made possible with a partnership between the Colleton County Economic Alliance and Palmetto Railways, which will operate the railroad. The railroad runs through Hampton and Colleton counties. It also allows access to several industrial sites, as well as a connection to the Port of Charleston. Before, the recently abandoned line was expected to go to scrap dealers. Now, the rail line could be a game-changer, Horton says. “We’ve had the ability to go after smallto medium-sized companies,” he says. “What we’ve been lacking is a critical piece of infrastructure to go after the really big projects and the game-changer type of projects. We have other partners in the state that we’re partnering with to develop large industrial sites on that line. We’ll be going after some big projects now.”
Minnesota-based J&L Wire decided to open a new operations line in Walterboro, to create galvanized decking for warehouse storage.
In 2016, manufacturer JGBR began making ball bearings in Walterboro, for the automotive industry.
COMPANY WISH LISTS Nevertheless recruiting new businesses isn’t all about property and logistics, Horton says. When selecting a community to invest millions in, most companies have quite a few wishes on their lists. A strong labor force and a liveable community are at the top. “They want to know they’d feel comfortable buying a home and living there, sending their kids to the schools and that sort of thing,” Horton says. “Crime rate is a big thing that gets asked about often.” Location is also an important factor, says Gary Hyde, general manager of J&L Wire, which has a plant in St. Paul, Minnesota. Hyde says he’d been looking at the Southeast because of its proximity for the buyers of his galvanized and bright basic wire. The wire is used for decking and shelving, as well as in agricultural settings. “For me, it was location, location, location,” Hyde says. “With the Colleton plant, I’ll have access to I-95 from Florida to Maine.” The favorable business climate of South Carolina also helped, he says. Colleton County’s location has proven useful in recruitment efforts, Horton says. It’s close to I-95. And it’s within an hour of Palmetto Rural Telephone Cooperative
Charleston and Savannah, where companies can entertain guests and clients.
FIBER Many other companies consider the county’s fiber optic network a big draw, Horton says. “Companies expect there to be fiber optics, or at least a very good data and telecommunications network,” he says. “If it’s not there, they expect it to be there posthaste and without any outlay from the company.” A growing company might have a national presence. As a result, a fast fiber optic network is essential. A company can use the network for communications or to transfer large data sets, such as engineering plans. Also, local machines can be managed from another part of the country, or even the world, Horton says.
A PLACE FOR ENTREPRENEURS Horton is quick to point out that big companies aren’t the only ones Colleton County hopes to lure. The county also seeks to foster its own entrepreneurs. “Besides our award-winning Colleton Museum and Farmers Market, we’ve also got our award-winning Colleton
Commercial Kitchen,” he says. The kitchen allows burgeoning food entrepreneurs use of a large commercial kitchen for making large batches, as well as resources for labeling, bottling and packaging.
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DROPPING The economic upswing means more new companies and entrepreneurs. The number of other jobs has also continued to increase. It’s a contrast to 2011 when the recession hit hard. Then, the county’s unemployment rate was at 14.8 percent, well above the then-national average. In March 2017, the county’s unemployment rate was at 4.3 percent, lower than the national average of 4.5 percent. “It was a dramatic drop, but then, of course, everybody’s doing better now,” Horton says. But as job numbers in the county continue to grow, more workers are needed. “We’ve got about 5,200 people that crank up their car every morning and drive outside of Colleton County to go to work,” Horton notes. “Those are people who can be captured for good-paying jobs right here and won’t have to commute so far.” September/October 2017 | 13