VOLUME 24 NUMBER 15 ■ GSABUSINESS.COM
Part of the
AUGUST 9 - AUGUST 22, 2021 ■ $2.25
network
Hybrid office, now by choice
A staff ‘Fueled’ by collaboration takes the model into the future. Page 6
Learning some manners
A Clemson researcher says teaching robots to be ‘polite’ can help eliminate errors. Page 13
Montgomery Building spurs on Spartanburg revitalization The Montgomery Building in disrepair had become a barrier from one part of downtown Spartanburg to another. Now it’s a sign of how the Hub City’s central business district is recovering from a pandemic economy. (Photo/Molly Hulsey)
By Molly Hulsey
OSHA standards adjusted
Infectious conditions take place atop priority list. Page 8
Man in green
TD Bank names region president for Mid-South. Page 9
INSIDE
Leading Off........................... 2 SC Biz News Briefs................. 3 C-Suite................................. 4 In Focus: Banking and Finance.............................. 15 LIST: Accounting Firms........ 16 At Work.............................. 20 Viewpoint............................23
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mhulsey@scbiznews.com
ome remembered Elvis playing on its stage. Others had parking tokens, light fixtures and elevator signs from its heyday. Some stopped on site to swap stories about an uncle who was a janitor, usher or patron. One woman brought bonds issued to construct the building during the 1920s.
Everywhere Tom Finnegan and his development team turned, Spartanburg residents came out of the woodwork to share how the city’s once-highest skyscraper had shaped their childhoods, their family’s livelihood. But if the building inspired the art deco imaginations of long-time Spartanburg residents, it was also an albatross that drummed up liability and development nightmares for city leaders. And in many ways, the building served as a barometer of Hub City’s revival
from the time most of its seven railway lines came to a halt. “It was such a blight on the city and really a barrier from downtown proper, out Church Street toward Wofford,” K.J. Jacobs, principal of McMillan Pazdan Smith, told GSA Business Report. “It really was a kind of psychological barrier for folks coming out of the Northside and Wofford into downtown and vice versa.” Pedestrians would have to evade falling See BUILDING, Page 7
High-tech farm touts paradigm shift for organics By Ross Norton
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rnorton@scbiznews.com
henandoah Growers Inc., a company specializing in commercially advanced indoor agriculture, broke ground Aug. 3 on its next indoor biofarm — this one in Anderson County.
The company, based in Rockingham County, Va., says it is the only large-scale USDA certified organic soil-based indoor growing system. Shenandoah Growers says it wants to change the reputation of organic food from something expensive to something affordable by making affordability a reality.
By establishing the company’s 13th “biofarm” in Anderson County, on U.S. Highway 29 about halfway between Anderson and Williamston, the company takes another step in a second objective to make organic produce widely available. Shenandoah Growers’ other 12 growing sites range See ORGANICS, Page 11
In Focus Foreclosure Cliff?
Banks and other lenders face tough decisions as federal moratorium comes to an end. Page 15