2012 SC Biz 3

SC Biz News

389 Johnnie Dodds Blvd.Suite 200Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Small town,big dreams73 children in Clio were promised their college tuition would be paid. Here’s what happened.

Social litigationS.C. law firm a leader in BP oil spill settlement

Special Section:Cities Mean BusinessPublic spaces, beautiful places

Fall 2012

TM

TM

http://www.dpprofessionals.com

THE INSIDE SCOOP.IN YOUR INBOX.

Sign up today for the SCBIZ DAILY email newsletter to stay on top of business news

in South Carolina!

Sign up today at www.charlestonbusiness.com/resources/newFor advertising information, call Steve Fields at 843.849.3110.

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Every year SC Works helps thousands of South Carolina job seekers and businesses move forward. SC Works is South Carolina’s largest and most comprehensive labor exchange system, and is part of the national one-stop initiative that was established to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of our nation’s economy.

The SC Works centers serve both businesses and job seekers. Any business needing workforce support and any person seeking a job can use the centers and online services. The SC Works centers are the most valuable and cost-e�ective contact point for businesses looking for the right people, and people seeking the right job or career. It is the one place to go to �nd work and workers.

Helping Businesses SucceedSC Works o�ers businesses cost-e�ective, convenient access to thousands of job seek-ers, plus candidate screening, job fairs, and other recruiting services. SC Works o�ers valuable labor market information, and tips on how to qualify for grants and tax credits. There are even onsite facilities for recruitment, training and testing.

Connecting Good People with Good JobsJob seekers who may be considering a change in employment or developing a plan for their career can bene�t from the resources and services available at their local SC Works center. These centers are a source for information, referrals, placement assistance and other services. Visit scworks.org to �nd the SC Works center nearest you.

http://dew.sc.gov

Cover Photo: Tiy Peterkin, a member of Clio’s I Have a Dream program, receives her diploma during Marlboro County High School’s graduation. (Photo/Matt Tomsic)

COVER STORY

FEaTuRES

DEpaRTmEnTS

SpECial SECTiOn: CiTiES mEan

buSinESS Public spaces

make beautiful gathering places

SpECial SECTiOn: Graduates take on state’s needs

4 bill Settlemyer’s Viewpoint

5 upfront

8 Spotlight: Spartanburg County

36 S.C. Delivers

48 1,000 words

COnTEnTSTable of

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TECh EDuCaTiOnSchools, colleges adjusting to meet needs of workforce

SOCial liTigaTiOnCharleston-based law firm leads negotiations on BP oil spill settlement

14 26 32

18 Determining Dreams: Clio’s kids grow up with promise of college, but for some, other paths are better.

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publiShERFrom the

Dear Reader,Welcome to the fall issue of SCBIZ. Since we serve the state’s business community

with our biweekly newspapers, the Charleston Regional Business Journal, the Columbia

Regional Business Report, GSA Business, and daily email news alerts from each of them, we use SCBIZ each quarter to take a more thoughtful and analytical look at some of the biggest stories impacting the state’s economic landscape.

We put emphasis on our mission of being South Carolina’s media engine for eco-nomic growth by bringing you special sections from some of the state’s most important economic development organizations. In this issue we feature the Municipal Associa-tion of South Carolina with their section, Cities Mean Business.

It’s easy to take your city or town and the services it supplies for granted. Have you ever put a call in to your town adminis-trator, police or sanitation department and just said thank you? I know I haven’t, but I probably should. Operating a municipal-ity is a complex task and our state is blessed to have a strong and well-organized association to provide support for all those people I feel guilty about not thanking. So thank you, MASC.

That provides a good segue into our county spotlight on Spartanburg County. I’m in the Upstate quite a bit, working out of our GSA Business office, and it is always impressive to see the dynamic growth in and around Spartanburg. The city has embarked on steps to spur economic growth and redevelop-ment by encouraging higher education facilities to locate down-town. Nothing ramps up a downtown better than an influx of smart young people. Of course, you can’t mention Spartanburg County without talking about BMW. Even though we have al-ready used a couple of barrels of ink over the years covering the automaker’s impact on South Carolina, it bears saying that the introduction of the new X4 model will likely fuel even more growth. So, to be safe, I’m placing an order for more ink.

Because we are so deeply involved in economic develop-ment issues, I attend a lot of meetings across the state. Just about every one eventually comes around to the topic of education. Want to grow the manufacturing sector? We need a better educated workforce. A lot of people are working hard to make the changes needed, and news of their efforts sometimes gets lost. So I encourage you to read of the impact one person has had in Marlboro County on the lives of a recently graduated high school class. It provides a clear picture of the challenges we face and isn’t the typical “feel good” story with the requisite happy ending. Or is it a happy ending? You decide.

Enjoy.

Grady Johnson is the CEO and Group Publisher of SCBIZ

News which publishes SC Biz magazine,

Charleston Regional Business Journal,

Columbia Regional Business Report and

GSA Business.

®

CEO and Publisher | Grady Johnson [email protected]

Vice President of Sales | Steve Fields [email protected]

Accounting Department | Vickie Deadmon [email protected]

Managing Editor | Andy Owens [email protected]

Senior Copy Editor | Beverly Barfield [email protected]

Special Projects Editor | Licia Jackson [email protected]

Staff Writer | Chuck [email protected]

Staff Writer | James T. Hammond [email protected]

Staff Writer | Matt Tomsic [email protected]

Staff Photographer | Leslie [email protected]

Contributing Writer | Harriet McLeod

Creative Director | Ryan [email protected]

Senior Graphic Designer | Jane Mattingly [email protected]

Graphic Designer | Jean [email protected]

Director of Business Development | Mark [email protected]

Account Executive | Bennett [email protected]

Circulation and Event Manager | Kathy [email protected]

Circulation, Event and Business CoordinatorKim [email protected]

The entire contents of this publication are copyright by SC Business Publications LLC with all rights reserved. Any reproduction or use of the content within this publication without permission is prohibited. SCBIZ and South Carolina’s Media Engine for Economic Growth are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Mailing address: 389 Johnnie Dodds Blvd., Suite 200 Mount Pleasant, SC 29464Phone: 843.849.3100 • Fax: 843.849.3122www.scbiznews.com

SC Business Publications LLC A portfolio company of Virginia Capital Partners LLCFrederick L. Russell Jr., Chairman

Corporate & CommercialPublishing Division

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ViEwpOinTBill Settlemyer’s

A recent Power Breakfast event hosted by the Charleston Regional Business

Journal brought together four health care experts to discuss the current state of health care in South Carolina

and the country.Participants included Charleston area

hospital system executives David Dunlap, CEO of Roper St. Francis Healthcare; Todd Gallati, CEO of Trident Health; Jim Deyling, president of BlueCross BlueShield of S.C.; and Tony Keck, South Carolina Health and Human Services director.

Believe it or not, there was some very good news from the private sector side regarding health care costs and the quality of health care. Hospital systems are beginning to respond to market forces with a serious and continuing focus on the quality and cost of health care delivery.

A new collaborative model of health care is emerging, one that emphasizes teamwork among doctors, nurses and hospital staffs to achieve better outcomes. As health care systems across the country are learning, it’s possible to control costs and increase the quality of care at the same time. By deliver-ing the right care at the right time for each patient, and by reducing unnecessary care (such as too many MRIs), it’s possible to get better outcomes at lower costs.

There’s a recognition that the traditional “fee-for-service” insurance reimbursement system has to change to one more focused

on getting and keeping patients healthy rather than maximizing revenue by doing as many procedures as possible. For medical providers and the insurance industry, the challenge is to begin this transition without putting providers in a financial bind.

Despite all these encouraging develop-ments, the challenges are huge. HHS Direc-tor Tony Keck has deep experience in the health care field, and along with Gov. Nikki Haley he is an advocate for more freedom at the state level to use Medicaid funds in a way that targets the small percentage of patients that generate the lion’s share of Medicaid’s health care expenses. During the panel discussion, Mr. Keck mentioned his interest in the newly emerging “hot spot” approach to managing costs.

The hot spot concept is this: With the proper community and patient data, you can identify and target chronically ill patients for special attention from multidisciplinary teams of doctors, nurses, social workers and “health coaches” who continually work with these patients to keep them as healthy as possible and out of the hospital.

Mr. Keck also mentioned the downside of South Carolina’s unhealthy lifestyles. He said Boeing officials have expressed concern about how expensive it is to cover their South Carolina employees compared to those in Washington State. In other words, this is not just a health issue; it’s also an economic development issue.

Early last year, physician Atul Gawande, who is a Harvard professor and expert on health care policy, published a lengthy article on the success of the hot spot strategy for controlling health care costs.

Interestingly, one hot spot effort involves an Atlantic City, N.J., hospital and a casino workers health program. This effort was supported by the work of another Harvard health expert, Rushika Fernandopulle. And guess what? Fernandopulle has also helped Boeing develop a pilot program along the same lines for its workers in the Seattle area, with positive results.

Wake up! Does anybody besides me see any connecting threads here? Boeing – eco-nomic development – excessive health care costs of South Carolina employees – ap-plication of the hot spot concept to contain costs and improve outcomes – Tony Keck’s interest in applying the hot spot concept to Medicaid patients in South Carolina?

These days, our broken politics and lack of interest in working collaboratively to find real world solutions to serious prob-lems threaten to wreck our economy and decimate the American middle class. Health care is one of our biggest challenges. The answers are out there, but only if we have open minds and listen to each other.

Bill Settlemyer

[email protected]

SCBIZ reaches thousands of South Carolina’s top decision-makers. Add your name to the list by ordering a print subscription to SCBIZ.Your subscription also includes SCBIZ

Daily. Delivered to your e-mail inbox each weekday morning, SCBIZ Daily is your link to statewide business news. One year for $43.50

nEw SubSCRibERSSubscribe online at www.scbizmag.com or call 843.849.3116.

CuRREnT SubSCRibERSChange your address online at www.scbizmag.com or call 843.849.3116.

SubSCRipTiOn inFORmaTiOn

hitting the ‘hot Spot’ in health Care

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upFROnTregional news | data

FAST FACTS | GRADUATION IN S.C.

Cover StoryPage 18

Thomas Creek’s brews flowing in Sweden

Swedish beer-drinkers are enjoying a taste of South Carolina as Thomas Creek Brewery has begun exporting its ales to them. “They con-tacted us,” says Bill Davis, owner and general manager of the Upstate brewery.

Thomas Creek has been sending Sweden about half a shipping container of its microbrews every three months for about a year and a half. So River Falls Red Ale, Appalachian Amber Ale and Up the Creek Extreme IPA may roll off the tongue in at least some Swedish drinking establishments.

“We get some Swedish visitors who have had it over there,” Davis said of the brewery’s beers. The whole project was enough to win an Export Achieve-ment Award, given to Thomas Creek by the U.S. Commercial Service in June. USCS is the export of-fice of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

63% percentage of all

jobs expected to require post-

secondary training by 2018

High school graduation rate

2010 72.1%

2011 73.6%

College education rate, 2009Percentage of the population 25 and older with bachelor’s degree or higher

78%2003, highest rate

in past 10 years

24.3%27.8%

South Carolina United States

Sources: S.C. Commission on Higher Education, S.C. Department of Education, U.S. Census

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What’s a WINGSPAN? In some quarters it may refer to birds or a champion swimmer, but in Greenville and Spartanburg, it’s the new brand for the airport’s Terminal Im-provement Program. The brand encompasses the website, blog and social media platforms providing information about the $115 mil-lion, 48-month renovations to the Green-ville-Spartanburg International Airport. The website, www.elevatingtheupstate.com, explains the key aspects of improvements and also serves as an information hub for travelers.

Women are making names for them-selves as entrepreneurs, whether intention-ally or out of frustration with the corporate world, writes Dorothy Perrin Moore, an emeritus professor of business administra-tion at The Citadel, in WomenPreneurs: 21

st

Century Success Strategies.

Moore, who was the first female to teach full-time at The Citadel, brings together 30 years of research and 357 interviews with women entrepreneurs. Women have natural abilities as entrepreneurs, and their blossoming educational opportunities are giving them the business prepa-ration needed to follow through on those goals with success, Moore has found in her research.

Being a natural entrepreneur depends on an individual’s level of self efficacy, degree of comfort in taking risks and other factors,

Moore said. Family financial and emotional support are helpful.

“It all boils down to the level of cre-ativity, careful planning and an ‘I can do’ attitude,” she said.

A bonus adding variety as well as en-lightenment on how others have solved problems is the 19 profiles of individual women, appearing with related topics throughout the book. Four of the profiles are of Charleston women: Jennet Robinson Alterman, execu-tive director of the Center for Women; Nikki Hardin, founder and publisher of Skirt! Maga-zine; Judith V. Moore, founder and CEO of Charleston Cookie Co. LLC; and Anita Zucker, chairman and CEO, The Inter-

Tech Group.The book, 254 pages, is published by

Routledge and can be ordered through Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Booksamil-lion.

Book Review: WomenPreneurs

http://www.edpsc.org

upFROnT

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NEW ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTAnnouncements made since June 11, 2012

COMPANy INVESTMENT JObS

Polydeck Screen Corp......................... $7M .........32

Morgan Olson LLC ................................ $1M ........ 119

bauschLinnemann North America ..................................... $8M .........55

Red Ventures ..........................................n/a ... 1,000

A.I.D. Company ....................................$7 M .........75

Mercom Corporation ........................... $1 M ........ 30

Chester Wood Products....................$10 M ........ 20

ACE bakery LLC ..............................$18.4 M ..........51

Gonvarri Steel Services ................... $35 M ........ 40 (additional $15 M and 25 jobs over the next 10 years)

McCall Farms Inc. ..........................$10.6 M ....... 80

Keller USA Inc. ................................. $2.5 M ........ 20

Lollis Metals Inc. ................................ $3 M .........25

Tobul Accumulator ............................. $5 M ........ 50

AVX ..................................................... $14 M ...... 279

boral Stone Products ......................... $6 M ...........3

Porter’s Fabrications ...................... $2.5 M ........ 60

PyroTec Inc. ......................................$10 M .........75

Cummins Turbo Technologies ......$19.5 M .........76

britax Child Safety Inc. .................... $26 M ...... 243

Encore Container ............................ $3.9 M ........ 89

CEL Chemical & Supplies ......... $900,000 ..........15

Source: S.C. Department of Commerce

If South Carolina recycled just 10% more solid waste per year, the po-

tential economic impact would equal more than 1,512 new jobs + more than $71 million annual personal

income + $3.3 million annual state tax revenue.

RecyclonomicsSCComing with your next issue of SC BIZ: RecyclonomicsSC, a magazine of the South Carolina Recycling Council.

Source: Southeast Recycling Development Council study

$11 billionEstimated total economic im-pact of the recycling industry

in South Carolina in 2011

800 Number of jobs announced

in South Carolina’s recycling industry in 2011

$333MCapital investment in the state’s recycling industry

in 2011

http://www.duke-energy.com

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SpaRTanbuRgcounty spotlight

Special Advertising Section

A PLACE TO GROWSpartanburg County attracts major industry and helps it thrive

W ith a climate good for businesses and the people who work for them, it’s no wonder Spartanburg County has an exceptional track record in attracting and retaining

industry. The county is home to advanced manufacturing compa-nies such as automotive, plastics, chemicals and energy, as well as distribution centers and professional services. The Spartanburg Economic Futures Group (EFG), an affiliate of the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce, plays a major role in facilitating the recruitment and retention of such industry.

Photo/Spartanburg CVB

For information about statewide advertising, call Steve Fields at 843.849.3110.

CONNECTING BUSINESSin South Carolina

SC Biz News is the premier publisher of business news in the state of South Carolina. We publish the Charleston Regional Business Journal, Columbia Regional Business Report, GSA Business and SCBIZ magazine.

Connect your business to our statewide audience.

http://www.scbiznews.com

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“The EFG is a private/public partnership focused on developing industry within Spar-tanburg County,” explained Russ Weber, president of Integral Solutions and chairper-son of the Spartanburg Economic Futures Group. “We work with all stakeholders to ensure Spartanburg offers the best climate for business attraction and growth. These efforts not only provide real value to the businesses involved, but translate into substantial return on investment to our community by driving capital investment, creating jobs, and raising the standard of liv-ing for our citizens.”

Along with and in part due to this con-tinued business growth, the population of Spartanburg County has grown at a steady rate, increasing 12% from 2000 to 2010. An even better indicator of positive growth for the community, companies continue to relocate and/or expand within Spartan-burg – as evident in a total of $1.5 billion invested and 4,600 jobs created over the last

3.5 years.Spartanburg has worked hard to develop

and maintain a business climate that not only attracts businesses but also allows them to thrive through expansion. One of the best examples of this is BMW Manufacturing Co., which originally invested $300 million in Spartanburg County in its first full manu-facturing plant outside Germany. BMW’s manufacturing facility, known as “Plant Spartanburg,” is now the largest exporter of vehicles by value in America. An expansion project of nearly $900 million and 300 new jobs was recently announced to support the growing demand for existing models X3, X5, and X6 as well as preparing for future production of the BMW X4. With this ex-pansion included, BMW’s total announced investment in Spartanburg adds up to nearly $6 billion.

President of BMW Manufacturing Josef Kerscher commented on the history and the anticipated expansion, saying, “Two

million vehicles have prepared our team well to meet the new opportunities that lie ahead for our plant. We look forward to a new model with great anticipation. For nearly 20 years, this team has always proven their steadfast commitment to producing quality vehicles for our customers around the world.”

Accessibility Leads To GrowthSpartanburg County is well positioned

in the Upstate of South Carolina at the crossroads of Interstates 85 and 26. These two major Southeast arteries provide north/south access between Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta, Ga., and west/east access from Kingsport, Tenn., to Charleston, S.C. With the combination of an international airport, trucking, and rail access to the ports of Charleston and Savannah, Spartanburg is a prime location for businesses with core capabilities reliant on the distribution of goods.

The South Carolina Port Authority (SCPA) recently announced plans to develop an “inland port” in Greer, located within Spartanburg County. SCPA owns and oper-ates public seaport facilities in Charleston and Georgetown, handling international commerce valued at more than $58 billion annually. The $23.5 million, 40-acre project will be completed within 18 months. In partnership with Norfolk Southern, the rail yard will provide a connection di-rectly to the port, thus extending the port’s reach more than 200 miles – providing an alternative to trucking containers with an overnight train service from the port’s docks to and from the rail yard. Several regional port users are indicating significant interest in using the inland port immediately upon completion.

“The I-26 corridor is a critical transpor-tation artery in the Southeast. The develop-ment of this facility has the potential, in time, to improve the movement of freight in this corridor by converting 50,000 all-truck container moves to more efficient multi-modal moves between the interior and the port. We see it as a game-changer for the port and the state of South Carolina,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the South Carolina Port Authority. “The I-85 corridor, centered on the Greenville/Spar-

BMW Manufacturing Co.’s investment in Spartanburg totals nearly $6 billion.

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tanburg area, is projected to be the fastest-growing part of the Southeast over the next 20 years. This facility will be a further catalyst to the development of an enhanced distribution hub in this area.”

Positioned close to the anticipated inland port, the Greenville-Spartanburg Interna-tional Airport (GSP) boasts an 11,001-foot runway and is currently undergoing a $115 million terminal improvement program. With full understanding of its ability to provide economic impact to the local com-munity, GSP recently embarked on a Land Use Planning & Development Study of the 3,500 acres of land surrounding the airport. Of these 3,500 acres, 2,000 acres are being considered for aviation and non-aviation development, the majority of which lies within Spartanburg County. The land use study will determine the appropriate use of acreage for industrial, distribution, com-mercial and other uses. Highly unique to air-ports across the country, GSP is one of few airports having land available for large-scale development providing runway, railroad and interstate access.

“The GSP District is aware of its impact

From antique shopping and downtown dining to cheering on theFighting Wolverines at local school athletic events, the town of

Woodruff has something for everyone!www.cityofwoodru�.com

http://www.cityofwoodruff.com

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permeates the entire community; we know our efforts are for the betterment of our community and citizens.”

A qualified and trained workforce is critical to a business’s success. Access to the right number of employees, at the right time, with the right skill sets will always be a key factor for a successful business launch or expansion. With new technologies and continued emphasis on quality, many of today’s jobs require production person-nel with skill-sets above a traditional high school education with a comprehension of basic math skills and ability to work with computers. For example, while more auto-mation may reduce the number of machine operators on production floors, it increases the demand for tooling specialists and mechatronics-based technicians.

This trend has been addressed with the help of Spartanburg’s proactive educational system. For years, Spartanburg County schools have anticipated industry trends in technology and provided appropriate cur-riculum to respond to these needs. Techni-cal-based curriculums are now available to high school students such as the addition of mechatronics as a course option. Our higher education entities are also providing needed technical support and training. An example of such can be found in the outstanding mechatronics program at Spartanburg Com-munity College.

“We are proud to sponsor a mechatron-ics apprenticeship program in cooperation with the Spartanburg Community College,” said Warren Snead, Human Resources manager of Cooper Standard Automotive.

from an aviation perspective and role in land use development, both of which have a tremendous impact on our community’s ability to attract and retain industry and thus continue to provide economic impact,” remarked Dave Edwards, president and CEO of Greenville-Spartanburg Interna-tional Airport. “We look forward to identi-fying the best use of this valuable asset while maintaining exceptional aviation services to our customers and community.”

A Wealth Of ResourcesIn addition to Spartanburg County’s

logistical advantages, it offers a wealth of resources to businesses including a work-force supported by proactive training programs, low-cost utilities, and a stable political landscape. All allies involved, from education entities and utility companies to political leaders, understand the important role they play as stakeholders in the com-munity’s success and therefore have a strong and consistent history of being exceedingly business-friendly.

“Our record demonstrates that our county council is one of the most pro-business councils in the Southeast,” stated David Britt, councilman and chairman of the Economic Recruitment & Develop-ment committee of the Spartanburg County Council, and EFG board member. “We as a county are fortunate to have a network of utilities, infrastructure, and private/public partnerships that are able to come together quickly and efficiently to deliver the needed structure and support to businesses. Sup-porting business has a ripple effect that

With the combination of the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, trucking, and rail access to the port of Charleston, Spartanburg is a prime location for businesses. (Photos/Norfolk Southern Railroad, GSP, and SC Ports Authority)

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“Classes are well equipped and the instruc-tors, most with years of industry experience, have produced technicians well prepared to meet our needs. As Cooper Standard continues to grow, we increase the number of apprentices accordingly to proactively address future requirements.”

Cooper Standard also realized a power-ful resource available to new or expanding businesses in the readySC™ program. “With the help of readySC™, our Spartanburg plant was able to recruit, hire, and train 60 new employees with job specific skills,” remarked Snead. “readySC™ developed the lesson plans, training aids, and provided classroom instruction at the Spartanburg Community College. Instructors actually used our prod-ucts, gauges, and packaging in classes. These new employees were already familiar with work instructions and products on the first day at work. It was an incredible success for Cooper Standard.”

To be prepared for the speed of business, Spartanburg focuses heavily on its infra-structure system. One critical piece of such infrastructure is the Spartanburg Communi-ty College Tyger River Campus. At 363,000 square feet, the Tyger River Campus is not only utilized as a branch campus, but also houses The Center for Business and Entre-preneurial Development. The differentiator of this facility is that unlike many incuba-tors or soft-landing facilities, the Tyger River Campus is an industrial facility that accommodates and supports manufacturing start-ups and expansions. It also provides companies with space for production training of their workforce. Dish Network, adidas Group, BMW, Lear, Timken and Walmart have all utilized the facility.

Two new welcome additions to Spar-tanburg County’s infrastructure system are S.C. Department of Commerce Certified Industrial Sites in Cullum Interest’s 131-acre Velocity Park and Pacolet Milliken’s 1,300-acre Tyger River Industrial Site. By completing the site certification process, the landowners have positioned Spartanburg well for recruitment of Class A industrial projects that seek locations providing a fast track development timeline and thus miti-gate the company’s risk.

One such recent success is the 1 million-square-foot Amazon.com facility being

developed by Johnson Development As-sociates, Inc. The distribution center resides on a 100-acre site and was substantially completed in a mere seven months. Spar-tanburg’s ability to fast track the develop-ment helped secure the $50 million Amazon investment that will create 375 jobs.

A Welcoming CommunityThe best proof of how welcoming and

pro-business Spartanburg County is for industry is the list of companies who have made the decision that Spartanburg is the best place to build, relocate, or expand. What may be surprising is the sheer number of international companies who have made Spartanburg their home.

Beyond logistics and infrastructure, quality of life is an important component in the decision a business makes in establishing a presence within a community. With rich cultural offerings, extensive educational op-portunities, active citizen engagement, and stunning landscapes, Spartanburg is a robust and vibrant community that continues to innovate and thrive.

A community gem, the 86,000-square-foot Chapman Cultural Center welcomes more than 200,000 visitors a year to discov-er, experience, and celebrate the perform-ing and visual arts, science, and history. An active community, Spartanburg has received the designation “Bicycle Friendly Commu-nity” for four straight years and the City of Spartanburg’s B-Cycle bike sharing stations are the first of their kind in the Southeast. It is truly a great place to work and live.

Spartanburg is an established com-munity that provides exceptional support and offerings to both its corporate and private citizens. Through its ideal placement within the state of South Carolina and the Southeast, the investment that has been and continues to be made in infrastructure and human resources, along with an exceptional quality of life, Spartanburg is positioned for continued growth that will reap untold benefits to all.

“Through our ability to be responsive to industry needs and proactive in anticipating future opportunities, we continue to lever-age our county’s assets in order to make doing business in Spartanburg a profitable venture. With a company’s success comes

our own, and that can best be summed up in the last 3.5 years in which we have averaged the creation of 25.3 jobs and the investment of $8,155,929 per week,” explained Russ Weber, chairperson of EFG. “We invite you to get to know Spartanburg County further and discover how our community can be the catalyst in your business’s success.”

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When Total Comfort Solutions began having problems recruiting HVAC repair and maintenance technicians, CEO Jim Reynolds took a service technician to a

high school algebra class to explain how math is used to diagnose and repair air con-ditioning systems in critical care facilities like hospitals.

The results of showing those students how science and math work in real life exceeded Reynolds’ expectations.

Through an ongoing partnership with the local school district, students began to emerge from high school with an inter-est in the well-paying technical jobs at his company. Reynolds said he has not had dif-ficulty recruiting qualified young people for his company, with locations across South Carolina, since initiating that program.

But such mutually beneficial partner-ships between schools and employers re-main elusive for many people who need jobs and for many employers who need qualified people to fill vacancies.

Sonny White, president of Midlands Technical College, sounds almost evan-gelical when he talks about the mismatch

between education and workforce needs. He’ll tell you about the need for specialized welders in the nuclear reactor construc-tion industry, jobs that can pay six-figure salaries. And he’ll also tell you how hard it is to persuade young people today that they should be interested in such jobs.

Add in the fact that young people emerg-ing from the nation’s high schools too often do not have the basic skills nor the desire to work in an industrial setting. Frequently, even those who graduate high school – as much as 40% of the total in South Carolina – require remedial training in the high-level high school courses before they can begin studies leading to a job or profession at a

two-year technical college or a four-year university.

Midlands Tech’s president has set him-self upon a mission to persuade high school students and their parents that they should give these technical jobs another look. White said reaching the parents is particu-larly important, because they set the tone for family discussions about careers, jobs and earning a living.

White has focused his institution’s ef-forts on what he has labeled the “middle skills” jobs, which typically require educa-tion beyond a high school degree, but not necessarily a four-year college degree.

One of the challenges cited by White is that of changing the image of the people who keep South Carolina’s manufacturing plants humming. The manufacturers offer starting salaries of $40,000 a year for these key people in their plants. But they often have difficulty recruiting people to take the jobs. White said some manufacturers have even resorted to offering signing bonuses for such workers.

White aims to change the image of these prized skilled employees in South Carolina’s manufacturing sector.

Schools, colleges adjusting to meet needs of workforce

Filling the gap

By James T. Hammond, Staff WriterAbove: CU-ICAR campus. (Photo/Kevin Greene)

Inset: Students work on a project at ICAR. (Photo/Clemson)

Cedric Brown was hired as a co-op student by Total Comfort Solutions during his senior year of high school. Brown then entered Midlands Tech with Total Comfort’s tuition assistance program. (Photo/Supplied)

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Programs and courses include: • Associate in Arts (transfer program) • Business Technology Administrative Office Technology Accounting, Business Information Systems Network Systems Management

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“It’s hard for us to sell to a student or parents a future as an industrial maintenance technician,” White said. “We’ve begun calling them automation engineering technicians.”

“We’re talking to school superintendents. We still have to get to the teachers, the ca-reer counselors, students and their parents,” White said.

Reynolds says his interaction with public schools suggests attitudes are changing.

“In South Carolina, education leaders and policy makers have clearly gotten the message,” said Reynolds, who is co-chair of the New Carolina Education and Workforce Development Task Force. Reynolds cites as evidence of a changing attitude:

• In K-12, all high school students now have Individual Graduation Plans and have chosen a cluster of study tied to career goals. Of the 16 career cluster options, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math is No. 3 in popularity. Through the 12 Regional Education Centers, businesses now are actively engaged with schools and students helping them understand the knowledge

and skill requirements of 21st century jobs; 127,000 students job- shadowed last year. South Carolina’s graduation rate has risen to 74% — almost at the national average — and students are entering college and the workforce with career goals.

• The technical colleges listen closely to their business customers about jobs that are growing and the skills that are needed. The Quick Jobs program retrains adult workers in intensive 3-6 month courses to fill

See WORKFORCE, Page 17

Photo/Jeff Blake

“It’s hard for us to sell to a student or parents a future as an industrial maintenance technician.We’ve begun calling them automation engineering technicians.”Sonny Whitepresident, Midlands Technical College

http://www.ttconlinecollege.com

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Aiken Technical CollegeServing: Aiken Countywww.atc.edu

Central Carolina Technical CollegeServing: Clarendon, Kershaw, Lee and Sumter countieswww.cctech.edu

Denmark Technical CollegeServing: Allendale, Bamberg and Barnwell countieswww.denmarktech.edu

Florence-Darlington Technical CollegeServing: Darlington, Florence and Marion countieswww.fdtc.edu

Greenville Technical CollegeServing: Greenville Countywww.gvltec.edu

Horry-Georgetown Technical CollegeServing: Georgetown and Horry countieswww.hgtc.edu

Midlands Technical CollegeServing: Fairfield, Lexington and Richland countieswww.midlandstech.edu

Northeastern Technical CollegeServing: Chesterfield, Dillon and Marlboro countieswww.netc.edu

Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical CollegeServing: Calhoun and Orangeburg countieswww.octech.edu

Piedmont Technical CollegeServing: Abbeville, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick and Newberry countieswww.ptc.edu

Spartanburg Community CollegeServing: Cherokee, Spartanburg and Union countieswww.sccsc.edu

Technical College of the LowcountryServing: Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper countieswww.tcl.edu

Tri-County Technical CollegeServing: Anderson, Oconee and Pickens countieswww.tctc.edu

Trident Technical CollegeServing: Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester countieswww.tridenttech.edu

Williamsburg Technical CollegeServing: Williamsburg countywww.wiltech.edu

York Technical CollegeServing: Chester, Lancaster and York countieswww.yorktech.com

S.C. Technical College SystemMission: The South Carolina Technical College System provides learning opportunities that promote the economic and human resource development of the state.

Source: S.C. Technical College System

http://www.atc.edu

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high need jobs — closing the gap for employers with hard to fill jobs. There are 360 Quick Jobs courses at the 16 technical colleges across the state. Midlands Tech alone has put 17,000 adults through Quick Jobs programs in the last three years and 70% of the completers earned jobs in those hard to fill careers. Also Apprenticeship Carolina, run by the State Tech System, has increased the number of apprentices in S.C. from 777 four years ago to 3,100 today.

• Comprehensive and research uni-versities are becoming much more attuned to the role they need to play in workforce development. Industry is giving clear direction about the knowledge and skills needed in the jobs they have to fill and the engi-neering and IT schools are adjusting their curricula to meet those needs. Innovista and Clemson University’s ICAR enable close collaboration of high growth industries with researchers and college deans.

“I think South Carolina is on the right track in closing the gap between skills and jobs,” Reynolds said. “I see the colleges tailoring their curricula to the needs in their region – health care, energy, information technology, advanced manufacturing, etc. I also see a much higher level of collaboration among the colleges in using scarce resources to strategically develop programs that avoid duplication and meet the state’s needs.”

At the highest level of academic prepara-tion, the universities also are honing in on fields of study that are in high demand. At the University of South Carolina, for example, greater emphasis is put on turning out en-gineers in software development, aerospace and nuclear power; doctors and nurses to staff the region’s growing health care indus-try; and information technology for the large and growing insurance technology sector.

“Everyone would like a worker they can plug into a particular job. That’s the job of the technical colleges,” said Michael Amiridis, provost of the University of South Carolina. “We see our responsibility to pro-vide them for a life-long career, in addition

to preparing them for their first job.”Nevertheless, Amiridis said the univer-

sity must be responsive to the businesses and professional sectors where people are employed.

“It’s an issue in medical education,” Amiri-dis said. “In Greenville, for example, we are in close collaboration with the providers.”

The USC School of Medicine is the um-brella institution for the medical school that recently opened on the Greenville Hospital System campus.

“We are adjusting to working with employers,” Amiridis said. “That’s some-

times more difficult in the liberal arts than in professional fields. But I think we do have our ear to the ground.”

Amiridis said that one of the biggest challenges in higher education today is teaching students the life skills they need to succeed after they exit college.

“The student who enters college today is different than 30 years ago when I entered college,” Amiridis said. “They are more tech-nically savvy. But I think they are less life savvy. Parents have protected them from the risks of life. College is to some extent the safe place for these kids to grow up.”

WORKFORCE, from page 15

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CLIO’S KIDS GROW UP WITh PROMISE OF COLLEGE, bUT FOR SOME, OThER PAThS ARE bETTER.

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Y In Marlboro County, a two-lane highway winds through nine miles of farmland, connecting Clio Elementary Middle School with the county’s high school.

The highway, S.C. 9, meanders by Clio Country Club and a John Deere dealer-ship before trees surround the road, hugging its shoulders before opening to unveil acres of green farmland.

The two-lane highway continues to an intersection where Marlboro County High School’s football stadium towers over the flat land.

For one class, the highway connects two places central to their education.

More than a decade ago, a philanthropist announced plans to adopt more than 70 students at the elementary school, agreeing to pay for their education after high school. This year, 20 students of the adopted class crossed a stage on a warm June morning and received their diplomas, completing a journey that began with a promise.

The challenges faced by these students are the challenges of education in rural South Carolina. The Dreamers’ outcomes — a graduation rate of one-third — show the difficulty faced by the community and lead to a question: How should the state prepare students for the workforce?

‘Will it happen?’Sallie Calhoun was watching 60 Minutes

and saw a report on the I Have a Dream Foundation, which provides the frame-work for philanthropists to adopt a class of students and pay for their education beyond high school. The foundation and philan-thropists spend time with the kids, track their progress and help them get the grades and test scores to reach college.

The report stuck with Calhoun until 2000, when she and her husband, who lived in California, sold their software company and decided — spontaneously, Calhoun said — to start an I Have a Dream program in Clio, S.C.

“I really liked the idea of starting with a group of students who were really young and following them through the process,” Calhoun said. “The thing that struck me was, when we started, it was kind of the big dotcom bubble. There was a tremendous amount of money here in Silicon Valley, but

there was nothing happening in places like Clio.”

Calhoun grew up in Knoxville, Tenn., and went to college in Texas before mov-ing farther west. After she left home, her parents moved to Clio, where she has extended family. Her mother, Jean Calhoun, was Clio’s mayor, and the pair decided to co-sponsor the program, contacting school officials about what they wanted to do.

“I was very excited that she wanted to come to Clio and implement this program,” said Beverly Gurley recently. Gurley was the principal of the elementary school when the program was announced. “It validated

that she really wanted our kids in Clio to be successful. They wanted to see those kids grow.”

Gurley told Calhoun the program was the best thing that could happen in Clio during a meeting to discuss I Have a Dream.

In January 2001, the Calhouns and school officials gathered more than 50 first-graders in the cafeteria. The day was cold, crisp and clear, and Sallie Calhoun was nervous. She only knew a few people in the cafeteria from earlier meetings and conver-sations about the I Have a Dream program.

Some of the kids’ parents came, and Sal-lie Calhoun remembers confusing every-

Students listen to speakers during Marlboro County High School’s graduation. The graduation was held on the high school’s football field. (Photos/Matt Tomsic)

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one with their announcement: After you graduate from high school — more than 10 years away — we’ll help pay for your higher education.

“Everyone just sat there and looked at us like, ‘What, huh? You have got to be kidding,’” Sallie Calhoun said. “Clearly there was a lot of: This crazy white woman, what the heck is she talking about?”

One of the parents, Kathy Dupree-Manning, said she didn’t understand the program at first, but school officials gave more and more information, meeting with the parents and answering questions about the program and its legitimacy.

“At first, I guess like everyone else, I was like, will it last?” Dupree-Manning said. “Will it happen? At first it was kind of sur-real.”

Challenges for Dreamers, rural students

After announcements, meetings and contracts, the program began.

Calhoun and program officials accepted 73 students, called Dreamers, into the program, enrolling anyone who joined the original class between first and fifth grades.

Calhoun and program coordinators set up summer camps and assigned a program director to meet with and monitor the stu-dents throughout school.

Soon after the program’s start, it began hitting obstacles.

Marlboro County had few nonprofits that could provide community support for the program. In urban areas, the location

of most other I Have a Dream programs, the foundation can partner with Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCAs and other community institutions. Clio had none of those organi-zations.

Joe Kinney, a native and mayor of Clio, said the community offers sports after school but little else.

“It was hard to get it started partly because we didn’t realize how little other support there’d be in a rural community like Clio,” Calhoun said. “To do it in rural South Carolina is really hard because you have to do everything yourself.”

Marlboro County’s demographics also created roadblocks.

Nearly 28% of Marlboro County resi-dents fall below the poverty line, according to Census data. Statewide, 16% of residents fall below the poverty line.

The median household income is $28,000 — roughly $16,000 less than South Carolina’s median income — and unem-ployment was 17.6% during 2011, giving the county the third worst unemployment rate in the state for 2011. In the Marlboro County School District, 85% of students

qualify for free or reduced price lunch. Less than 9% of the county’s residents

have at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 24% of residents statewide.

“We’re still evolving here in the Clio community in terms of continuing educa-tion,” Kinney said, adding many students don’t have parents who went to college and having a large segment without higher education hampers the county’s ability to attract business.

Infrastructure also posed problems. The high school is 35 miles from the nearest interstate, and the nearest international airport is hours away and across state lines.

The remoteness made transportation an issue for the Dreamers, Calhoun said, limit-ing where the Dreamers could go for field trips and creating organizational issues for Dreamer events and summer camps.

During the program’s early years, a fire tore through Principal Gurley’s office and burned the elementary school classrooms at Clio Elementary Middle School. Gurley, who was in Charleston on the day of the fire, received a call from her son.

“He said, ‘Momma, your school’s on

Henry Cobb of Marlboro County Schools takes a photo of a Dreamer as she receives a free laptop. Sallie Calhoun, the I Have a Dream program’s sponsor, gave a laptop to each Dreamer who graduated from high school this year.

“Everyone just sat there and looked at us like,

‘What, huh? You have got to be kidding.’ Clearly there was a lot of: This

crazy white woman, what the heck is she talking

about?”Sallie Calhoun philanthropist

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fire,’” Gurley said. “I said, ‘No, it’s not.’”Gurley called the custodian who told her

the fire was spreading down the hall. The school lost 14 classrooms and administrative offices.

When they could, school and program officials organized field trips, held after-school study and tutoring sessions at Edens Opera House, next to Clio’s only stop light, and hosted summer camps each year.

Calhoun returned to Clio for the sum-mer camps, and she remembers dancing every morning during the camp to start the day.

The students tried to teach her to dance, but the lessons ended with them rolling on the floor laughing.

Years passed, and the students got closer to high school graduation, and as the program pushed them toward college, Calhoun’s goal for the students evolved.

‘Lord have mercy’By January of this year, Calhoun and

others were working to ensure students were on track to graduate and were meeting deadlines for college admissions. The final tallies were falling into place.

Of the 73 Dreamers who started the pro-gram, 25 had moved away from Marlboro County and didn’t stay in touch. Another third didn’t have the grades to graduate, and program officials were working with them to get their diplomas.

Hazel Ellison, the program coordinator, worked with the remaining students on the

ACT and SAT, making sure they took the appropriate tests. She also helped students with the Free Application for Federal Stu-dent Aid.

“I gave them a senior notebook, which is a step-by-step process of everything they need to get them in that first day of college,” Ellison said.

Ellison met with students on Saturdays to fill out college applications and financial aid applications.

As graduation approached, Calhoun, Ellison and others waited to see who would pass, who wouldn’t and who was off to col-lege. By June 1, they had their answers: 24 would graduate and more than half planned to attend college in the fall.

At a dinner for the Dreamers, they re-ceived laptops from Calhoun and congratu-lations from their family, friends and school officials. They all gathered to celebrate the program and the students who had finished high school.

The Rev. Gregory Woods approached the podium, asking everyone to stand. He talked about Calhoun’s promise to pay for the students’ higher education.

“If we had to do this—”“Lord have mercy,” someone interjected

from the crowd.“—Good God almighty,” Woods finished.

“But God see fit to touch her heart, her mother’s heart, many years ago. I think we need to open our mouths and put our hands together and give her the best praise that you could give this day by saying thank you.”

Parents, students and school officials bel-lowed, hollered, clapped and cheered.

Calhoun, sitting at a table in the front of the room, looked from the podium to the crowd. She nodded and smiled. Her eyes darted from Woods to the crowd, and she smiled again, waving her hands in a modest gesture and deflecting the praise from her back to the students and their parents.

Redefining successEleven years after announcing the pro-

gram, Kinney, Calhoun and others struggle to define its success.

Kinney became involved with the Dreamers after he and his wife moved back to Clio from Columbia in 2005. Kinney owned a shop across the street from Edens Opera House, where the Dreamers held their after-school activities.

“I’ve had extreme difficulties talking about the program the last year,” Kinney said, adding that less than half of the origi-nal Dreamers are graduating and even fewer are attending college. “When you look at it from that perspective, it’s hard to give it a good grade. But then at the same time, I know a number of those individuals that’s graduating will be first-timers going off to college. And (they) may have never had that opportunity or saw that they could even accomplish that task had they not been part of the Dreamer program. It’s been good for many, many families.”

Calhoun said the program focused on getting kids into college.

Kendall Woods returns to his seat after receiving his diploma at the Marlboro County High School graduation. Woods was a Dreamer and is attending the University of South Carolina at Allendale. (Photos/Matt Tomsic)

The Clio Dreamers used Edens Opera House as its headquarters after Sallie Calhoun purchased the building. (Photo/Matt Tomsic)

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“We started from day one talking about this means you can go to college,” Calhoun said.

That became a theme, and they re-peated it over and over. But as the pro-gram evolved, Calhoun’s goals for the kids changed as well, and she thought the I Have a Dream Foundation’s focus on college was overdone.

Calhoun mentioned one student, who said he wanted to be a truck driver at the beginning of the program. That student, Christopher McLean, has chosen trucking for his profession.

Marlboro County School District is also pushing workforce development for its students. The district has started a K-14 initiative to offer two-year degrees in the county and improve access to those degrees for students who can’t travel outside the county to continue their education.

Helena Tiller, the district’s superinten-dent, said about 30% of her students go to a four-year university or technical college after graduation.

“We know that those students will go and take advantage of those higher educa-tion opportunities, but then we have the other 70%,” Tiller said.

The high school also has a program that trains students in technical skills needed by industries in Marlboro County. At the school’s awards ceremony on May 31, administrators named student after student who had completed certifications in weld-ing, cosmetology, auto tech, nursing and other fields. With the certifications, those students can go straight into the workforce, and one Dreamer, Willie McLean, plans to.

McLean completed the high school’s cosmetology program and received his cosmetology license.

In his Dreamers book, McLean wrote: “I enjoy this line of work and plan to make it my career.”

McLean’s decision meshes with Cal-houn’s evolved views for what the Dreamers program should accomplish.

“My goal was that every kid should have a dream for what they want to do in their lives,” Calhoun said. “And we should sup-port that dream. They don’t have to go to college to be successful.”

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Cities MeanBusiness

Gathering places

Public spaces made beautiful

School matters Cities partner with educators

A puBlicAtion of the Mun ic i pAl Assoc iAtion of south cArolinA | issue 2 | 2012

You see a police car…

We see a police officer who works closely with fire departments and EMS, who knows every business owner downtown, who can name every city street and who buys 12 snow cones on Saturdays even though his T-ball team has never won a game.

www.CitiesMeanBusiness.org

http://www.citiesmeanbusiness.org

www.citiesmeanbusiness.org | Cities Mean Business 3A publication for the Municipal Association of South Carolina

feAtur

es

DepArtMents

contents

cover story

public spaces, Beautiful placesIf a space is made appealing,

people will come — and private

development often follows.

By Amy Geier Edgar

Cover: Waterfront Park, Charleston. (Photo/Leslie Burden)

9 reading the Way Cities take interest

in schools’ quality By Amy Geier Edgar

9 Business express Streamlining licensing

saves time, money By Amy Geier Edgar

4 letter from the editor By Reba Hull Campbell

5 Business and cities Build partnerships By Jim Reynolds

A publication of Municipal Association of South Carolina

1411 Gervais St., P.O. Box 12109Columbia, SC 29211

[email protected]

Miriam Hair

Executive Director, Municipal Association of SC

Reba Campbell

Deputy Executive Director, Municipal Association of SC

Editorial staffMary Brantner

Contributing writers

Amy Geier Edgar

Published by

www.scbiznews.com

Cities MeanBusiness

6

4 Cities Mean Business | www.citiesmeanbusiness.org A publication for the Municipal Association of South Carolina

south carolina cities and towns are gathering places, hubs

of economic growth and centers for innovation. In this issue of Cities Mean

Business, we focus on three issues that allow our hometowns to grow and

prosper. We also hear from the leadership of the state’s business community

reinforcing the importance of a strong working relationship between the

state’s cities and the businesses located in them.

Public spaces draw people together and are one of the important quality

of life elements that make our cities and towns special. Read about several

very different types of public spaces in hometowns of varying sizes around

the state and learn how they benefit residents and the local economy.

Funding education may not be a city responsibility in South Carolina,

but that doesn’t mean mayors and councilmembers don’t have a stake in the

quality of education for their young people. Follow local leaders who make

supporting their hometown schools a priority.

A critical component of bringing new jobs to any community is making

sure government processes don’t impede a business’s ability to operate ef-

ficiently. Read about several South Carolina cities and towns that have put

new processes in place to ensure their business licensing procedure is as

streamlined as possible.

reba hull campbell

[email protected]

Editor

Letter from the

eDitor


Working relAtionships

By Jim Reynolds

Businesses and Cities Build Partnerships

in south carolina and all across the nation, there are strong working relationships between cities and businesses. In fact, the goals of cities and busi-nesses are often closely aligned. Companies want to grow their businesses, which results in job creation for citizens. In order to create these jobs, companies need a strong education system to meet their workforce needs. Companies also depend on a vibrant quality of life to attract and retain talented staff, and they need a stable tax system and sound infrastructure so their costs are reasonable and predictable.

Since cities and businesses share so many of the same goals, it makes sense for them to work together as part-ners and build trust and understanding before there is a crisis. As chair of the South Carolina Chamber of Com-merce, I see examples every day of businesses working closely with the cities they are located in to achieve com-mon goals. Whether it’s enabling employees to volunteer at local schools or serve on planning committees, South Carolina businesses are building strong partnerships with the cities they operate in.

The South Carolina Chamber’s mission is to advo-cate for an environment where businesses can flour-ish and prosperity for all citizens can be heightened. The Chamber’s Competitiveness Agenda highlights the issues that must be addressed for South Carolina’s economy to flourish over the next 10 years. These legislative priorities will also ensure that our cities can continue to prosper.

From an education standpoint, businesses and cities will benefit from an increased pipeline of K-12 graduates who are college and career ready. Higher education is increasingly aligned with businesses and regional economic development strategies. In

addition, our state must work to connect adults to training and jobs through WorkKeys, QuickJobs, Ap-prenticeshipCarolina and the S.C. Technical College System’s readySC program.

Comprehensive tax reform is also a priority that will mutually benefit cities and businesses. We need a system with stability and predictability in funding programs and services. Other important components of comprehensive reform include a balanced tax base and competitive rates, certainty and adequacy of reve-nue, enhanced funding for infrastructure, and promo-tion of economic development and job creation.

Businesses need to efficiently transport materials and products in and out of the state, while citizens and tourists alike must have reliable transportation routes to get to and from our cities. Funding for infra-structure maintenance and improvements is vital to keep our roads, railways and bridges safe.

Also, many of the businesses located in our state depend on South Carolina’s port system to import and export goods. When the Panama Canal expan-sion is completed in 2014, larger ships will be looking for places to dock on the East Coast. In order to stay competitive with other states, South Carolina must secure funding to dredge Charleston Harbor to 50 feet so these larger ships can access our port system.

As the business community continues to work towards these goals, we will rely on our cities for sup-port. Through strong partnerships, we can make our state an even better place to work and live. •

Jim Reynolds is CEO of Total Comfort Solutions and the 2011-12 Chair of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce.

Jim Reynolds


the City of Camden has a vision. Visitors and residents already love the small-town charm, the historic

sites and old homes. City leaders want to see Camden improve and grow, to be a place that invites both new residents and new busi-nesses.

A few years ago, a trip downtown led visitors to several businesses -- and a large, no-frills parking lot that was filled with potholes and stormwater issues. In 2009, city officials hired consultants to transform

the sea of pavement into a beautiful, usable space. They created the Town Green, a public space circled with large oak trees and wired for electrical service to make space available for concerts and festivals. As an added bonus, the Town Green also gives visitors a few extra parking spots to choose from when visiting downtown.

“This is part of a larger vision of where Camden is moving,” said Mayor Jeffrey Gra-ham. “We want to let businesses know, we want you to be here, to locate to Camden.”

Work continues in Camden. Downtown property owners are restoring building facades to preserve their historic architecture, and future plans include creating a more pedestrian-friendly downtown area by reduc-ing traffic and creating wider sidewalks.

As a downtown businesswoman, Karen Eckford, a senior vice president of NBSC Bank, sees positive changes happening.

“The Town Green shows that the city is taking care of its assets, looking to improve the infrastructure, and making downtown

By Amy Geier Edgar

Beautiful PlacesPubliC SPaCeS,

Camden Mayor Jeffrey Graham (center) is joined by local dignitaries to officially open the Town Green. (Photo/City of Camden)

A publication for the Municipal Association of South Carolina www.citiesmeanbusiness.org | Cities Mean Business 7

aesthetically pleasing, practical and up-to-date,” said Eckford, part of a private sector economic development group for Kershaw County that raises funds for economic de-velopment. “It creates an environment where businesses feel good about locating here.”

The new public space already is serving as a catalyst for private development, said Dennis Stuber, a senior vice president at First Citizens Bank and member of the Kershaw County Chamber of Commerce. After the Town Green was constructed, a downtown restaurant decided to invest in an outdoor dining area.

“This is the type of impact you see,” Stu-ber said. “When the public sector makes im-provements, the private sector does too.”

All public space — whether it is green spaces, streets or sidewalks — is an impor-tant investment by a city, said Irene Dumas Tyson, director of planning with the Bou-dreaux Group, who has worked with cities on designing public space. These spaces con-nect neighbors and people to special places in downtown. They also create appealing environments that attract economic develop-ment, Tyson said.

“If you think about cities that we love to visit — places like New York City; Washing-ton, D.C.; Savannah — every one of them has fabulous public gardens and vibrant streets,” Tyson said.

Green spaces, the well-designed civic realm, benefit residents and the local economy, Tyson said. They provide a central spot for people to gather, and the properties around those green spaces are typically the most valuable and most profitable, she said.

Years ago, many opposed the City of Charleston’s Waterfront Park, preferring private development such as townhomes and hotels right on the water, Tyson said. How-ever, Mayor Joe Riley argued that the most beautiful places in a city need to be given over to the residents. Today, because of that

BEFORE

AFTER

Camden: the SPaCe in aCtiOnWhere most people saw a large, crumbling parking lot in downtown camden, city

officials saw a town green. in 2009, the city hired consultants to design a beautiful,

useful space to meld with the charm of camden’s historic downtown. encircled with

oak trees and wired for sound, the space is available for concerts and festivals. it’s

the kind of gathering place that was common before everyone traveled by car. And,

just as planners hoped, the public improvement has inspired private development. A

downtown restaurant has already invested in adding an outdoor dining area.

(Photos/City of Camden)


decision, the private development that has built up around the park is more valuable and desirable because of the public park, Tyson said.

Each year, visitors flock to another coastal community, Edisto Beach. They are drawn by its unfettered shoreline and quiet way of life. Yet the town had no central spot for tourists or residents to gather for festivals, commu-nity events or the S.C. Governor’s Cup Bill-fishing Series, which draws large crowds each year, said Mayor Burley Lyons.

In 2006, the Town of Edisto Beach pur-chased 247 feet of frontage property along Big Bay Creek. The town had to overcome challenges such as contamination in the tidal wetlands, but was eventually able to trans-form the site into a public space with a dock for fishing and crabbing, boardwalk, market building, picnic tables, benches and a vast open area. The town dedicated the park and its market building, the Heritage Building, to honor Edisto Beach’s shrimping industry.

The public space has boosted Edisto Beach’s tourism industry by providing addi-tional venues for recreation and public access to Big Bay Creek’s marshes and bays.

The park can be rented for private events and also is used by vendors to sell products

such as vegetables and woven baskets, Lyons said.

“We now have a place to accommodate activities for the community,” Lyons said. “It’s hard to promote and have activities when you don’t have the necessary facilities. Now we have a beautiful park for visitors and local folks to enjoy.”

Just as Edisto Beach focused on its shrimping heritage, other municipalities can draw on their own history to create a public space that celebrates their uniqueness.

Ridgeland town leaders decided to honor their military history and many distinguished veterans by turning a neglected piece of land into the Ridgeland Veterans Memorial Park.

For several years, the government centers in Ridgeland were connected by an “unused island” of land, said Town Administra-tor Jason Taylor. Town officials decided to give the property new life as part of a larger streetscaping and beautification effort. The park now serves as a pedestrian connector between the Jasper County Courthouse and the Ridgeland Town Hall, creating a public space that is both functional and visually ap-pealing, Taylor said.

The memorial park also taps into Ridge-land’s distinctive identity. As part of the

fundraising effort, donors could purchase bricks with the names of veterans or community members etched into the surface. “It adds another level of meaning and owner-ship of the park for our citizens,” Taylor said.

Community members were deeply involved in the park’s creation. The town sought input and assistance from veterans throughout the entire project, and all of the work was done by local and regional artists and landscapers, Taylor said.

More than 500 people attended the park’s dedication last year, including representatives from all four branches of military service.

“Any time you can beautify an area, make it more attractive, it makes people want to live and work there,” Taylor said.

Parks, beautiful streets, sidewalks and trails draw residents and development to cities and towns, said planner Tyson. Not only is it vital for cities to invest in creating these public spaces, but it is also important to maintain them to ensure the public can con-tinue to use and enjoy the space, she said.

“It really is all about the spirit of the place,” Tyson said, adding that public spaces are becoming more important, because they provide places for neighbors to unplug from technology and reconnect face-to-face. •

Edisto Beach’s Bay Creek Park draws residents and tourists alike. (Photo/Town of Edisto Beach)

Ridgeland’s Veterans Memorial Park is part of a larger streetscaping and beautification effort. (Photo/Town of Ridgeland)

A publication for the Municipal Association of South Carolina www.citiesmeanbusiness.org | Cities Mean Business 9

Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin engages young readers as part of the city’s “Together We Can Read” program.

(Photo/City of Columbia)

very year, for the past four

years, elected officials from the City

of Columbia and other community

leaders head into the classrooms of

Richland County School District

One schools. As part of the

“Together We Can Read” initiative,


“We really see the big picture of how their budget affects them,” said Devine.

Devine said she spent time at her child’s school, which is in an area with some higher poverty rates. She learned that when kids act up in school or fall asleep in class, it’s often tied to trouble at home. Understanding the challenges in schools can allow city officials to step up law enforcement activity in the area.

“We can see from a community stand-point how all the pieces fit together,” she said.

It’s important for cities to be closely con-nected to schools for economic development reasons, she said.

“Columbia is not going to be looked at as a progressive place to be if we don’t have quality education,” Devine said.

Such partnerships and involvement by city officials indicate that education is a priority in the city, said Richland One Su-perintendent Dr. Percy Mack. The programs show leaders outside the school district that

the students are on track, and that tax dollars are being spent wisely, he said. Perhaps most importantly, he said, it has an impact on the children.

“Kids have great memories. They remember when individuals come into the schools and tell stories. After the chief of police came in, several kids said they wanted to become police officers,” Mack said. “This lets kids know they can do anything. They can grow up to become productive, contrib-uting citizens.”

Community leaders from the Town of Clover are common visitors in the schools, through an annual reading program, a lunch buddy program, career days and assemblies. Local elementary schools are invited for tours of the police and fire departments. The fire department and drug dog team make presen-tations at the schools.

The school district and the town share sports fields, with the town providing main-tenance and improvements.

While municipalities are not directly responsible for education in South Carolina, they do have a vested interest in the quality of education provided locally. A solid edu-cational system is critical for a community looking to draw jobs and residents and to grow economically. As a result, numerous municipalities work with local school dis-tricts in partnerships that can prove to be beneficial to all involved.

Along with the reading initiative, City of Columbia officials participate in principal for a day programs with local schools, allowing city leaders to shadow principals, assist with duties and interact with students, parents, teachers and staff. The city’s Department of Parks and Recreation also allows Richland One to use its fields, tennis courts and recre-ation center for sports at no cost, according to city spokeswoman Leshia Utsey.

City Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine has participated in both the reading and principal for a day programs.

these community leaders read to

the more than 1,800 third-grade

students in the district. The program

encourages literacy in children and

allows officials a personal glimpse

into the successes and struggles of

their local schools.

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The town also completed renovations last August on a building at one of its parks in a low-income area, said Town Administra-tor Allison Harvey. They partnered with the YMCA and the elementary school that serves the children in this neighborhood in provid-ing an after-school tutoring program at the Stellie Jackson Enrichment Center. The town pays for the facility, the YMCA staffs the program, and the school refers students and monitors progress.

After only one year, there have been im-provements in the test scores of the 15 stu-dents in the program, Harvey said.

“The town is very interested in the success of the schools,” Harvey said. “Today’s stu-dents are tomorrow’s citizens, workforce, and entrepreneurs. The Clover School District enjoys a well deserved reputation for aca-demic excellence. Its reputation is an eco-nomic development tool for us.”

In some cases, the partnerships extend beyond academics.

The Town of Springdale is working with its local elementary school, Springdale Elementary, on an initiative to encourage more healthy and active lifestyles. Last year, the town initiated a phased project which began by renovating the school’s park into a “healthy fitness zone,” said Town Administra-tor Erica Barton.

The park will be shared by the school, town and county recreation commission. It includes a nine-hole disc golf course and new play areas for children. Future plans include the addition of a 300-seat outdoor amphi-theater for entertainment, education, music, and arts programs for students and the com-munity, as well as an outdoor trail and new lighting.

The town also hopes to spread the healthy living message throughout the community, with future summer fitness and nutrition camps, and a farm-to-school initiative aimed at improving community access to locally grown farm produce, Barton said.

Partnering with the school allows the town to promote education and civic engage-ment, to bring growth to the area, and to make better use of resources, Barton said.

“Municipalities and schools have similar goals -- to provide the services that their constituents desire. Whether the goal is to improve the quality of life or foster an en-vironment where education can thrive, the desired outcome is the same -- a healthy and happy community,” Barton said. “It’s a known fact that families move to communities where there are good schools. Helping the school to become a model of quality educa-tion and good health helps bring families to Springdale.”

The healthy initiative may have begun with the school, but its message benefits everyone in Springdale, Barton said.

“Eating healthy and being physically active in the community makes for happier people,” she said. “Happy citizens make for a more friendly town.” •

Columbia’s Police Chief Randy Scott reads to students as part of the “Together We Can Read”

initiative. (Photo/City of Columbia)

feAture story

A publication for the Municipal Association of South Carolina12 Cities Mean Business | www.citiesmeanbusiness.org

As the economy soured, Nicole Combs, business license code en-forcement officer for the City of

Spartanburg, noticed more people inquiring about starting a small business or operating a business from home. Combs found herself answering the same questions repeatedly.

Combs then put together a complete “New Business Resource Guide for the City of Spartanburg” where potential business owners could find updated information about federal, state, county and city re-sources.

It’s part of a larger effort by the city to as-sist new businesses opening in the area. The communications and economic development departments also are working on more com-prehensive guides for business recruitment and real estate development professionals, Combs said.

In addition, the city has created the position of project developer for economic development to serve as an internal liaison to assist projects, according to City Manager Ed Memmott.

The city wants to help potential investors and businesses navigate the process of start-

ing a business in Spartanburg, Memmott said.

“It’s part of an effort to be as accommo-dating as we can while still meeting our responsibility to enforce the develop-ment standards and codes that apply,” Mem-mott said.

Tony Aku was one of those individuals who opened his first new business. Aku opened Best Link Communications, a pre-paid cell phone business, in February. He didn’t realize he was in the city limits and was required to have a building permit or

By Amy Geier Edgar

Cities take steps to streamline business liCensing to save time, money

Residential construction in the Brickhope Plantation development in Goose Creek. (Photo/Leslie Burden)

Under one roof

feAture story


Under one roof

feAture story

A publication for the Municipal Association of South Carolina14 Cities Mean Business | www.citiesmeanbusiness.org

permissions for his signs or alarms, Aku said. Combs came by and informed him of what his business was lacking and provided him with the necessary numbers to call and people to contact.

“I was actually scared that I was in big trouble,” said Aku. “She put me at ease. Just to know that Nicole and the city would work with new business owners -- it was like a breath of fresh air.”

A streamlined, efficient business licensing process is a good first impression for business owners and developers, said Greer Mayor Rick Danner.

“That’s often a first point of contact for business people and contractors from out of town,” Danner said. “That process speaks to the attitude and environment of the city for businesses. If your city is approachable and accessible, it demonstrates to them that you’re being proactive in terms of being a business-friendly city.”

In the Lowcountry, the City of Goose Creek offers an express business license pro-cess for new home construction that allows a contractor to pay a fee that covers subcon-tractors based on the number of houses built. This saves time for the builder, and doesn’t stall the construction project if one subcon-tractor has failed to get a business license, said Finance Director Ron Faretra.

Goose Creek officials also hold pre-construction meetings for new business construction. Departments such as planning, public works, police, fire and finance meet with the builder and go over all the proce-dures and rules, and provide necessary pa-perwork and checklists, Faretra said.

“The more information we’re able to con-vey early in the process saves us time down the road,” explained Assistant City Administrator Jeff Molinari.

The steps taken by the city to streamline the process set the tone that Goose Creek is

efficient, customer friendly and welcoming to development, Molinari said.

“We’ve improved our processes over time, and we’ll continue to make improvements,” he said. “It’s beneficial to the business person and to our staff here.”

Christie Nyman, office manager for Low-country Roofing and Exteriors in Goose Creek, has found city officials to be “helpful and friendly.” She frequently requests permits for her company’s jobs replacing roofs, sid-ing and windows. The process is very quick -- she usually is able to get permits the same day, Nyman said.

Like Goose Creek, the City of Beaufort also offers pre-application conferences where various projects are reviewed and discussed with the applicant, according to Al Johnson, business license officer. The applicants may include developers, construction companies or prospective new business owners. Some projects are large, like the current new con-struction of a Publix grocery store or Honda automobile dealership; and others are small-er, like salons, retail shops or home day cares, Johnson said.

The pre-application meeting not only helps for business license purposes, but it also allows new business owners to introduce their business model and construction plans and receive feedback from all department heads within the city, Johnson said. Local utilities and even the state Department of Transportation can participate. Local officials

inform applicants about zoning issues, build-ing code requirements, fire department regu-lations, public works and business license ordinances.

“Since I have been involved in the weekly conferences, I observe many people leave the conference with an overall better under-standing of what is required to start/finish their project and obtain the business license,” Johnson said.

Jode Kirk and his wife, Julia, opened their first business in South Carolina, Anytime Fitness, in February. Their pre-application meeting for the Beaufort business was very helpful, Jode Kirk said, and gave them an opportunity to have discussions with all the department officials who would be involved in the process. Kirk said he and his wife also went to the city’s website and found many of their questions answered online.

“It really was an easy process and fairly straightforward,” he said.

The City of Beaufort also was able to streamline its business license process simply by moving services under one roof, Johnson said. When the city moved to its new loca-tion, the building codes and business license departments were located next to each other, because many times they work together on projects. City personnel now have the ability to assist each other and perform similar tasks that in the past were handled by only one individual. Customers no longer have to visit different departments in separate buildings, Johnson said.

Helping to make clear the expectations for businesses is part of the larger comprehen-sive plan to encourage business development and grow the city, said Beaufort Mayor Billy Keyserling.

“We need more businesses and more people living in the core downtown to keep everybody’s taxes at bay and spread costs,” Keyserling said. •

Beaufort business owners of Anytime Fitness found the city’s pre-application process worked well. (Photo/City of Beaufort)

All branches of the military were

represented at the dedication of

Ridgeland’s Veteran’s Park.

hOmetOwn SnaPShOt

Photo/Town of Ridgeland

You see a street…

We see a lifeline that is a hometown with planned traffic flow, fire stations, thousands of visitors each year, city parks and community centers for children of all ages. Our streets take us to our jobs, our churches, our fun places and even to grandma’s house.

www.CitiesMeanBusiness.org

http://www.citiesmeanbusiness.org

http://www.charlestonbusiness.com

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Litigation

(Photo/U.S. Coast Guard)

FEaTuRE

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Charleston-based law firm leads negotiations on BP oil spill settlement

Litigation By Harriet McLeod,

Contributing Writer

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or months, open pipes pumped millions of gallons of crude into the

open sea after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of

Mexico.

As BP struggled to find a way to stop the flowing oil, the world

watched as a plume coated the shoreline of Gulf Coast states along

with the livelihoods of thousands that depend on the waterfront.

Eleven oil rig workers died that day in 2010, and the environmental devasta-tion threatened the economy of the entire Southeast and oil prices around the world. A South Carolina law firm with a track record of taking on defendants with deep pockets — including the asbestos industry, the Saudi Royal Family, and Big Tobacco — helped deliver an open ended multi-billion dollar settlement earlier this year to individuals and business owners impacted by the worst oil spill in history.

The hope, said lead attorneys on the case, was that it would keep this from happening again and offer some emotional and finan-

cial relief to the thousands who saw their lives melt away with soiled sand that no one wanted to visit and the fears that Gulf Coast shrimp was contaminated with oil.

“These settlements come at an important time in the lives of those who have suffered and continue to suffer because of the Deep-water Horizon disaster,” said Motley Rice co-founder Joe Rice, one of the lead nego-tiators, after the settlement was filed with the court. “They will provide long-deserved compensation to thousands, including busi-ness owners, cleanup workers, the seafood industry and other citizens.”

From Cooper marl to Mississippi mud

Motley Rice sent attorneys to the Gulf soon after the environmental threat became clear. Even though the Deepwater Hori-zon was 48 miles from land, scientists and meteorologists knew the oil was coming, and BP spent millions to stop and mitigate the disaster.

Headquartered on the banks of the Coo-per River in the Charleston area, the firm’s office in Mount Pleasant overlooks Charles-ton Harbor’s marshy marl in the shadow of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. Motley Rice became one of the nation’s largest civil

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litigation firms by taking on cases like the BP oil spill.

The quiet, elegant lobby of Motley Rice is laid-back Lowcountry, but it shields a fierce beehive of activity where attorneys and staff work on cases that span the coun-try and the globe. Motley Rice started repre-senting people, families and businesses hurt by the BP oil spill shortly after the initial explosion miles out in the Gulf of Mexico.

About 75 plaintiffs’ attorneys and 250 staff members at the firm’s Mount Pleasant headquarters and at satellite offices across the country — along with co-counsel world-wide — handle civil lawsuits on behalf of thousands of clients claiming harm by medi-cal devices and drugs, environmental toxins, occupational disease, catastrophic injury and wrongful death. They also deal with product safety, securities fraud and consumer fraud.

But partners Ron Motley and Rice are best known for blockbuster lawsuits that have yielded headlines and historic settle-ments.

Motley, 67, made his name by suc-cessfully suing the asbestos industry and then helped spearhead the states’ historic litigation against Big Tobacco that led to a record-breaking $246 billion settlement — an effort that was chronicled in the 1999 Oscar-nominated film The Insider. As a lead trial attorney, Motley deposed whistle-blower scientist Jeffrey Wigand, a former scientists with the Brown & Williamson tobacco company.

Rice, 58, recently obtained a settlement estimated at $7.8 billion as one of the lead litigators in the class action lawsuit against BP for damages to businesses, individu-als and workers on the Gulf Coast following a catastrophic oil spill in April 2010.

The firm was built on occupational dis-ease, product liability and consumer fraud work. Wins with significant settlements and verdicts in those cases help the firm tackle cases that might take years of work on behalf of clients with little means.

Cleanup crews remove oil from marshes affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill near Venice, La., on Jan. 28, 2011. Marsh cleaning techniques are designed to have the least amount of environmental impact while ensuring effective cleanup results. (Photo/U.S. Coast Guard/Petty Officer 1st Class Susan Blake)

Opposite: Cleanup crews removed oil from marsh affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill at Bay Jimmy near Port Sulphur, La., Feb. 17, 2011. The oil is being removed so new vegetation can grow back in the marshes and to protect wildlife from oil. (Photo/U.S. Coast Guard/Seaman Wil-liam Benson)

“These settlements come at an impor-tant time in the lives of those who have suffered and continue to suffer because of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.”Joe Rice Motley Rice co-founder

Photo/Leslie Burden

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We help people get care, stay well and build healthy communities.

With your help, we built a playground!Thank you to everyone who helped us give the Pinehurst Park community

a fresh and fun spot with a new playground, fitness stations and

updated basketball court.AmeriHealth Mercy Foundation | City of Columbia Parks and Recreation Department | Councilman Brian DeQuincey Newman | Dr. Nobel Cooper, Jr. IMARA Community Foundation | Lizard’s Thicket

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The firm’s anti-terrorism and human rights work can seem like global espionage. The firm has investigated possible finan-cial sources of terrorism in more than two dozen countries, hiring experts, investiga-

tors and translators along the way.“If we could help stop terrorists through

civil litigation, then that’s a positive goal,” said lead attorney Michael El-sner. “When we’re looking at all of our cases

globally, that’s what’s in the back of our minds. Is there something else to this other than just the litigation that can also make some great social benefit? We’re fortunate to be in a firm that feels that way and has the resources to be able to tackle those things.”

Oil well capped, but not the settlement

The multi-billion dollar payout by BP to victims of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that was given preliminary approval by a judge this spring is uncapped, Rice said. Although it is the biggest mass tort class action settlement in history, Rice said, that number could go up depending on the number of claims filed.

“The settlement requires BP to pay all claims,” he said.

Motley Rice represents businesses along the Gulf coast — $2.3 billion of the settle-ment money has been set aside for harvest-ers of seafood.

“This was a catastrophic event and we felt that we needed to try to jump way ahead of the time game here and get people compen-sation now … because a lot of these people can’t wait 10 years or 20 years as it happened in Exxon Valdez (oil spill). We had a judge who had the same philosophy.”

“If we could help stop terrorists through civil litigation, then that’s a positive goal.”

Michael Elsner, lead attorney

Photo/Leslie Burden

Cleanup workers remove a tar mat on Elmers Island, La., in March 2012. The island was heavily affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. As the tar mat is unearthed, crews sift to remove addition-al sand and shells, attempting to return beaches to pre-spill conditions. (Photo/U.S. Coast Guard/Petty Officer 2nd Class Elizabeth H. Bordelon)

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The 9/11 Terror VictimsFor 10 years, the firm’s attorneys have

been engaged in fact-finding on behalf of victims’ families, firefighters and others for lawsuits stemming from the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York, Washing-ton and Pennsylvania, said lead attorney Jodi Westbrook Flowers.

In lawsuits against airlines and security companies for security failures, the firm has settled claims by more than 50 families who lost a loved one on one of the planes hijacked on 9/11 and opted out of the gov-ernment’s 9/11 victims compensation fund.

In August 2002, Motley Rice law-yers sued Saudi princes, international banks, Islamic charities, the Saudi bin Laden Group, and the government of the Sudan for funding al-Qaida and the Taliban. The lawsuit asked for more than $1 trillion on behalf of Families United to Bankrupt Ter-rorism.

The ongoing case now has more than 6,600 plaintiffs among the families, Flowers said. It is known within the firm as The Burnett Cases after the first plaintiff — the family of Tom Burnett Jr., who heroical-ly died on United Airlines Flight 93 when it crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pa.

A federal judge granted the Saudi princes

sovereign immunity a few years ago and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the plaintiffs’ appeal, Flowers said. Remaining defendants are in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Pakistan and Sudan, she said.

“The defendants are now 50 or so, with dozens more being appealed,” Flowers said. “(They include) several charities that are alleged to be corrupt fronts — so much so that they’ve been shut down here in the United States and in Saudi Arabia since then — along with certain banks and wealthy donors.”

The firm’s team of attorneys on the case, led by Flowers and Motley, has run up against classified information, frozen assets, and volumes of paperwork. The cases’ docu-ments fill several rooms, Flowers said.

In following terrorism money, the firm uncovered operational information about al-Qaida that it has shared with the Depart-ment of Defense, she said. South African gold miners

“We’ve tried to identify cases to work on we thought would have some better social benefit,” said Elsner, who is handling the firm’s consulting role on a precedent-set-ting lawsuit against gold mining companies in South Africa.

The lawsuit on behalf of gold miners who developed lung disease from breath-ing silica while working deep underground has about 11,000 plaintiffs, Elsner said. But lawyers in South Africa think that there are more than 50,000 sick miners in the country.

“They’ve never encountered a case of that magnitude there,” he said. “They felt we could provide some guidance about how to manage litigation like this in a way that doesn’t cripple the entire court system and

hopefully provide some compensation to those people in a short period of time.”

“I think that the public understands that for years these gold mining companies have made great profits and, frankly, the economy of South Africa is largely built on the backs of these gold miners,” Elsner said. The case was to be filed in the summer, he said.

Arab Bank

Motley Rice represents about 6,000 plaintiffs in Israel and the United States in an ongoing lawsuit against the Jordan-based Arab Bank. The plaintiffs ac-cused the institution of bankrolling militant Islamist groups responsible for suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism.

The complaint alleges that Arab Bank violated customary international laws by serving as paymaster to the families of suicide bombers through groups such as Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The case is expected go to trial this win-ter, Rice said.

Raj RajaratnamMotley Rice filed a lawsuit against Gal-

leon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajarat-nam and his father on behalf of survivors of bombings allegedly committed by the Lib-eration Tigers of Tamil Elam in Sri Lanka. The lawsuit is ongoing, attorneys said.

“We allege that he was funding the Tamil Tigers directly from his accounts in the United States,” firm spokeswoman Alicia Ward said. “Our clients include many wid-ows whose husbands were killed.”

Rajaratnam was sentenced last fall in New York to 11 years in prison on insider trading charges.

Ongoing cases span the globe

The Motley Rice law firm in Charleston takes on cases from all parts of the world. These cases cost millions to litigate and many fill rooms with documents, research and investigative reports.

Sometimes the business uncovers information that it passes along to the federal government, and sometimes it locks horns, such as when a federal judge immunized the Saudi Royal family against lawsuits. The following cases show the breadth of plaintiffs and cases brought by the Motley Rice law firm.

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Robin AgnewPresident, Senior Treasury Sales, Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Derrec BeckerPublic Information Officer,

S.C. Emergency Management Division

Melissa Berry PotterState Hazard Mitigation Officer,

S.C. Emergency Management Division

Cynthia BlairShareholder/Department Head,

Rogers Townsend & Thomas

David “Andy” BlondeauAssistant City Administrator,

city of Clemson

Emily BrannenAlternate Delivery Channel

Manager, First Citizens Bank

James “Chip” Bruorton IVAttorney/Member,

Rosen, Rosen & Hagood LLC

Doug BrysonEmergency Management

Coordinator, Spartanburg County Government

Barry CoatsPresident and CEO,

Special Olympics South Carolina Inc.

Johnnie-Lynn CrosbyBusiness Services Manager,

S.C. Works Upstate

Melinda Davis LuxPartner Wyche PA

Jason EckensteinStrategic Account Lead,

AT&T

The Class of 2012 is a group of highly motivated community leaders who were competitively selected from hundreds of nominees to learn about the Palmetto State, the region and

themselves. The graduates completed more than

120 hours of learning designed to enlighten them on the challenges that face our state and the Southern region. During their six three-day sessions, the class traveled around the state exploring ways that South Carolina excels in achieving various goals includ-ing — education, social issues, health care, environment, economic development and natural resources.

They also learned more about the dis-advantages our communities face including poverty, low graduation rates, hunger and

unemployment. As a result, each graduate has a deeper

understanding of the challenges confront-ing our state, experts and professionals who are addressing those issues and strategies to make a positive difference.

As the only statewide leadership program that focuses on solutions for the entire state, Leadership South Carolina is proud of the accomplishments of this class and looks forward to the many achievements they will bring to our state in the future.

To learn more about Leadership South Carolina or to apply, please visit www.LeadershipSC.com.

Leadership South Carolina is housed at Clemson University’s Institute for Economic & Community Development in northeast Columbia.

Learning, living and leading in South Carolina: Congratulations to our Leadership SC Class of 2012

The 2012 Class ProjectAs part of the Leadership South Carolina

experience, class members put their knowledge to practice by completing a service project.

The class of 2012 chose to assist the S.C. Special Olympics’ Mid-Winter Games by raising more than $28,000 and staff-ing a major event for the 1,300 athletes in Charleston. The class sponsored a day of competitive bowling in North Charleston. Class members assisted athletes and helped with scoring and logistics. Class members cheered on athletes throughout the day of-fering “high fives” and warm congratulatory hugs. The effort represents more than 1,295 volunteer hours by the Class of 2012.

Dick and Tunky Riley Legacy of Leadership event

Nov. 26, Embassy Suites in GreenvilleFor more information or tickets,

please visit www.LeadershipSC.com

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A unique environment forbusiness and education

to co-locate on the 150-acreEnterprise Campus

at Midlands Technical College.

Congratulations toTom Ledbetter

2012 Graduate ofLeadership South Carolina

Call (803) 691-3885 to learn morewww.mtcenterprisecampus.com

Chip Bruorton, 2012 Graduate

Leadership South Carolina

Andrew Gowdown, Board of Trustees

2010 GraduateLeadership South Carolina

We are proud of your leadership and all you

do for our �rm and the community.

www.rrhlaw�rm.com843-577-6726

CHARLESTON, SC

Rosen Hagood is helping de�ne the future of South Carolina.

Brantley Evans Jr.Columbia

Tao GaoOwner, Live2Create LLC

David “Dave” GayleChief, Manning Division,

S.C. Army National Guard

Katherine HaltiwangerDeputy Chief of Staff/Operations,

Office of the Governor

Lara HewittDirector of Education,

South Carolina Hospital Association

Will HowardMarket Executive/SVP,

First Citizens Bank

Peter InglisBusiness Analyst,

South Coast Paper

Michael JaraAssistant Chancellor

for Facilities Management, USC-Aiken

Rob JohnstonDirector of Corporate Compliance

and Integrity, Self Regional Healthcare

Theo Lane Jr.District Manager for Government

and Community Relations, Duke Energy Carolinas

David LaursenProject Engineer/Manager,

Fluor Corp.

Tom LedbetterAssociate VP for Enterprise

Campus, Midlands Technical College

http://www.scatcc.org

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http://www.mtcenterprisecampus.com

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A LEADER IN BUSINESS AND IN THE COMMUNITYCongratulations to Cynthia Durham Blair, Esq.

Shareholder and Department Head, Transactional Law Department

Residential ClosingsReal Estate Owned PropertiesReverse MortgagesTimeshare ClosingsTitle Resolution

[email protected] 803.744.1848F 803.744.3565

Leadership South Carolina, Class of 2012

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Erica MarettPhysician Services Coordinator,

Hospice Care of S.C.

John MartinPartner

Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough LLP

Kathy NortonAssistant Vice President,

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Jeff PalenTreasurer,

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Jen PhelpsExecutive Coordinator, S.C.

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James “Mike” PostonVice President Retail Operations

Santee Cooper

Jermel PresidentCEO DAE Foundation

Cate RybaMedia and Communications

Officer, Mary Black Foundation

Richard “Rich” SalizzoniQuality Assurance ManagerSavannah River Remediation

Patrick SappDirector of Development,

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Rebekah Steen MathewsS.C. Executive Director,

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Cynthia Sweat-BassStore Manager,

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Patti TateS.C. Teacher of the Year

Marshall Taylor Jr.Shareholder,

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Sherry Teves Pastor,

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S.C. DEliVERSPorts, Logistics & Distribution

SPA PURSUING INLAND PORT IN GREER

By Matt Tomsic, Staff Writer

The inland port has the potential to take 50,000

trucks off the highway and will be a partnership

between the port and Norfolk Southern. S.C. State

Ports Authority officials expect the entire project to cost

roughly $23.5 million and to be completed within

18 monthsSee INLAND PORT, Page 40

Traffic backs up south of Columbia as motorists wait to merge into the overburdened Interstate 26 intersection near Gaston. The inland port has the potential to take 50,000 trucks off the highway. (Photo/James T. Hammond)

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Fairfield County plans to use some of the property tax revenue generated by the $9.8 billion expansion project currently under way at the V.C. Sum-mer Nuclear Station to pay for a new

industrial park.The tax money from South Carolina

Electric & Gas, which operates the nuclear power station with state-owned Santee Cooper, would be used to pay off $6 million

in municipal bonds the county sold to finance the 684-acre Fairfield Commerce Center, said David Ferguson, county council chairman.

“Even with the economic downturn we’re trying to focus our efforts on when this turns around,” Ferguson said of the county’s plans. “You know it’s going to turn around sometime.”

Fairfield County, which last year col-lected $23 million in property taxes from

SCE&G, could see the amount of revenue from the nuclear plant in Jenkinsville more than double, Ferguson said.

“We looked at the numbers when this thing started and figured (revenues) would be double to 2½ times what they are now, which would be about $55 million,” Fergu-son said. “And, then I’ve heard numbers that would surpass that amount. To be honest with you, I really don’t know how much more, but I know it will be a help.”

Cayce-based SCE&G, the principal sub-sidiary of publicly traded SCANA, will own 55% or about $5.5 billion of the new nuclear construction project.

SCE&G and Santee Cooper are building two 1,100-megawatt reactor units at the Jenkinsville power plant that are expected to go into operation in 2016 and 2017. The utilities run a 966-megawatt reactor unit, which began commercial operation in 1984, at V.C. Summer.

The new commerce center in Fairfield County could be one of the largest Class A industrial parks in South Carolina. The site’s location at Peach Road and Interstate 77 is a key selling point, Ferguson said.

The site is less than an hour’s drive from two large metro areas — Columbia to the south and Charlotte to the north. The park — divided into 19 parcels ranging from 12 to 86 acres — also can accommodate build-ing and site configurations of various shapes and sizes, Ferguson said.

“We can do small, mom-and-pop facili-ties and take on the 100-acre projects, too,” he said.

Ferguson expects the first phase of the project to be completed within seven months. Given the location and size, county leaders think the new commerce center will attract new jobs to the area and help put a dent in the local unemployment rate, which in May was 12.2%, three percentage points above the state’s 9.1% jobless rate.

“This kind of thing will help us,” he said.

Fairfield to use taxes for industrial development

Industrial Parks Staff Report

Parcel 136.7 acres

Parcel 222.6 acres

Parcel 318.2 acres

Parcel 49.3 acres

Parcel 59.3 acres Parcel 6

12.2 acres

Parcel 785.7 acres

Parcel 828.1 acres

Parcel 930.9 acres

Parcel 1028.5 acres

Parcel 1112.7 acres

Parcel 1218.6 acres

Parcel 139.9 acres

Parcel 196.5 acres

Parcel 1415.1 acres

Parcel 1526.1 acres

Parcel 1620.6 acres

Parcel #Developable acreage

– Undevelopable

– Developable

Parcel 1733.9 acres

Parcel 1814.3 acres

Fairfield Commerce Center Master Plan Source: Fairfield Economic Development

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The S.C. State Ports Authority is pursu-ing an inland port in Greer, extending its reach more than 200 miles closer to its Upstate and other regional customers.

“It’s been our belief that the successful growth of intermodal container units really requires us to look beyond our traditional port facilities,” said Jim Newsome, president and CEO of the ports authority, during a July board meeting called to discuss the proj-ect. “This is an exciting first step.”

The board took that first step in July, approving a $1.1 mil-lion design contract to Patrick Engineering and its local partner, Davis & Floyd. Port officials expect the entire project to cost roughly $23.5 million and to be completed within 18 months.

The contract will cover the design of the rail facilities, container handling facilities, storage facilities, civil and structural site work, and surveying.

The inland port has the potential to take

50,000 trucks off the highway and will be a partnership between the port and Norfolk Southern, which will operate the trains coming and going from the inland port.

At its start, Newsome said, the inland port will take about 25,000 trucks off the highway. The facility will provide an over-

night train service from the port’s docks to the rail facility in Greer. Newsome said Upstate-based cus-tomers like BMW, Michelin and Adidas could use the facility.

The ports authority purchased roughly 100 acres in Greer in 1982 to build an inland port, but the land had not been developed. The inland port is expected to be roughly 40 or 50 acres, said Bill Stern, the chairman of the

ports authority board, and Newsome said the design contract will determine whether the port needs to acquire more land through purchases or swaps.

Newsome said the project’s importance is similar to the importance of the new Navy base terminal and the harbor deepening project.

Trucks will haul containers from port property to an existing Norfolk Southern-run rail yard in North Charleston off Goer Drive. There, workers will load the contain-ers onto a train that will run overnight to Greer.

“Right now, Norfolk Southern has plenty of capacity off Goer Drive to handle the anticipated volumes,” Newsome said, adding less than 20% of the port’s pier terminals leave on trains.

Newsome said the service will efficiently move cargo to the Interstate 85 corridor, which is poised for growth, and more than 200 miles closer to major rail developments in Charlotte and Atlanta.

Initially, the facility will handle more imports, but officials hope more loaded containers will return to Charleston since empty containers will be near one of the port’s customer bases in the Upstate.

Newsome said the port also envisions a distribution cluster establishing itself near the facility and the inland port will have an immediate impact on the port’s revenues. The facility will create jobs but estimates have not been established.

INLAND PORT, from page 36

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South Carolina has emerged as the “it” state in the aerospace business, Gov. Nikki Haley says.

“South Carolina continues to be the buzz because of Boeing,” Haley

said during a conference call with report-ers from the Farnborough International Airshow in England in July.

Haley and S.C. Commerce Department officials spent much of their week at the show meeting with aerospace suppliers, seeking to sell the Palmetto State as a good place to open or expand a plant.

“It’s a great opportunity for CEOs to talk to CEOs,” Haley said of the visit. “And we are talking about the fact that South Caro-lina is the new ‘it’ state.”

Haley noted that 180 aerospace-related businesses in South Carolina employ 20,000 people. Just last year, the industry invested more than $100 million in the state and cre-

ated about 900 new jobs, she said.“And, we’re just getting started,” Haley

said.The airshow allows state officials to

work on lining up new prospects. “It’s the starting point of the CEO of the state asking the CEO of the company: We want you to come visit and see what we have to offer,”

Haley said.Aerospace firms that supply Boeing

are interested in the state because of the business climate, workforce training, and the fact that South Carolina is one of the “least unionized” states in the country, the governor said.

The S.C. delegation also met with execu-tives of U.K.-based GKN Aerospace, a first-tier supplier that plans to invest a minimum of $38 million over the next six years and create 278 jobs in Orangeburg.

GKN’s S.C. facility will assemble com-posite fuselages for Honda’s new Hondajet, a light business aircraft being built in Greens-boro, N.C.

Haley said meetings with companies like Boeing and GKN are part of the state’s ef-forts to make sure everyone is satisfied and to see what the state can do to help grow the firms’ business.

S.C. the ‘it’ state at international airshow, Haley says

AerospaceBy Chuck Crumbo, Staff Writer

Exhibition stands displaying large jet engines and other components used in the aviation industry at the Farnborough International Airshow, UK on July 12, 2012. (Photo/Steve Mann/Shutterstock.com)

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Transcon helps companies learn the export ropes

Exporting By Chuck Crumbo, Staff Writer

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By selling an assortment of goods from horse nutritional supplements and liniments to personal hair care and health care products, Transcon Trad-ing Co. has carved out its niche in the

world of export management. And since its founding in 1979, Trans-

con has racked up awards from state and national groups.

The latest honor came from the U.S. Commercial Service. The agency, which serves as the trade promotion arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Interna-tional Trade Administration, awarded the Export Achievement Certificate to Trans-con’s president and CEO Sonya Kosta Di Nova.

“I am truly humbled by the recognition,” Kosta Di Nova said of the award, which recognizes her company’s success in export-ing products.

The Export Achievement Certificate is awarded by the U.S. Commercial Service to recognize companies that have experienced substantial growth because of exporting, said Dorette Coetsee, state director for the agency’s Export Assistance Centers. “Sonya has taken her company to the next level, by

growing each line of products globally.” Transcon, which has a dozen employees,

represents about 80 firms that manufac-ture a range of products from consumer personal health care, to pet food, to equine health care products. Recently, it became the exclusive dealer for Blue Buffalo, a Wilton, Conn.-based manufacturer of high-end pet food and grooming supplies.

“Our mission is to help other small- and medium-size companies, namely U.S. manufacturers, to create brand awareness overseas and establish or increase existing exports by providing value-added services,” Kosta Di Nova said.

Transcon builds distribution networks for its clients, she said. “Essentially, we perform the functions of an export depart-ment for those U.S. manufacturers that are too small to afford or do not have the expertise to establish their own in-house

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export department, or opt to tap into our already established network overseas,” Kosta Di Nova said.

Exporting is not easy, Kosta Di Nova said. “Many people have an incorrect as-sumption of exporting, associating it with the logistics only of an export transaction.”

However, there are a number of other tasks that must be mastered by exporters, which Transcon takes on for its clients.

Those tasks, Kosta Di Nova said, include negotiating and signing distribution agree-ments, building relationships with the clients, marketing and advertising their productions in foreign countries, assisting in foreign country product registrations, preparing the entire export documentation package to aid customs clearance and assum-ing title of the goods and fiscal responsibil-ity.

Transcon also pays manufacturers as soon as the goods leave its warehouse and at the same time – with the backing of the U.S. Export-Import Bank – the company extends credit to qualified international buyers.

Kosta Di Nova, who’s also an adjunct professor at the Darla Moore School of

Business at the University of South Caro-lina, said the Ex-Im Bank is important to Transcon’s operations.

“Over the last 20 years, Ex-Im Bank has been a strong driving force behind our growth in exports,” Kosta Di Nova told a Senate panel in April. Transcon has had about $50 million worth of foreign receiv-ables insured by the Ex-Im Bank, and the company has paid $364,000 in premiums. Since 2006, Transcon has had only one claim, and it was for less than $2,500, she said.

“Ex-Im’s export credit insurance has giv-en us peace of mind and allowed mitigation

against both commercial and political risks, and made our foreign receivables eligible for financing,” she said.

One of Transcon’s most recent successes happened in 2011 when the company signed its first pet food distributor in Malaysia, K9K Pet Products, according to the federal agency.

“K9K Pets has purchased two 40-foot containers and a third order is in the works,” Kosta Di Nova said. “We still consider it a launching stage and hope that with increased marketing effort and brand awareness, this will become a very success-ful business venture.”

Recently, Transcon became the exclu-sive dealer for Blue Buffalo, a Wilton, Conn.-based manufacturer of high-end pet food and grooming supplies.

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S.C. poised to grow aerospace industry

Aerospace By Chuck Crumbo, Staff Writer

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Airbus’ decision to join archrival Boe-ing and build commercial airliners in the Southeast likely means more growth and opportunities for the region’s aerospace suppliers.

The world’s largest airplane companies already share a large number of suppliers who build the various components, pieces and parts that go into the manufacturing of a passenger jet.

Aerospace companies in South Carolina “will definitely benefit from having the new Airbus plant in Mobile, Ala., and Boeing’s production facility in Charleston, S.C.,” said Sherry Pittinger, of the Clemson Small Busi-ness Development Center.

Some suppliers already serve Airbus’ other models and now are looking for op-portunities to work on the France-based plane maker’s single-aisle passenger plane,

the A320, Pittinger added. “Suppliers are all over the world, but if

they can cut their transportation costs down by setting up shop here, they could save a lot and they could be more responsive to their ultimate client,” said Scott Mason, the inaugural Fluor Endowed Chair in Supply Chain and Logistics in Clemson’s industrial engineering department. “It’s potentially a big win for them.”

Aware of what Airbus’ announcement means to the the state’s aerospace industry, Gov. Nikki Haley and her delegation made it a point to meet with executives of suppliers at July’s International Airshow in Farnbor-ough, England.

The governor said S.C. officials had about 50 meetings with companies that have facilities in South Carolina as well as others that might be considering expanding to the

Palmetto State.The governor sees parallels in the emer-

gence of the region’s aerospace industry and the automotive industry.

She noted that after South Carolina landed BMW in 1992, Alabama followed a year later when Daimler AG announced plans to build a Mercedes Benz assembly plant in Tuscaloosa County.

In April, Boeing Company rolled the first 787 Dreamliner to be built in South Carolina out of its 1.2 million-square-foot final assembly in North Charleston. Less than three months later, Airbus announced plans to build an assembly plant in Mobile, Ala.

“What we saw was the automotive industry grow tremendously,” Haley said. “What everybody sees now is, if they come to South Carolina they can service both”

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Boeing and Airbus.Haley added that 180 aerospace-related

businesses in South Carolina employ 20,000 people. Just last year, the industry invested more than $100 million in the state and cre-ated about 900 new jobs.

“There’s a lot of buzz about that and South Carolina is already getting top grades for being business-friendly. Boeing is raving about us and that’s done nothing but help.”

One supplier to both Boeing and Airbus is GE Aviation, which produces high-pressure turbine blades at its Greenville facility for commercial aircraft engines. The company employs 200 people in Greenville.

Airbus’ decision to locate in Alabama does not change GE’s production projec-tions, a spokeswoman said. “But we are experiencing record high production levels for our business – producing 3,400 engines this year which increases to 3,600 in 2013.” In 2011, GE produced 3,200.

Current suppliers to Boeing such as Adex Machining Technologies in Greenville are in the process of becoming a qualified sup-plier to Airbus, Pittinger said.

Carbures USA Inc., which recently

located its U.S. operations facility in Green-ville to support Boeing’s North Charleston plant, could be another supplier to Airbus’ Alabama plant. Carbures’ operations in

Europe support several Airbus models and the company plans to explore opportunities with Airbus in Mobile, Pittinger added.

“The real opportunities with having Airbus in Mobile, Ala., and Boeing in South Carolina will be at the tier 2 and tier 3 levels,” Pittinger said. As tier 1 suppliers to Boeing and Airbus relocate to the Southeast, it will increase the demand for additional suppliers, she added.

“With the accessibility of various inter-state routes, these suppliers will be able to provide local shipping support, which saves time and money,” Pittinger said.

Companies that might be considering expansion to South Carolina and the region will have to determine if there’ll be enough volume of work to justify the move, Mason said.

“It’s not just one big fish in the ocean, but potentially two big fish,” Mason said.

Chances are there could be plenty of work. Boeing and Airbus have an order backlog of more than 8,000 airliners, enough work to keep them busy for nearly a decade without ever having to sell another jet.

Airbus’ first production A320 jetliner with fuel-saving Sharkets arrived for an appearance at the 2012 Farnborough International Airshow on July, 10. (Photo/Airbus)

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Web business spurs Belk to open S.C. distribution center

Distribution By Chuck Crumbo, Staff Writer

Belk Inc., one of the South’s largest and oldest department store chains, has opened a 512,000-square-foot distri-bution center in Union County, to accommodate the company’s growing

e-commerce venture.The facility, which once housed The

Walt Disney Co.’s catalog center, is nearly twice the size of Belk’s existing e-commerce distribution center in Pineville, N.C., on the outskirts of Belk’s home base in Charlotte.

“Belk’s e-commerce growth has been very strong, and to accommodate the demand from our customers, we need addi-tional fulfillment space,” said President and Chief Operating Officer John R. Belk.

Belk, a privately owned retailer with more than 300 stores in 16 states, said the venture represents an investment of $4.5 million. It is expected to create 124 new jobs over the next five years.

Belk entered the online retail business in the fall of 2008 — 120 years after founder William Henry Belk opened his first store in Monroe, N.C.

The company launched into online retailing with a redesigned and expanded website and began e-commerce operations from the 110,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Pineville.

Belk added 140,000 square feet to the facility in 2011, and that, according to com-pany projections, was enough to accommo-date another two years’ growth.

Online sales, though, have outpaced Belk’s game plan. In three years, Belk’s online sales have rocketed by 353%.

In 2009, the first full year of e-commerce operations, Belk reported $20.5 million in online sales. The next year, 2010, sales reached $34.8 million, and last year the company reported Web sales of $72.4 mil-lion.

Belk’s total sales revenue, combining stores and online, was $3.7 billion in 2011.

In October, company executives con-cluded that the retailer would need more space in six months.

Belk, which operates a 371,000-square-foot distribution center in Blythewood, considered nearby sites, then learned about the former Disney center.

The Disney facility, located off U.S. 176 near the Spartanburg County line, already had a conveyor system and storage racks installed. By moving into the building, Belk cut a process that normally takes a year to 18 months and set up an existing building as a distribution center within a few months. The ribbon cutting took place in late June.

Belk executives visited Jonesville in No-vember and by December the company had signed a letter of intent to lease the Disney facility. In early March, Belk announced it was moving to Union County.

Belk sees e-commerce as an opportunity to expand its brand nationally. It plans to invest $53 million into its online business over the next four years to create a new platform with better functionality, store officials said.

The 500,000-square-foot facility near Spartanburg once housed Disney’s direct distribution business. The facility triples the space Belk has for its rapidly growing e-commerce division.

The new distribution center already had a conveyor system and storage racks, reducing the preparation time.

“Belk’s e-commerce growth has been very strong, and to accommodate the demand from our customers, we need additional fulfillment space.” John R. BelkPresident and Chief Operating Officer

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All eyes were on Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, 23, as he set records on his way to winning the PGA Championship at Kiawah’s Ocean Course on Aug. 12. McIlroy had the largest margin of victory (eight strokes) and was the youngest winner ever. (Photo/Leslie Burden)

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