank for lowest property tax rates across the U.S. Page 2

Going deep

CEO says next 5 years could be decisive for the future of S.C. Ports.

Page 6

21 • $2.00

By Ashley Hefferna

n aheffernan@ 21 to create scbiznews.com a committee to develop a od for disbursing outh Carolina’s methmoney to the 16 technical presidents, one of whom idents remain technical college pres- colleges. The committee’s called the meeting bit of a circus.” goal is to have divided over model in place “a model for a funding the Thornley and begins in July. before the next fiscal agreed to review their institutions, but Trident’s area year have they the commission been vocal The vote came ers The S.C. Technicalmodel. rent funding about their disdain of the after presentatio Trident College System’s cil of Technical model, which curCoun- Thornley Technical College President ns by from the College Presidents General Assemblydistributes money and eight members Mary on voted Sept. to colleges based their enrollment Commission, of and a debate Trident’s Area figures from the fall of among college

S

See THORNLEY,

Manufac

Page 8

➤

turers ing Rev ving Up ofcritiEx-Icizemclosban k

Volvo Cars broke ground on its 2,880-acre Berkeley County campus — the future production site global of the S60 sedan.

Page 21

T

Gov. Nikki Haley and Volvo Cars North America CEO Lex Kerssemakers kick off construction

of the car plant.

(Photos/Kathy Allen)

Competitive

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb iznews.com

he July closure of the U.S. Import Bank Exportcould lessen ufacturers’ competitive S.C. manaccording to executives and ness overseas, are pushing for reauthoriza legislators who tion.

The bank is the United States’ agency, which companies can export credit or insure overseas use to finance deals when are unable or unwilling. Boeing’sprivate lenders grams, including airplane the 787 Dreamliner proin North Charleston , and General facility businesses, Electric’s such as its gas tion plant in Greenville, use turbine producwhen selling Ex-Im financing to internation al customers.

Private financing recently fell two Boeing through for 787 Kenya Airways, Dreamliners destined for and without ing to fill in, Ex-Im financthe deal fell apart, according a Bloomberg report. to outside of Boeing’s The jets are now sitting Everett, Wash., er facility.

DreamlinBoeing declined ation. Bloomberg to comment on the situreported that ation Finance Boeing, AviCo. and the Import Bank African Exportare trying to find financing for

Dual BARs

Architecture consultant urges two boards for development decisions.

Page 10

INSIDE Upfront ................... ............ 2 In Focus: Manufactur ing 21 Lists: Industrial Staffing Agencies ................... ...... 28 Special Section: Commercial Space..........

30 At Work ................... ......... 35 People in the News Business Digest ........... 35 Hot Properties ................ 35 ................... 38 Viewpoint................... ....... 39

By Liz Segrist

See EX-IM BANK,

Page 24

analysis

➤

The 2015 Regional Economic Scorecard shows how the Charleston metro stacks up against area other areas competing for economic development, jobs. INSIDE

A

bout 10 minutes off Interstate 26 at exit 187 near Ridgeville, a long, unpaved road leads to the site of Volvo’s future S.C. plant.

A muddy expanse of land has been cleared of trees. The massive site stretches for miles. Volvo will occupy 2,880 acres of the 6,880-acre Camp Hall Tract.

In addition to its $500 million car plant that will produce up to 100,000 cars a year, Volvo plans to build a visitors center, a museum showcasing Volvo’s history and future plans, and a test track for customers to take their new cars out for a drive. Volvo also plans to build an on-site training center, though a timeline for that was not disclosed.

Volvo Cars executives are hoping to renew U.S. demand for the Volvo brand with a new car plant in Berkeley County and a new model — the S60 sedan — built exclusively in South Carolina.

“This is the one and only factory where we are going to produce the S60. So global customers, customers all over the world, will drive a car coming from this factory,” Lex Kerssemakers, Volvo Cars of North Amer-

ica president and CEO, said at the plant groundbreaking.

Volvo has been selling cars in the United States for nearly 60 years, but sales have been dropping over the past decade. Kerssemakers said he remembers reading news stories that said the Volvo brand would no longer exist in the U.S. About five months after the Chinese-owned, Sweden-based automaker announced plans to build a massive automotive campus in the Lowcountry, Kerssemakers said U.S. sales have seen double-digit growth.

The first S.C.-built Volvos are expected to roll off the assembly line in late 2018.

“We’ve got our confidence back from our customers. ... Volvo is moving quickly to expand its presence in the United States with new cars, new engines and now, a new factory,” Kerssemakers said.

The company announced its plans to build a manufacturing site in the Lowcountry in May, after about 10 months of site visits, negotiations and meetings with state and local officials. The deal nearly fell through several times. cr bj

Gov. Nikki Haley pushed for a $123 million economic development bond that will fund infrastructure for the site. (Photo/Kathy Allen)

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (from left); Gov. Nikki Haley; Katarina Fjording, general manager of the S.C. Volvo plant; and Lex Kerssemakers, president and CEO of Volvo Cars of North America, break ground on the company’s automotive campus near Ridgeville. The plant is expected to produce 100,000 cars a year. (Photo/Kathy Allen)

otherNEWSMAKERS All Nippon Airways of Japan collaborated with Walt Disney Pictures to produce a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner inspired by Star Wars character R2-D2. The aircraft, which excited fans of the film series and aviation enthusiasts around the world, landed in Charleston from Everett, Wash., and taxied into the Boeing S.C. campus.

Photo/Ryan Wilcox

50 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

fotoearl / Shutterstock.com

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 10.19.15 Issue

October 19 -

November 1,

2015 • www.charle

stonbusines

s.com Volume 21, No.

22 • $2.00 Photo/Ryan Johnson for the city of North Charleston

Taking on VW

Motley Rice law firm class-action lawsuits files against the automaker.

Page 3

ROAD TO RECO VERY Business owners

boom

F

By Ashley Hefferna

2015

Page 14

Guard

Norfolk Southern halts Charlest on service after flood damage

Lowcountry no longer n aheffernan@ scbiznews.com

Photo/S.C. National

Page 13

Ports Authority

Homeowners blame parkway for excessive flooding

African-American to be surveyed travelers on perception of the state.

Page 9

Making laws, flipping burgers

Legislators, fast-food workers have this common. Page in 2

Photo/S.C. State

Homeowners blame parkway for excessive flooding

and residents are assessing that undermin the lasting damage ed roadways of torrential rains , flooded homes and ground commerc e to a halt.

Photo/Kathy Allen

BoomTown

Charleston startup to upper peninsula moving development.

Page 6

Tourism impact

Hotel occupan cy rate drops 20% during weekend flood Page 16

competing just regi

onally

or the past five ECONOMIC SCORECA ton region with years, Greenville, Raleigh, RD ers have compared Lowcountry leadThe Lowcountry City, Seattle, must Salt Lake Austin, Texas, other Southeaste the region to six innovation, human focus on education, Upfront ...................

Nashville, Tenn., Jacksonville, capital, infrastructure rn communiti similar population .......... 2 Fla., and Richmond, In Focus: es of vious years, and global competition. for economic Va. In prement outcomes. the Ten Startups developmore regional comparative cities included to Watch.. 21 metros such But the region List: Knoxville, Tenn. as Savannah has changed, said. “We’ve more distant Commercial and and larger, transforme metro Moving “In the past, Storage Companies and the region’s progress,areas are needed to gauge vices-based economy d really from a serwe used Austin as leading to a STEM-base and Raleigh omy” focused At Work ................... ...... 25 ner, vice president according to Steve d econ- compete communities that on science, War- neering ....... 27 we said we don’t People in the with regional competitiveof global marketing and mathematic technology, engiNews and they’re doing,” but we want to know s.

Business Digest ......... 27 The alliance Regional Developme ness for the Charleston how Warner said. and the Charleston said, you know “In Hot Properties .............. 27 Chamber of .................

“We’re not the nt Alliance. what, we are this study, we Metro with Commerce Viewpoint................... 30 truly same released all Economic competing these communiti community We have a feeling the 2015 Scorecard on ..... 31 we were. Power es for investment talent and entrepreneu that we’re Oct. 1 during ferent. We’re , the small rs. We’re no longer not in Kansas significantly dif- RegionalBreakfast held by the town by the anymore,” Warner Charleston that Business Journal. have transforme ocean with a port. We The latest scorecard really d the economy.” compares the Charles-

INSIDE

See SCORECARD,

By Ashley Heffernan

L

ike many South Carolinians, Milton Green spent the night of Oct. 3 watching the Clemson football game on television and the record-breaking rainfall outside.

During each commercial break, he left the couch and peeked out the back door to see how close the standing water was getting to his home in North Charleston. He didn’t have to go to the door during the final commercial break.

10 Startups

Page 10

to Watch

➤

We chose 10 businesses worth watching in the region to their entrepreneu and talked about the future. rial leaders Page 21

When Green stood up, his feet made a sloshing sound on the carpet. Within minutes, a hallway rug was floating.

Green, a retired Charleston firefighter, lived in the home in the 7000 block of Peppercorn Lane for 28 years. At the flood’s peak on Oct. 4, the house held 2 feet of standing water.

The home, like many others on the block, backs up to Palmetto Commerce Parkway, which was built over the past

decade to connect Ladson Road to Ashley Phosphate Road. Green and some of his neighbors think the parkway contributed to the extreme flooding.

Bob Frederking, who moved into the community in 1984 and had 2 feet of water enter his home during the same weekend, blames the industrial park for filling in the wetlands less than 100 yards behind his property.

“They come in — they haven’t late-

ly — but they come in, they dig out the ditch, and they backfill the wetland. So the wetlands are higher than our property is now,” Frederking said. “I’m not an engineer. I don’t know how that affects things. But I know there’s been more water here since all that’s been going on back there. We would have flooded anyway. With a thousand-year storm, I’m certain of that. But it may not have been this bad. It may have receded quicker.” cr bj

Photo/Ryan Johnson for the city of North Charleston

Above: Milton Green’s flooded backyard is about 100 yards from Palmetto Commerce Parkway.

Left: North Charleston fire and police officials help clear Peppercorn Lane after floodwaters started receding.

(Photos/Kathy Allen)

Milton ton resident North Charles flooded in October. e Green’s hous llen) A hy at /K to (Pho

otherNEWSMAKERS The October flood caused hotel occupancy rates across the state to drop 20% compared with 2014, according to the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. Rates dropped 40% in the North Myrtle Beach area, nearly 30% in the Charleston and West Ashley areas and about 15.5% in Columbia.

52 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Photo/S.C. National Guard

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 11.2.15 Issue

November 2

- 15, 2015 •

www.charle

stonbusines

s.com

Report: Gender wage

W

Shell game

Oyster harvesters alternative sourceslook for supply customers to after flooding.

By Liz Segrist

Volume 21, No.

gap detrimental

See WOMEN’S

Page 8

New Gaillard projected to boost orchestra’s revenue

Layoff warning

INSIDE Upfront ...................

In Focus: Financial .......... 2 Services........................ . 19 Lists: Credit Unions ...... 22 Bonus List: Accounting Firms ................... .......... 23 At Work ................... ....... 27 People in the News Business Digest ......... 27 Hot Properties .............. 27 .................

Viewpoint................... 30 ..... 31

The $142 million Charleston Gaillard Center, which features a 1,800-seat performance opened following hall, three years of construction.

Page 6

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb iznews.com

O

Gift to the future The Charleston Symphony Orchestra expects new business model a and a million-dollar cash home facility to build surplus in five years.

Page 5

ne Airbnb host earns around in Mount Pleasant $33,000 annually renting out by rooms in her room home. four-bedAnother earned year from renting nearly $20,000 in the past out his entire apartment in one-bedroom downtown Charleston Airbnb and VRBO — websites . short-term, that enable person-to-person been gaining popularity in rentals — have the past few Charleston over years. More than now active in the Charleston 300 listings are area.

People can rent house by posting out rooms or their entire on the websites. details, photos and pricing times the partiesVisitors book online. SomeHosts and guests meet; often they do not. their experience. can publicly rate and review Many municipalit ulate the increase ies are scrambling to regin short-term cities have said the rentals rentals. Some zoning and accommodations violate existing are doling out ordinances and fines.

Debates swirling around such short-term See AIRBNB,

By Ashley Heffernan

Photo/Provided

T

2015 Giving

Your guide

Special

otherNEWSMAKERS Women working full time in South Carolina earn $10,000 less, on average, than men — and that wage gap widens for women of color, according to a report on the status of S.C. women. That translates to a loss of nearly $8 million in potential economic impact on the state.

Amy Brennan, director of the Center for Women, said: “Whenever there is a disparity, that’s money lost in the economy.”

54 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Giving

Guide

Philanthropists across the Lowcountry give back with time, talent and Read about their money. vision for the Inside future.

orchestra has never had such a cushion in its nearly 80-year history, according to Executive Director Michael Smith.

“There’s just a tremendous amount of enthusiasm” about the Gaillard Center, he said.

Last year, the orchestra sold about $570,000 in subscriptions, which package multiple concerts together, and about $400,000 in single tickets. The goal for this year is to sell $890,000 in subscriptions and $600,000 in single tickets.

Before the symphony played a single note in the new Gaillard Center, the orchestra already sold more

10

Short-term rentals grow amid regulat ory debates

Above: Photo/Alyona Charleston SymphonySemenov for the Orchestra

he apricot-colored walls, celadon-green seats and blue ceiling mural, coupled with the room’s sheer size, were enough to make many people gasp when they entered the new Charleston Gaillard Center’s performance hall for the first time.

That reaction, even with no one performing on the stage, is why the Charleston Symphony Orchestra expects to see an increase of more than $500,000 in its annual earned revenue.

The orchestra’s new business model and $142 million home facility are projected to build a milliondollar cash surplus for the nonprofit in five years. The

REPORT, Page

➤

Renting under the radar

Cargo disrupti

The historic floods on caused delays in cargo delivery the Port of Charleston. at Page 12

Counterclaims

Charleston School of Law responds to ex-professo rs who sued school.

Page 14

Century Aluminum tells employees Mt. Holly might be closing. plant Page 3

23 • $2.00

to S.C. economy

lsegrist@scb state, data from iznews.com the National Women and Partnership Families for white omen working Livable Communit and The Riley Center men for 68 cents make. That disparity Carolina earn full time in South increases to for Asian women, “Whenever thereies show. average, than $10,000 less, on lost 58 cents for in the economy. is a disparity, that’s money women and 52 cents men, according a new report black for Hispanic on the status Whenever there’s data to women, the state. of women across that’s not being paid a group show.from the National Women’s in the economy,” equally, that’s money Law Center That translates lost Amy Brennan, Female CEOs the Center for lion in potential to a loss of nearly $8 director of in South Carolina Women, said. milof the wages economic impact earn 70% The their male counterpar on the White wage gap widens for women according to ts earn, women make data from The of color.

Photo/Provide 77 cents for d Riley Center. every dollar

thanks

to community

giving in

the Lowcountry

Page 16

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| 2015-16

to:

than $800,000 in subscriptions.

Over the next five years, the orchestra’s leaders plan to hold expenses to 3%. They want to grow contributions by 5% each year and grow earned revenue by 60% this year and an additional 5% each year after.

With a 20% contingency fund factored in, the plan will build up $1 million for the organization to use in the event of an economic downturn or natural disaster.

“It allows us to weather the storm. That’s just something that every business needs,” he said. cr bj

NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 11.16.15 Issue

November 16

- 29, 2015 •

Tigers, USC

Volvo, Boeing, InterTech executives talk about challenges in recruiting.

Page 3

Law school’s new president promises to end turmoil

Real experie

nce Patriots Point helping vets recover from traumatic stress. postPage 18

Sparc purchas

www.charle

win!

We’re not talking wins on the field; about talking stadiums we’re and parking lots.

Page 2

Workforce issues

stonbusines

s.com

New law school

By Ashley Hefferna

president prom ises to end Volume 21, No.

n aheffernan@ also acquired scbiznews.com and turned around The Litchfield Co. eorgetown attorney J. Edward Bell LLC, a Pawleys Islandlikes being based real estate the armor for flailing knight in shining vacation rental sales and businesses.

He became a partner in ment company. manageGarden and Gun Magazine Charleston-based “I’ve loved the economy LLC in 2010 to rescue after threatened to lifestyle magazine. sink the Southern things — it’s one of my Around that same time, he passions — to make things happen, to fix things,” Bell

G

It’s a

Charleston Mayor a runoff election Joe Riley’s successor will be decided on Nov. 17 between Leon Stavrinakis John Tecklenbur in . See where each handling business of the candidates g and and developme stands on nt issues in the Lowcountry.

Pages 4-5

INSIDE

JOHN TECKLENBU Photo/Ashley

Heffernan

RG

LEON STAVR

INAKIS Photo/Liz Segrist

Sgt. Jasper

By Ashley Heffernan

G

eorgetown attorney J. Edward Bell likes being the knight in shining armor for flailing businesses.

He became a partner in Charleston-based Garden and Gun Magazine LLC in 2010 after the economy threatened to sink the Southern lifestyle magazine. Around that same time, he also acquired and turned around The Litchfield Co. LLC, a Pawleys Island-based real estate sales and vacation rental management company.

“I’ve loved to rescue things — it’s one of my passions — to make things happen, to fix things,” Bell said. “I’ve always been good at fixing things for some reason. It’s kind of a talent I have.”

As the new president and managing partner of the Charleston School of Law, Bell intends to “fix” the for-profit institution by revamping the school’s business model so that students can focus on learning the law instead of worrying

downzoned Charleston’s Planning Commission voted to change the height district the Sergeant Jasper developmen for well as sites near Marion Square.t, as Page 12

whether the school will shut staff with support and resources; down. to provide students with skills Over the past two years, the and education; and to provide school’s co-owners, Robert Carr alumni with access and informaand George Kosko, tion, in addition to were met with an restoring and mainoverwhelmingtaining the public’s ly angry response confidence and trust from the commuin the school. nity as they tried When Dean Andy to sell the school Abrams asked if he to The InfiLaw Syswould subordinate tem. The owners his “personal interthreated to disconests to the needs of tinue admissions, the institution and declared a financial its constituents and exigency and laid off act at all times for the Bell seven professors. good of the CharlesBell, the founding partner ton School of Law,” Bell grabbed of Bell Legal Group in George- the microphone and announced, town, became the school’s first “I absolutely will.” president to take an oath of “This school will be a top-tioffice on Oct. 29. er school in short order. It will In the oath, he agreed to not take long to do that. We’ve remain true to the school’s got great faculty; we’ve got founding model of pro bono great community support. This populi, which is Latin for “for school has got all the bones it the benefit of the people.” He also needs. It just needs a little air to promised to provide faculty and breathe,” Bell said. cr bj

Ed Bell, president and managing partner of the Charleston School of Law, spent his first day on the job talking to students, faculty and staff members. (Photo/ Ashley Heffernan)

otherNEWSMAKERS Dennis Young left Vietnam nearly 50 years ago, but he still vividly remembers seeing Vietnamese women holding their infants in one hand and grenades in the other, ready to sacrifice their lives to take those of U.S. soldiers.

He uses the Vietnam Experience Exhibit at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant to combat post-traumatic stress disorder.

56 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Vietnam veteran Dennis Young and psychologist Ashley Hatton tour the Vietnam Experience Exhibit at Patriots Point.

(Photos/Ashley Heffernan)

turmoil

See CSOL, Page

RUNOFF

e Booz Allen buys Sparc after working with the company for 18 months.

Page 22 Upfront ...................

In Focus: Defense .......... 2 Homeland Securityand ....... 19 Lists: Defense Contractors ................... . 23 At Work ................... ....... 27 People in the News Business Digest ......... 27 Hot Properties .............. 27 .................

Viewpoint................... 30 ..... 31

Bell

24• $2.00

said. “I’ve always for some reason. been good at fixing things It’s kind of a talent I have.

As the new president ” and managing of the Charleston partner School of Law, to “fix” the for-profit Bell intends institution by the school’s revamping business model can focus on so that students learning the law rying whether the school will instead of worshut down.

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Cash follows cash at startup firm angel investorss, say

M

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb iznews.com

ore tech companies need to successful growth strategieshave attract the Charleston more venture capital to to region — and requires expanded that seed and angel growth according to funding, several Bobby Ocampo investors.

— a partner ton, D.C.-based at WashingAOL co-founderRevolution Ventures, which is Steve Case’s firm — said venture capital more willing to assume progressive angel groups the risk of tech-focused investing startups in in Charleston help them grow would secure venture to a stage where they can capital, go public profitable acquisition or exit as a .

Ocampo was part of Revolution’ the Rest tour s Rise of that traveled May to visit companies and to Charleston in Bidr during invest a pitch competition $100,000 in “It would be . a company like good for the ecosystem to see PureCars, Zubie, ter or BoomTown PeopleMatthen have those sell for $500 million and people start or invest and spur entrepreneunew companies Ocampo said.

“The ecosystem rship forward,” will then take care of itself. in Charleston More and more See TECH FUNDING,

Page 14

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NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 11.30.15 Issue

November 30

- December

Tecklenburg preparing to take over mayor’s office

13, 2015 • www.charle

stonbusines

s.com

Tecklenburg prep aring to take over mayor’s office Volume 21, No.

College ranking

s CofC students give input on the school’stheir and worst attributes. best Page 2

Wheels up

Charleston airport adds nonstop flights to cities, including four Seattle.

Page 3

In the end Nearly 40% of South Carolinian s who die this be cremated, year will according to the National Assocation. That Funeral Directors percentage is forecast to jump 2020 and nearly to 50% in 70% in 2030.

Page 8.

What retirem

Would-be retirees ent? are either staying on the job or going back to work.

Page 11

Student debt

This year’s college

graduates likely won’t be able to retire until age 75.

Page 12

INSIDE Upfront ...................

In Focus: Growth .......... 2 Retirement TrendsReport: List: Retirement ........ 11 Communities ................. 13 At Work ................... ....... 27 People in the News Business Digest ......... 27 Hot Properties .............. 27 .................

Viewpoint................... 30 ..... 31

Photo/Ashley

25 • $2.00

By Ashley Hefferna

n aheffernan@ lifetime of great scbiznews.com being able to experiences leading up to my harleston Mayor-elec serve as mayor, but you’ve also Board of Elections. t John Tecklen- got the benefit at this burg doesn’t age to know “I think that be around that expect to stay that I won’t the voters really nearly as in office long,” the fact that responded to 40-year tenure. long as Mayor Joe Riley’s voters chose him over Tecklenburg said after we and just spoke kept a very positive campaign Rep. Leon Tecklenburg, about the issues “I turned 60 the city’s formerStavrinakis. to challenges and solutions economic developme folks that you’ve in September, and so director that I tell more nt, beat Stavrinakis of going forward,” we have in our community got the benefit than 3,500 Tecklenbur that I’ve had by uplifting votes a Nov. 17, and very positive.”g said. “It was very according to in a runoff election the Charleston County

C

Heffernan

See NEW MAYOR,

S

By Liz Segrist

lsegrist@scb iznews.com

haron Graci, co-founder of Pure Theatre, said she worries about rent for her affording 5,000-squa 477 King St. in downtown re-foot space at Charleston.

“There’s this priced out,” Gracifeeling that all of us will be said. “What’s next business going to be the to could no longer fall victim to the fact that they love being here, afford to hang on here? We all and we all wonder we can hold how long on.”

Small businesses along Upper are feeling the King Street pressures of rising commercia rents that often opment efforts. accompany urban redevel-l The area near shows the juxtapositio Spring Street n of the King the past with Street of its buildings, scatteredpotential future — vacant retail spaces lots surround and empty Midtown, the mixed-use developme new, modern, nt that includes mercial space, coma hotel and luxury Restaurants apartments Upper King’s and bars populate many . storefronts, with of throughout. retail sprinkled PeopleMatter ton School of and the CharlesLaw Hotels are being occupy office space there. built on both ning Post Industries, ends, and Evethe Post and parent company, plans to redevelop Courier’s acres near the Crosstown Expresswayabout 12 .

See UPPER

By Ashley Heffernan

C

harleston Mayor-elect John Tecklenburg doesn’t expect to stay in office nearly as long as Mayor Joe Riley’s 40-year tenure.

“I turned 60 in September, and so I tell folks that you’ve got the benefit that I’ve had a lifetime of great experiences leading up to my being able to serve as mayor, but you’ve also got the benefit at this age to know that I won’t be around that long,” Tecklenburg said after voters chose him over Rep. Leon Stavrinakis.

Tecklenburg, the city’s former direc-

KING, Page

We honor health care professionals working to make difference in the Lowcountry a .

Page 15

tor of economic development, beat Stavrinakis by more than 3,500 votes in a runoff election Nov. 17.

“I think that the voters really responded to the fact that we kept a very positive campaign and just spoke about the issues and solutions to challenges that we have in our community going forward,” Tecklenburg said. “It was very uplifting and very positive.”

He will be sworn in Jan. 11. Once mayor, Tecklenburg said he wants to strengthen area businesses by continu-

ing incubator programs like those at the Charleston Digital Corridor.

“I believe the city will continue a focus on knowledge-based businesses and creative businesses, but I do want to have a real focus also on local and small businesses because I believe that they’re really the backbone of our city’s economy,” Tecklenburg said.

Additionally, he wants to: • Review tour bus and carriage operations.

• Review zoning policies.

John Tecklenburg spoke to his supporters after runoff results from the Charleston County Board of Elections showed he defeated Rep. Leon Stavrinakis 13,550 to 10,011 votes. (Photo/Ashley Heffernan)

otherNEWSMAKERS Nearly 40% of South Carolinians who die this year will be cremated, according to the National Funeral Directors Association. That percentage is expected to jump to 50% in 2020 and nearly 70% in 2030.

Almost half of Americans who die this year, or about 1.27 million people, will be cremated.

58 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

Family members of a deceased person can choose to watch the cremation process from behind a window at McAlister-Smith Funeral-Cremation in West Ashley. (Photos/Ashley Heffernan)

• Develop a city parking policy that prioritizes citizen and resident access.

• Complete current drainage and pumping projects.

• Complete Interstate 526.

• Extend Glenn McConnell Parkway.

• Develop a bike-sharing plan.

• Incentivize a mix of housing that includes more affordable options.

• Create a 311-style phone system for nonemergency calls so citizens can reach city offices. cr bj

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Rising rents follow Upper King grow th

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NEWS MAKERS 2015

From the 12.14.15 Issue

December 14

- 27, 2015 •

Fast-growing

Group raising money to transform rail line into public park

The Restora

tion A $15 million renovation adds staff, space downtown luxury at hotel.

Page 15 10,000 units

Developers building multifamily housing across the region.

Page 16

From tees to green

Charleston hosting 2019 Women’s Open Championship.

Page 3

INSIDE

www.charle

stonbusines

s.com

Group raising money to trans form By

Lowcountry companies make the Roaring 20s list during event in Columbia.

Page 2

Liz Segrist

M moavkeins g Crane operators 115 feet above move containers filled with cargo Port of Charleston terminals and trucks for export and import. worth millions of dollars onto ships They have to — one mistake work quickly could take someone’s and safely life on the ground below.

Page 12

Upfront ................... .......... 2 In Focus: Architecture , Engineering and Construction ................. 15 List: Property Managemen Comapnies ................... t . 31 At Work ................... ....... 35 People in the News Business Digest ......... 35 Hot Properties .............. 35 .................

Viewpoint................... 38 ..... 39

Photo/Liz Segrist

See LOWLINE,

Mt. Pleasant St.

King St. Lenox St. Cypress St. Maple St. Poplar St. Simons St. Romney St. Athens Ct. Poinsett St. Grove St.

nterstate 26 ends abruptly at a stoplight on Meeting Street in downtown Charleston.

Vacant land and railroad tracks sit underneath the overpass. After decades of use, the Norfolk Southern rail line has been dormant for Courtland Ave. almost 10 years. AbanMontford Ave. doned rail corridors can often spark redevelopMt. Pleasant St. ment efforts: “Rail-toKing St. trail” projects, like the Swamp Rabbit Trail in Greenville, and elevated Brigade St. walking parks, like the High Line in New York City or the Bloomingdale Trail in Chicago, are a few examples.

Romney St. The Friends of the Lowcountry Low Line share a similar vision.

The group, made up of Lowcountry Low Line community members, City Street wants to convert a 1.6Interstate mile stretch of the outof-use rail line into a

T

By Ashley Hefferna n aheffernan@ scbiznews.com

he Charleston peninsula is to becoming on a “resort” whereits way residents many near their jobs, are priced out of housing according to in the area. some who work “You go to Hilton Head, and anyone works on Hilton who Head can’t afford Hilton Head, to live on so elsewhere,” Randi they have to come in Weinstein, director from cial projects of speat downtown restaurant Butcher & Bee, said.

“It’s like any resort, and I use the word hate ‘resort,’ but it’s that’s what it’s almost feeling to coming like Area businesses to.” said few affordable ing options houshurt but also dictate recruitment and retention their jobs when how employees are able to do work and have they live a long distance from to fight traffic.

Weinstein, who has lived in try since the the Lowcounlate race community 1980s, said the Wagener Tertown food-and-bwas the place to be for downeverage industry when she first workers close enough moved. It was affordable and for many to board or ride walk, bike, skatethe bus to the restaurants and See HOUSING,

Page 10

public park and trail. The line runs parallel to King Street from slightly north of Mt. Pleasant Street near Courtland Avenue south to Woolfe Street.

The planners hope the Lowcountry Low Line will be a community asset that would beautify an oft-forgotten stretch of town; connect the northern and southern parts of the peninsula; establish an entrance for the city and attract development to the area. They also see it as a chance to heal some wounds for residents who had to deal with displacement or adjust to a changed neighborhood when the interstate was built.

“Streets were stubbed off by the construction of Interstate 26. Neighborhoods were divided, houses were demolished, land was cleared and a highway was put there. ... This will make it possible to reunite those neighborhoods as much as possible,” said Tom Bradford, board chairman for Friends of the Lowcountry Low Line.

Per its agreement with Norfolk Southern, the group has until August 2017 to raise the money to buy the land. cr bj

Huger St.

Huger St. Congress St.

Line St.

Columbus St. Spring St.

Line St.

Columbus St. Spring St.

The High Line in Ne w York City, a form (Photo/Iwan Baan er rail spur, is now )

otherNEWSMAKERS Chad Swan hunches over his seat and peers through the glass floor at a 60,000-pound cargo container 115 feet below him.

Swan, a crane operator with the S.C. State Ports Authority, works in a space roughly 5 feet by 7 feet. The ports authority employs 30 crane operators, and hopes to get 40 operators on staff in 2016 to help cut down on the existing operators’ workload.

Photo/Liz Segrist

a popular park.

Page 8

Housing cost force workerss off peninsula

Who is building Projects, companies what in the Charleston area? , prices, projected timelines, photos and stories.

Page 15

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60 Charleston Regional Business Journal | Newsmakers

26 • $2.00

CHARLESTON UNDER CONSTRUCTION

By Liz Segrist

The Friends of the Lowcountry Low Line want to turn the abandoned rail corridor that runs along Interstate 26 between Meeting and King streets into a public park. The group has until August 2017 to raise the money needed to buy the land from Norfolk Southern. (Photo/Liz Segrist)

Volume 21, No.

rail line into publ ic park

lsegrist@scb act as a barrier iznews.com to separate the streets from neighborhood nterstate 26 the overpass.

Chicago, are ends abruptly After decades a few examples. on Meeting at a stoplight of use, the Norfolk Street in downtown The Friends rail Southern of the Lowcountr ton.

Charles- has line that runs underneath y Low Line been dormant the interstate share a similar vision.

Vacant land for almost 10 and railroad The nonprofit, years. neath the overpass. tracks sit under- doned rail corridors can often spark Aban- members, wants made up of community A community opment efforts: less people has redevelto convert of home“Rail-to-trail” projects, like of the out-of-use rail line a 1.6-mile stretch brush crawls set up tents there. Overgrown the Swamp Rabbit up surroundin Trail into and trail. The line runs parallel a public park g fences, which elevated walking parks, in Greenville, and from slightly like the High to King Street New York City north of Mt. Line in or the Bloomingd Pleasant Street ale Trail in near

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