Empty buildings

The South Financial Group, parent of Carolina First, is trying to find an occupant/buyer for its 275,000–square– foot complex on the Interstate next to Greenville. The $85 million cluster of three buildings between The Point and Clemson’s International Center for Automotive Research came on the market last June when South Financial decided to stay downtown. The hope is the empty complex is ideally suited as a headquarters for a new S.C. corporate citizen, but typically companies are more interested in designing their own headquarters buildings instead of bailing out a bad decision by some other company. Also, another repellant is the Greenville/Spartanburg International Airport and its high fares. Like Columbia, Greenville is trying to recruit Southwest Airlines to boost service and to drive down existing fares; but unlike Columbia, no one in Greenville is even thinking about funding a startup airline.

Manufacturers

The S. C. Chamber of Commerce and the Silver Crescent Foundation recently announced the 2009 Silver Crescent Manufacturer of the Year award winners. The Small Manufacturer of the Year (100 or less employees) is Packaging Corporation of America, located in Honea Path. The Medium Manufacturer of the Year (101–499 employees) is Sandvik/Valenite, located in Westminster. The Large Manufacturer of the Year (500 or more employees) is Alcoa Mt. Holly, located in Goose Creek.

Bull Street comes up again on October 28

Columbia City Council met on September 16 and passed a resolution to set up a meeting on October 28 to continue the matter of how to handle the sale of the Bull Street property. At issue is the architectural preservation overlay proposed for about a fourth of the property, an impediment to a sale, according to the Department of Mental Health. The DMH has signed a letter of intent with Greenville developer Bob Hughes for the entire 181-acre site. Hughes is president of Columbia Venture, the company behind Green Diamond, the $1 billion city within a city on a Congaree River flood plain south of Columbia. Columbia Venture recently dropped its eight-year legal fight to get federal regulators to loosen building restrictions on thousands of acres. And apparently Columbia Venture has no further plans to push a sale of some of the flood plain property on the City of Columbia to use as a sewage surface seeping system. DMH in–house counsel Mark Binkley warned the Bull St. property’s sale needs to go through at the highest possible price to meet court approval, and the overlay could crimp the price possibilities.

Almost out of hurricane season with no hurricanes

Historically the main month of S.C.’s hurricane season is September. Should a Hugo–class hurricane hit, what was Hugo’s $4.2 billion in insured damage in September 1989 could mean $15 to $20 billion in damage today, according to S.C. Insurance News Service.

Shunk’s overview of S.C. labor markets for August

Don Shunk, research economist at Coastal Carolina University, says S.C. job losses should be slowly moving towards zero. Initial claims for unemployment benefits peaked in April 2009, while the recession may be turning the corner to where it officially can be called almost over. S.C.’s unemployment rate fell to 11.5 percent in August from 11.7 percent in July. Discouraged workers giving up the job search have worked to reduce the S. C. labor force by more than 28,000 people between May and August.

First Citizens expands

Columbia–based First Citizens Bank and Trust Co. recently announced an agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to purchase Georgian Bank of Atlanta. The failed Atlanta bank had $2.23 billion in assets. Georgian Bank is the 19th Georgia bank to fail this year. As of June 30, First Citizens had total assets of $7.1 billion, the fifth–largest bank by deposits operating in S.C.

Stimulus

S.C. Comptroller Richard Eckstrom announced September 23 the state has received more than $600 million in federal stimulus funds. Expenditures made by state agencies can be viewed at www.cg.sc.gov.

Port Royal

As of the last week of September, the S.C. State Ports Authority was expecting within days to receive an offer for its Port Royal facilities, according to Gene Green, COO of NAI Avant Commercial Real Estate Services, which is listing the property. Port Royal Harbour LLC backed out of $26 million bid to buy the property in March 2008. More recently, the SPA was awarded a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a 225–slip boat marina, significantly adding value to the property.