Bar breaks ground

The S.C. Bar Association broke ground Wednesday, September 2, for its new conference center designed by Columbia- based architecture firm Boudreaux Group. The three- story, 17,800 square- foot facility will be used to accommodate continuing legal education programs and other S.C. Bar related meetings. Adjacent to the current Bar building, the conference center will be located at the corner of Park Street and Hampton Street.

Guaranteed worst in town

Cromer's is about to hit its 75th birthday. President of Cromer's is Carolette Cromer Turner, granddaughter of founder Julien Cromer.

Collexis

Collexis Holdings Inc., a developer of semantic technology and knowledge discovery software, recently announced its life science research portal (http://www.biomedexperts.com/) has more than 200,000 users. The 200,000 mark was achieved within 18 months. According to Bill Kirkland, CEO at Collexis, "We are very excited about our latest partnership with the American Institute of Physics and the pending publishing partnerships that are on the horizon. Further, our plans to launch additional functionality over the course of the year will only enhance BiomedExperts' position in the life science industry."

West Bank takes in another $20 million

The City of West Columbia has begun a $20 million water and sewer infrastructure project, increasing the city's service area. In 1950, West Columbia had fewer than 2,000 people. The population today is maybe a little more than 14,000.

Barometer for the national economy

Across the country by the end of this year, about 10,000 stores are expected to close, according to the retail distress advisors at Grant Thornton LLP's Corporate Advisory and Restructuring Services division in New York. The CARE group's tips include: (1) balance and integrate the use of bricks- and- mortar stores with online sales; (2) consider private label products, which are gaining ground over name brands; (3) invest in green practices and determine which green products to offer; (4) improve customer loyalty through incentives, such as discounts, guarantees and generous return policies; (5) focus on lean operations and reducing waste.

South Carolina banks holding on better than Georgia banks

Nearly 60 percent of all Georgia banks are unprofitable, according to data published last week by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Georgia has had more bank failures than any other state in the country. Its 18th bank failure was August 21 at First Coweta Bank. For the second quarter of 2009, nearly 45 percent of the 67 commercial banks in South Carolina are unprofitable. Last year during the same time period in South Carolina, about 22 percent of the banks were unprofitable. Across the country, says the FDIC, 28 percent of all insured banks reported a net loss for the second quarter. All the banks insured by FDIC posted a net loss of $3.7 billion for the second quarter of 2009.

We got the money

More than $2.2 billion in lottery money has gone into education in South Carolina since 2002. A detailed chart of lottery appropriations is available on the S.C. Budget and Control Board's Web site: http://www.budget. sc.gov/OSB-historical.phtm

What downtown Columbia would like to see

According to the Charlotte Business Journal, when the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African- American Arts and Culture opens Oct. 24, it will mark the first milestone in the city's $126.9 million investment in a South Tryon Street cultural campus aimed at redefining arts in the region. Joining the Gantt Center will be the Knight Theater and the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, which debuts with a private New Year's Eve fund-raising gala before opening to the public on January 2. The Mint Museum on Randolph Road moved from Mint Street uptown in the 1930s, plans to return uptown in the next wave of arts development. The Mint was built as a federal coin- making plant, a real mint, in 1837 by the construction company Perry & Ligon (the same).

Georgetown

ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker and the owner at what had been known as Georgetown Steel, offered terms to its labor force, which turned down the terms in a vote by the United Steelworkers union local. The future of the Georgetown steel mill, idle since July, is unclear. The July shutdown affected 242 workers. Company chairman and CEO Lakshmi N. Mittal said the first half of 2009 was about the most challenging time the company and the steel industry in general have ever experienced.