Economic Development in South Carolina

[gman430]

Samsung's new call center (Project Teal) has started construction in Greenville County and will create 1,000 new jobs: http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs....0/YOURUPSTATE01

Lear Corporation has announced an expansion for Spartanburg County. 140 new jobs will be created: http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs....30301/1001/NEWS

Cascades at Verdae to create 150 new jobs in Greenville County:

http://www.wspa.com/spa/news/local/article...e_upstate/9655/

[CorgiMatt]

Okay, things are really getting scary now. BMW is laying off 733 temporary workers because of the pinch they're feeling from the nation's and world's economic woes. I'm afraid the state's coffers are going to get much worse off before they get better if this turns out to be the tip of the iceburg in high-tech manufacturing layoffs in SC.

[GvilleSC]

BMW is currently building a massive addition. Despite perhaps cutting back some production, will the nature of the expansion definitely require those announced jobs, or at least some of them?

[monsoon]

Samsung's new call center (Project Teal) has started construction in Greenville County and will create 1,000 new jobs: http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs....0/YOURUPSTATE01

Lear Corporation has announced an expansion for Spartanburg County. 140 new jobs will be created: http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs....30301/1001/NEWS

Cascades at Verdae to create 150 new jobs in Greenville County:

http://www.wspa.com/spa/news/local/article...e_upstate/9655/

Please don't create link only posts. It is in our rules.

[Captain Worley]

BMW''s quitting production of the Z4 and its variatns at the SC factory and concentrating on the sport-utes. The expansion will probably pick up the layoffs, but seeing that they are temps, there's a possibilty they won't be rehired.

[GvilleSC]

A Charleston-based software company is adding 200 white collar jobs to its Greenville workforce. Benefitfocus.com, Inc currently employs 70 people in its Greenville office.

Link

[krazeeboi]

I've heard of that company but didn't know what it does. That's definitely good news for Greenville. I hope these jobs go downtown.

[GvilleSC]

I've heard of that company but didn't know what it does. That's definitely good news for Greenville. I hope these jobs go downtown.

Unfortunately it won't be downtown. They just recently moved to Woods Crossing Rd, so the chances of them moving again is probably slim...

[CorgiMatt]

That's like the 300 jobs software company CSC recently added in Columbia. They're not downtown but in Blythewood. But what's good for the region is good for all.

[GvilleSC]

I recall some dispute a while back about how much impact the High School League's State Championships of football would have on the Upstate economy when the move was originally announced for 2008's games. The Clemson Chamber is predicting a $1.2-1.5 million impact.

Link

They hope to begin rotating the games between the state's two largest stadiums, Clemson University's and USC's. They are also considering a rotation that includes other sites around the state, as well.

[Spartan]

I like that idea. I agree if they are going to rotate it, they need to include other sites too. The Citadel, Wofford, Coastal Carolina, SCSU, and Furman all have football stadiums that could handle the types of crowds we're talking about here.

[GvilleSC]

152 jobs are coming to Pickens County through an expansion of the Techtronic Industries Co plant. The Hong Kong-based company already employs 120 people at its Pickens County facility.

Link

great news for Pickens County!

[CorgiMatt]

Prime South Trade Services in Columbia is relocating to Ridgeway (Fairfield County - Columbia MSA) and creating 400 new jobs. They are moving there to be closer to SCE&G's planned nuclear reactor plants. The company provides service maintenance for energy companies.

[thehappysmith]

Thank you all for the recent postings of which companies are hiring. I didn't actually think I'd find a job lead on this site but I'll take them wherever I can find them.

I know statistics, news reports, and rankings don't always reflect the situation on the ground, but I've been looking for work for some time up here in the upstate and I wonder if my experience might point to a trend we haven't seen reported on yet: Spartanburg has a damn good job market. Better, actually, than Greenville's if you're looking for work that doesn't require specialized training. Unfortunately for me I live in Pelzer and commuting to Spartanburg isn't worth it unless gas goes back to 70 cents a gallon (not likely) or I learn to fly by flapping my arms. Still, it intrigues me the number of well-paying jobs that are open in Spartanburg and not in Greenville or Anderson (which is not say there aren't jobs in G and A, just that S seems to have more, at higher pay, with lower required training, a good thing all around in a bad job market). Temporary blip, or something to watch for in the future? Tough to say. Just thought I'd mention it.

[gman430]

A new economic project planned for the upstate is being touted as the biggest thing for this area since BMW. It is expected to include a $500 million investment, manufacturing plant in Laurens County that will create 500 new jobs with an average pay of $20 an hour, and a new office/R&D building at CU-ICAR that will cost $13.5 million. The number of jobs to be created at CU-ICAR has not been released, but they're all expected to be white collar. Here are two news article on this massive project:

http://www.wspa.com/spa/news/local/article...ounty_and/10503 and http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20...1/81031042/1001

[krazeeboi]

So is this pretty much the CU-ICAR component of the announcement we heard concerning Laurens County a few weeks ago? I like the CU-ICAR component the best since it involves R&D but 500 new manufacturing jobs is hardly anything to sneeze at.

[gman430]

So is this pretty much the CU-ICAR component of the announcement we heard concerning Laurens County a few weeks ago? I like the CU-ICAR component the best since it involves R&D but 500 new manufacturing jobs is hardly anything to sneeze at.

Yes it is. Both parts (CU-ICAR and Laurens County) of the project will be announced at the same time. There was another project announced for Laurens County a few weeks ago not related to this one.

[krazeeboi]

^Oh, I thought the earlier announcement for Laurens County was part of the one you just posted. Well, at seems as though that earlier development didn't remain the county's biggest economic development project for long. It's good to see the outlying counties getting in on the action. ICAR is really going to be the future of the Upstate.

[gman430]

A Chicago-based startup company called American Titanium Works LLC is going to announce plans later today to build a $420 million plant in Laurens County that will employ 320 people and also put about 30 more employees at a new research center at the International Center for Automotive Research in Greenville: http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20...INESS/811120347

[krazeeboi]

That's a lot of investment from a startup company. But I'm sure there are a lot of venture capital dollars flowing in Chicago.

[GvilleSC]

Awesome! I'm excited to see what the CU-ICAR building looks like! The modern architecture on that campus is so much fun to explore with the eyes.

[krazeeboi]

^The architecture makes an awesome impact from I-85.

[krazeeboi]

We've got some details concerning the $600 million logistics and distribution hub to be developed in eastern Orangeburg County by Dubai-based Economic Zone World Americas. The 1,322-acre, five-phase park near Santee will include light manufacturing, light industrial space, a public intermodal facility, a truck plaza, warehousing and mixed-use offices and commercial uses.

Jafza estimates the project could create about 3,700 direct jobs in the county over the next 12 years, including clerical, managerial, food service and transportation jobs. In addition, the project could create 1,500 indirect spin-off jobs in the state by 2020.

The company plans to break ground on the project in late 2009. The project's development will depend on market conditions, but current plans call for it to be built in the following phases:

[gs3]

The 2008 list of top 25 fastest growing SC companies is out. Link to list:

http://www.thestate.com/breakingbiz/story/588819.html

Also in good economic news, Forbes released a report on the best cities to live to weather the current national economic downturn (based on job growth, cost of living, etc). Greenville was in the top 5 nationally, joining Denver, Hunstville, Cincinnati and Little Rock.

http://www.forbes.com/2008/11/12/cheap-cit...realestate.html

Good stuff.

Edited November 13, 2008 by gsupstate

[B&R]

That's a lot of investment from a startup company. But I'm sure there are a lot of venture capital dollars flowing in Chicago.

The story mentioned that the owners got a loan from a big Japanese bank. Of course, it could be they made contact through a Chicago branch. It shows that this project is getting and will get international attention.