Amapper

The Charleston area has over 100,000 new houses in the pipeline which equates to just short of 300,000 people. The Coastal Conservation League continues to fight any new highways, which drive up the cost. All we hear about are buses which will not meet the traffic needs of today, much less 10 to 20 years from now. The Summerville/Goose Creek area has close to 50,000 houses in the pipeline.

The amount of construction on the peninsula is amazing. There have been as many as 5 tower cranes at a time between the upper peninsula and the West Edge areas.

Not so in the Charleston area. Thousands of jobs in all areas of work. Volvo 4k and Mercedes Vans 1.5k to name two. There are retirees also but not like Myrtle Beach. Also during that time frame, Boeing added around 7k.

One factor that causes Greenville and Columbia to show larger metro populations is a much larger geographic footprint is used. Greenvilles spans aross most of the upstate. Charlestons is a much more compact area.

There have been a number of tech related announcements the last several months, including several local tech companies expanding, Google's 600 million expansion of its server complex and Boeing's IT center. It has been reported that Charleston metro gained over 32,000 new residents in the last two years.

One additional piece of good news connected with Boeing's new plant here is that a large number of it's employees are local folks, putting to rest the assertion that most of the jobs would go to outside workers.

Shortly after Boeing announced it's decision to locate an assembly line at the airport in North Charleston, a consultant was hired to make suggested highway improvements. They came in at about 150 million dollars. I read recently the local governments had put in a 300+ million dollar request to the state infrastructure bank for improvements in the area of the airport. Not much chance of that happening.

The short runway has now been rebuilt and the main runway is soon to be closed for an 8 month rebuild. Unfortunately neither has been lengthened. We did land Boeing's second 787 assembly line without the longer runway. Now the the roadways around the airport need to be expanded badly.

It is encouraging to see Charleston International Airport actively pursuing an expansion program that includes additional gates, baggage handling, additional retail vendors and expanded parking. The plans also call for "sprucing up" the terminal interior which is showing it's age.

I agree, and hope folks remember how they jacked up prices as soon as Air Tran left. One thing that concerns me is while GSP announced a 100 million addition after SW made their decision to start service there, we've seen no movement on CHS's part to accommodate SW. I wonder it Charleston realizes what will happen to it's passenger traffic. I hope they don't blow this.

Good question. The answer is simple: state capital. Government is about the only sector of the economy that has been growing and capitals, state and national, are often insulated from the worst of economic downturns.

Another development that has been overshadowed by the Boeing deal is Gildan Activewear Inc. of Montreal buying the former Mikasa Inc. distribution center on Clements Ferry Road. No employment or port volume figures have been released yet but it is more good news for the region.

Yes, it has been great to have one that did not "get away". I work at the airport and will enjoy watching the complex go up. It is probably true that it may not spin off as many jobs as BMW but that remains to be seen.

As mentioned above, Boeing's comments may be just a lever to use against the machinists union in Washington state. Reminds me a little of when Mercedes was looking at Charleston and Savannah for an assembly plant right at a time they were in talks with their Canadian union members. They eventually "picked" Savannah but never built the plant. I hope this time is not the same deal, and Boeing expands their North Charleston complex. It already employs a combined workforce of over 2000.

Charleston, SC seems to be heading towards creating two transit lines using existing railway tracks. One from Summerville to downtown and another from Moncks Corner/Goose Creek to downtown. Express bus routes have been so successful that they are being extended to Summerville, which bodes well for a a rail line to be established.

The Pee Dee is a nice area and tends to go unnoticed, with most of the attention going to the coast and other larger metro areas. They have seen a steady influx of business over the years.

That is a very nice looking hotel indeed. Funny what a company can do when they feel like it. Another interesting Hampton Inn is located in downtown Charleston, made from an old railroad warehouse. It is one of the chains top rated properties. Inn Historic Charlston

I may be wrong, but some of the Columbia MSA population growth might be due to an increase in it's geographic area. For instance, the Greenville/Spartanburg MSA to a big population leap when (they) added the Anderson area. It would be like adding Myrtle Beach to Charleston's figures. We'd go from 620K to over 900K. With approximately 135,000 homes in the pipeline, the Charleston area is looking at adding (conservatively) 300,000 new residents in the next 20 years or so, assuming the Coastal Conservation League doesn't completely shut down the coasts economy.

The county certainly needs something like this. Very good news indeed.

I certainly understand your concerns there, but a little hometown pride and bragging is fine, as long as it doesn't cross the line into actually putting someone elses city down. At the same time, I would hope the same person would be able to rejoice with others when their communities land a big one, so to speak. Because no matter where a large commercial or industrial development lands, it usually spills over into the rest of the state somehow. Living in the Charleston area, I can see how our port has benefited from Greenville/Spartanburg having BMW. We have even had a few suppliers locate here as a result. From what I have seen in my short time in this forum, most areas in SC have reason to crow. There seems to be good things happening on the development front all around.

An update on a large industrial development just outside Summerville: Berkeley closer to large industrial development Do not paste articles. You can summarize, but always include links. Thanks -Spartan

In addition to the answers already given, I would add that the "center" of the metro area is and has been shifting north and west through North Charleston up to the Summerville-Goose Creek-Moncks Corner triangle. That is where the bulk of the available land is. With the amount of people moving into the state over the next few decades it is unrealistic to think the boundaries