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Growth Report:
BERKELEY COUNTY Growth continues to drive regional economy
Rendering/Roper St. Francis
Photo/Jon Engle, Green Eyes Aero
Photo/Liz Segrist
Sponsored by Photo/Ashley Heffernan
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Berkeley County anticipates major growth By Liz Segrist
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lsegrist@scbiznews.com
he phrase “I love beach music” is painted on a wall inside Music Man’s Bar-B-Que in downtown Moncks Corner. About 15 people stood in line during lunchtime on a weekday to get their fill of barbecue, ribs and macaroni and cheese. A full band setup is at the ready for owner Gene Cribb’s weekly concerts. He said 2016 was the best year yet for his 11-year-old restaurant. Cribb said he hopes the growth happening throughout Berkeley County will bring more qualified applicants and new customers to the area. He wants to see an influx of retail shops and restaurants open nearby to “create more of a buzz in the downtown area.” “I’m excited about the companies coming in. ... The growth is good for businesses,” he said. Barry Jurs, economic development director for Berkeley County, and Bill Peagler, the county supervisor, describe the Berkeley County of their youth as mostly rural, the kind of place where everybody knew everybody. Now the duo, who said they have been close friends for years, work to recruit new companies’ operations or existing companies’ expansions, which inevitably bring more people and development to the county. Since May 2015, 10 companies have announced plans to invest more than $999 million and create 3,600 jobs in Berkeley County, assuming all projects come to fruition, according to data from the S.C. Commerce Department. “Times have definitely changed,” Jurs said. Along with the companies moving in, some have shuttered or decreased operations. DuPont recently said it plans to close its Kevlar plant this summer and relocate those operations to Richmond, Va. DuPont said 113 employees will be laid off from the Goose Creek facility. Century Aluminum also halved its operations in 2015, closing one of two lines and laying off 300 of its 600 employees at the Mt. Holly aluminum smelter in Goose Creek. Century says the issue stems from power costs through Santee Cooper; the utility says declining aluminum prices are the cause. The companies are currently in a legal dispute.
‘A pivotal moment’
A shift from the mostly rural lifestyle in Berkeley County began in the 1970s and 1980s. Industrial companies started moving into sites along the Cooper River, Interstate 26 was extended into the Lowcountry and “the bedroom community of Charleston started reaching further out
Above: Barry Jurs, Berkeley County’s economic development director, said he sees much of the future development happening near Interstate 26. Right: Gene Cribb, owner of Music Man’s Bar-B-Que in downtown Moncks Corner, said the county’s growth is good for business. (Photos/Liz Segrist)
Announcements in Berkeley County in the past two years: Announced date
Company
December 2016
Evonik Industries
November 2016
Thorne Research Inc.
Announced investment
Announced jobs
$120,000,000
50
$35,000,000
330
November 2016
Audio-Technica U.S. Inc.
$3,300,000
6
September 2016
Stoba
$7,700,000
61
May 2016
Blackbaud (expansion)
$154,000,000
300
May 2016
Viva TPE Products LLC
$28,000,000
200
October 2015
A&R Bulk-Pak SC LLC
$7,500,000
25
August 2015
Impresa Aerospace LLC (formerly Dynamic Solutions)
Not disclosed
72
August 2015
Gerber Childrenswear Inc.
$33,000,000
45
May 2015
Volvo Cars
$600,000,000
2,000
Source: S.C. Commerce Department
into Moncks Corner,” Jurs said. When the Navy base in North Charleston closed in 1996, thousands of Lowcountry residents were without jobs. “That was a pivotal moment when we had to decide what the future of Berkeley County would be,” Jurs said. “We became very focused on bringing in large businesses, understanding that larger businesses offer opportunities for lots of jobs with good pay. They also offer a strong tax base.” The county worked to maintain its rural character and long-standing jobs — which include small businesses, farming, timber management and industrial work — while also pursuing large economic development wins. Jurs said the housing and industrial markets were steady from the mid-’90s until 2008, when the recession hit. “It was very, very slow,” he said. “Then in 2015, the pendulum swung back to the other side. Investors became more willing to move capital. ... My first day in the office the phone was quiet. It started ringing on the second day and has not
stopped. It was that acute.” Jurs said Berkeley County received a call from S.C. Commerce officials in early 2015, requesting assistance with a secret project. Over the next few months, Peagler and Jurs worked with numerous state and local agencies to help secure the Volvo deal. In May 2015, Volvo officials said Berkeley County would be home to the company’s first U.S. operation. The project will impact the community for decades to come once it launches operations in 2018. It is the county’s largest economic development deal ever, and the project marks the third automotive manufacturer to establish operations in South Carolina, along with BMW Manufacturing Co. in Greer and Mercedes-Benz Vans in North Charleston.
‘Huge amount of growth’
Jurs said he envisions much of the county’s future development occurring along Interstate 26. Five interchanges in a 12-mile stretch — spanning from exits
187 to 199 — are either being redone or being enhanced to handle incoming development and growth. A cluster of shovel-ready sites sits nearby, and tens of thousands of homes are permitted for the Cainhoy, Carnes Crossroads and Nexton developments. Jurs said he sees this part of the county along I-26 becoming a huge hub of industrial and logistics companies, housing communities and commercial projects to support the area’s residents and workers, as well as overflow from Charleston’s expanding population. “We’re going to see a lot of growth here. We’ll see it in Moncks Corner as well, but this is where most of the growth will be,” Jurs said, adding that the Cooper River corridor will remain mostly industrial and the northern part of the county will maintain its rural roots. Jay Law, the broker and owner of The Real Estate Firm in downtown Moncks Corner, said he has seen changes coming to the county over the past few years. He launched his business on Main Street last year with six agents. He has since hired 10 more to keep pace with the flow of real estate deals in the area. He said it’s too early to feel the true effect of the Volvo plant, but he has seen land value increasing near the site and more people moving into the area. Law, also a town councilman, said the town is working to attract more restaurants and shops to the downtown area while maintaining its character. “One of the charming elements of Moncks Corner still is even though it’s growing very rapidly, it still has a very small-town feel,” Law said. “I think a lot of towns have lost that, but you really still have that feel in Moncks Corner.” Jurs predicted that the county’s available land and logistics network will continue to attract manufacturers to the area. “These types of jobs change people’s lives. They actually change generations because it’s not just ‘go work hard and come home and at the end of the week there’s no money left,’ ” Jurs said. “These jobs provide discretionary income for families to do things, improve their quality of life and give their children a better opportunity.” cr bj
Reach staff writer Liz Segrist at 843-8493119 or @lizsegrist on Twitter.
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Palmetto Primary Care Physicians breaks ground on $32M building By Ashley Heffernan
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The 100,000-square-foot medical office building is expected to be complete in October 2018. Davis Wince Ltd. and Seamon Whiteside are the project’s architects, and Equity Construction Solutions will do the construction work. (Rendering/Provided)
aheffernan@scbiznews.com
ome of Palmetto Primary Care Physicians’ years-old plans to build a medical campus in the Nexton development are now coming to fruition. In early 2014, then-CEO Jeff Lehrich announced plans for a 50-acre, $135 million campus that, he said at the time, would include twin 150,000-square-foot medical office buildings, a 12-story clinical and administrative office tower, a hotel and assisted-living units. The campus was planned for the Nexton community, a 4,500-acre, mixed-use project near Interstate 26 and U.S. Highway 17A in Berkeley County. But then Lehrich resigned after about 18 months as CEO. The groundbreaking that Lehrich said would happen in 2014 didn’t occur. When Dr. Richard Lauve became the physician group’s CEO in December 2014, plans for the campus appeared to shrink. Lauve said at the time that an 80,000-square-foot, three story medical office building was in the works. Construction still did not begin though. Then Terry Cunningham, who had been COO for two years, was promoted to interim CEO in November. He became CEO in mid-February, he said.
About a week later, Palmetto Primary Care Physicians broke ground on a $32 million medical office building. Construction of the 100,000-squarefoot, four-story building will begin in April and is expected to be complete in October 2018, Cunningham said. It will be the first of six buildings on a 28.69acre medical campus in Nexton that he estimates will cost $135 million to build. WestRock Land and Development is building the Nexton community, which is projected to include about 7,500 homes once fully complete. Those residents will need health care options, and Summerville Mayor Wiley Johnson said the new campus is an example of a business responding to that population’s needs. “We’re growing fast; we all know that,” Johnson said. “This is a way we keep up with that growth, and we keep the ser-
vices here to service the people of Summerville.” The first floor of the building will include an urgent care facility, diagnostic center, lab and cafe. The second floor will be devoted to primary care, and the third and fourth floors will be for specialty care, including gastroenterology, endocrinology, internal medicine, urology, physical therapy and clinical research, Cunningham said. Dr. Brantley Arnau, president of Palmetto Primary Care Physicians, likened the campus’ clinically integrated network to that of the Mayo Clinic. “There will be a lot of comradery and connection and networking between all of the specialists and the primary care and the hospital,” Arnau said. “We know that’s going to happen on a gradual thing. It’s happening all over the country, and
we’re ready for it to happen here.” The new building is expected to create about 350 jobs, Cunningham said. Steve Wathen, CEO of Equity Partners, which is developing the campus, said there have been many iterations of the original campus plan, and the partners involved in the project learned the market better over the years. “We learned more about the outstanding growth prospects for the area and the current and future demand for health care services in this burgeoning community,” Wathen said. “As a result, the vision has grown to this current, 100,000-squarefoot medical building we’re building.” Over the next three to five years, the group plans to construct a total of six buildings in the campus, which will be located near the intersection of Pace and Front streets in the Nexton development. Cunningham said groundbreaking events could be held for the other buildings over the next few months. The campus is expected to have a second similarly sized medical office building along with assisted living and hospice facilities. He said he could not yet discuss what the other buildings will encompass, but site plans show a hotel. cr bj
Reach staff writer Ashley Heffernan at 843-849-3144 or @AshleyBHeff on Twitter.
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Voters to decide future of Berkeley County government By Ashley Heffernan
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aheffernan@scbiznews.com
erkeley County Council members disagree about whether altering the county’s form of government — which voters will decide in an upcoming referendum — would help or hurt the county’s growth and business recruitment efforts. The county currently operates under a council-supervisor form of government. Residents voted in 2008 against changing to an administrator form of government.
Two options for form of government: • Council-supervisor form: Residents elect a supervisor to serve as chairperson of county council and chief administrative officer of the county. • Administrator form: Council members appoint an administrator who is the head of the county but not a member of council.
County Council recently approved asking voters to decide on the form of government again, but that new referendum has not been scheduled. “That would certainly be a game changer,” current Supervisor Bill Peagler
Berkeley County Supervisor Bill Peagler was elected Nov. 4, 2014; his term expires Dec. 31, 2018. Under the current council-supervisor form of government, Peagler also serves as chairman of county council — voting only to break a tie — and chief administrative officer of the county. (Photo/Ashley Heffernan)
said of the impact a change might have on business recruitment. Peagler, who is against changing the form of government, said the county has seen $1.5 billion in business investment since he was elected supervisor in late
2014. Industry leaders “want a face to the government that represents Berkeley. That may be something that would be lacking in an administrative form of government because everything that would
be said would have to be blessed by council,” Peagler said. “So it adds a layer of bureaucracy that we currently don’t have.” Councilman Steve Davis also opposes the proposed change in government. He said he wants residents to have the chance
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to decide issues in the county in the form of referendums, but he said because the question was asked in 2008, it’s too soon to ask again. “I just think it’s unnecessary,” Davis said. “I think we have an adequate form of government that has served the citizens of Berkeley County quite well and that there’s no need for change at this stance.” Davis and Councilman Dennis Fish were the only two to vote against the referendum during its third reading on Jan. 23. “I don’t think you change our (national) form of government just because of who becomes president, and I don’t believe we change our local form of government just because at this instance Mr. Peagler is the supervisor,” Davis said. “That’s the illustration I use in that manner.” If voters approve, an administrator would be hired to run Berkeley County beginning in 2019, after Peagler’s term is finished. If they vote against, the supervisor position will remain on the ballot as usual. Berkeley is one of four S.C. counties operating under a council-supervisor form of government, along with Chester, Union and Williamsburg counties, according to the S.C. Association of Counties. Most S.C. counties, including nearby Charleston and Dorchester, operate under the council-administrator form. Councilman Caldwell Pinckney said he supports changing to council-
BERKELEY COUNTY GROWTH REPORT
Berkeley, Chester, Union and Williamsburg counties are the only ones in the state to operate under a council-supervisor form of government. Most S.C. counties operate under the council-administrator form of government. (Photo/Ashley Heffernan)
administrator because the county’s growth has created the need for a new perspective. A supervisor must live in Berkeley County to be elected; an administrator could be found using a nationwide search, Pinckney said. “Sometimes we can be so close to the situation that we really can’t see all that we need to see as far as keeping it vibrant,” Pinckney said. “So I think it’s an advantage now that we’ve got such tremendous growth going on in Berkeley County.”
Councilman Jack Schurlknight echoed Pinckney’s comments, saying council could search for an administrator who has experience working with fastgrowing communities. “There’s a lot of things we need to do today to get ready for 10 years down the road, as far as infrastructure and those types of things. We’re already feeling the sting of not having the correct infrastructure in place for this unprecedented growth,” Schurlknight said, referencing
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the need for more road improvements and construction. He said switching to an administrator form could also give apolitical executives in the county an opportunity to participate in government. “There’s good CEOs in Berkeley County, but some of those CEOs don’t want to get into the political arena,” Schurlknight said. Councilman Kevin Cox was previously a member of Hanahan City Council, which operates with an administrator, and Cox said he prefers that form of government. “From my point of view, this is not about an individual; this is not about a power struggle. This is about what’s the most efficient way to run the county, and I just think that’s a better way,” Cox said. He compared government to a corporation, with stockholders choosing a board of directors and the board selecting a president. “That president has to be accountable to the board of directors. It’s no different, except it’s a governmental entity,” Cox said. “The private sector always works more efficiently and effectively than the public sector does, in my opinion, after having been a public servant for 28 years. So I think their model is probably a better model.” cr bj
Reach staff writer Ashley Heffernan at 843-849-3144 or @AshleyBHeff on Twitter.
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Volvo builds out site, focuses on workforce By Liz Segrist
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lsegrist@scbiznews.com
olvo Cars’ top executive in South Carolina wants more people from the communities surrounding the Berkeley County plant to be eligible to work at the automaker. Out of an average of 40,000 applications an S.C. manufacturer typically receives when building a new plant, 4% make it through the initial screening process, said Katarina Fjording, purchasing and manufacturing vice president for Volvo Car U.S. Operations, quoting data from readySC. Only those 1,500 or so applicants pass the entry skills tests, preliminary interviews, background checks or drug screenings required to move forward in the interview process, Fjording said. Before Volvo started building its manufacturing campus in Berkeley County, Fjording heard repeatedly from other large manufacturers in the state that up to 70% of their workforces are hired from outside the Southeast. Companies are hiring most of their workers from the rest of North America and Europe. Fjording said Volvo wants to increase the likelihood that local workers will be hired by the manufacturers setting up shop in their communities. “Our vision and road to success is to close the gap,” Fjording told business leaders recently during a Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce event on Daniel Island. Fjording said companies could use some of the state-provided money meant to offset relocation costs for workforce development initiatives instead. “I think we can change this together,” she said. “Maybe not overnight, but we need to have a vision that we want to change this.” Volvo received a huge incentive package from the state, including some $216 million for site prep work and infrastructure projects, and other perks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for office space, sponsorships and branding opportunities, according to S.C. Commerce Department documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. “We have the salary and benefit costs, but on top of that you get relocation costs. ... What if we could take that money and put it straight into the schools, into education instead?” Fjording said. Hourly workers at Volvo will put in 32 hours of screening and training before getting hired. Once employed, they will take part in a 14-week training program.
Volvo in the U.S. 137: Employees in South Carolina 2,000: Expected number of new hires over the next few years, possibly growing to 4,000 workers over a decade. 2,800: Acres in the new campus under construction on the Camp Hall Tract in Berkeley County, off Interstate 26 near exit 187. S60: The sporty, midsize car model currently under development in Sweden that will be built at the S.C. site and exported globally. 2018: Year the first car is set to roll off the assembly line at the new plant. 65,000: Cars that Volvo expects to produce annually in Berkeley County. 30,000: Initial number of vehicles to be exported annually through the Port of Charleston. 18%: Increase in U.S. sales in 2016 compared with 2015. 206,000: Cars sold in the U.S. last year. 6%: Increase in global sales in 2016 compared with 2015. 535,000: Cars sold globally last year. Source: Volvo Cars
Volvo is working with readySC, Trident Technical College and Commerce to develop a curriculum outlining the training and education residents need before applying. “This way they can know beforehand what they need to adjust or read up on ahead of time so they can up their chances of qualifying,” she said. “We think this is a small step towards getting more local workforce opportunities.” The Sweden-based, Chinese-owned automaker plans to invest $600 million in building out its car manufacturing campus. The site now has a paint shop, utility building, body shop and final assembly facilities, as well as several large stormwater ponds. It will eventually include a test track for customers and a museum showcasing Volvo’s history. Work also includes establishing a purchasing and manufacturing operation to enable a possible second vehicle and building out the logistics footprint, which includes a new rail line connecting the site to the Port of Charleston. cr bj
Reach staff writer Liz Segrist at 843-8493119 or @lizsegrist on Twitter.
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Roper St. Francis is building a 115,000-square-foot hospital and an 80,000-square-foot medical office building in the Carnes Crossroads development. (Conceptual rendering/Roper St. Francis)
Roper St. Francis to open new hospital in Berkeley County By Ashley Heffernan aheffernan@scbiznews.com
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onstruction of a new hospital in Berkeley County that was tied up in a legal battle for years is expected to begin this year. Roper St. Francis is building a $125 million medical campus in the Carnes Crossroads development at the intersection of U.S. highways 176 and 17-A. It will initially include a 115,000-squarefoot hospital and an 80,000-square-foot medical office building. The hospital system has completed the site plan for the 90-acre campus and is awaiting permits from the city of Goose Creek, according to Scott Broome, CEO of Roper St. Francis Berkeley Hospital. He said the three-story medical office building will be constructed first. Its first floor will include classroom space and medical offices. The second floor will be entirely medical offices, and the third floor will have additional medical offices and some space for hospital administrative work, such as human resources. The hospital, which will also be three stories, will be built adjacent to the medical office building. The first floor will include the emergency department, imaging department, laboratory, pharmacy and surgery rooms. The second floor will be fully devoted to women’s services, including labor and delivery and postpartum rooms, and the third floor will house general hospital rooms and the intensive care unit, Broome said. Windows in both buildings will be glazed, allowing visibility from the inside but limiting visibility from the outside looking in, to protect patient privacy.
Project timeline
Site work, including cutting down trees and creating corridors for roads and other infrastructure, is expected to start late in the second quarter. Construction on the medical office building is likely to start in the third quarter, and construction on the hospital will follow by year’s
end, Broome said. If construction goes according to plan, the medical office building would open in the second half of 2018, and the hospital would open about a year later in 2019. The entire project is estimated to cost about $125 million, with nearly $7 million going toward campus site work, $28 million on the medical office building and $90 million on the hospital, he said. Two more medical office buildings could be added later as the campus grows. “We, like everyone else, see that that community is growing significantly,” he said. “There are already 200,000 people within a 20-minute drive-time radius around the facility, and we feel very honored to have the ability to bring health care to those people, and, quite frankly, we can’t wait to bring this to fruition.”
Health care fight
Roper St. Francis and Trident Health have wanted to build new hospitals in Berkeley County for several years. But both hospital systems’ plans sat in limbo. In 2009, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control issued certificates of need to both hospital systems, allowing each to build in the county. Trident Health filed requests with the S.C. Administrative Law Court saying Berkeley County’s population didn’t need two hospitals. In 2012, the court upheld DHEC’s issuance of the certificates and appeals followed. The next year, then-Gov. Nikki Haley cut funding for DHEC’s certificate of need program, putting the hospital plans on hold again until funding was reinstated. Appeals took the case to the S.C. Supreme Court, which denied a petition to review the S.C. Court of Appeals’ previous decision in late 2015. That opened the way for both hospitals to be built. Since then, Roper St. Francis has been working on its hospital; Trident Health has not announced plans of its own. cr bj
Reach staff writer Ashley Heffernan at 843-849-3144 or @AshleyBHeff on Twitter.
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