Boeing comes to USC

Marco Cavazzoni, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s 787 Final Assembly and Delivery, will provide a preview of the 787 Dreamliner and discuss the company’s new assembly line in North Charleston. The talk takes place at Gambrell Hall on the USC campus from 4 to 5 p.m. on Friday, May 14, and is free and open to the public.

And Boeing also comes to... Where?

Gov. Mark Sanford and Boeing announced on Monday, May 3, that the company had chosen S.C. as the location for fabrication and assembly of airplane interior parts to supply the 787 Dreamliner final assembly and delivery site under construction in North Charleston. The interior parts site should be disclosed by Boeing by the end of July.

Home care costs

According to a 2010 Cost of Care Survey by Genworth Financial, S.C.’s median annual rate for home care costs is $38,965 across the state, which is about 10 percent lower than the national median annual rate of $43,472. Genworth’s survey disclosed 78 percent of people preferred to receive long–term care at home; 18 percent chose an assisted living facility; and 2 percent said they preferred a nursing home.

New tourism website

S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism has a new website as part of an effort to align the agency’s leisure tourism advertising in print, television and the Internet into a single “Made for Vacation” pitch to consumers and potential visitors: http://www.discoversouthcarolina. com/

Sports fans have a home

GamedayHousing.com is the world’s first and fastest growing sports vacation rental service. Homeowners who live near USC can post their properties on the Web site, while USC fans and alumni find an alternative to hotels for game weekends. Local residential property owners could possibly earn between $5,000 and $20,000 per season, according to GamedayHousing. To date, GamedayHousing has handled more than $1 million in rentals for their clients. The December 2009 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine featured GamedayHousing on http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/ 2009/december/204034.html

Chernoff Newman honored

Columbia–based advertising and PR firm Chernoff Newman received the most awards of any agency at the 2010 S.C. Public Relations Society of America Mercury Awards. The firm received two Mercury Awards for its work on behalf of Palmetto Health Heart Hospital’s 28 Heart Days campaign and for its work with EngenuitySC for the National Hydrogen Association’s Annual Conference and Expo. Chernoff Newman also received three Silver Wing Awards for the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority’s “Commuter Connection” newsletter, for a feature story about Ometric Corporation, and for its tactics for the S.C. Dept. of Agriculture’s Palmettovore Challenge Month Campaign.

Charleston gets a new MBA

On Thursday, May 6, the S.C. Commission on Higher Education was scheduled to let the College of Charleston’s School of Business launch its MBA program. The CoC had planned on forging a partnership with The Citadel’s School of Business and holding a launch party on Friday, May 7.

Edgefield County looking up

The S.C. Dept. of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership announced on Thursday, April 29, Laurens–based US Fibers had plans to expand its facility in Edgefield County. The $10.1 million investment is expected to generate 85 new jobs. The company plans to begin hiring for the new positions by the beginning of the third quarter this year. US Fibers, a division of the Pac Tell Group Inc., is the only company in the country that recycles all forms of PET Post Industrial and Post Consumer material and then converts it into a high quality, regenerated staple fiber. The company supplies material to a wide range of markets including the non–woven industry, the automotive industry, the filtration industry, the construction industry, and the home furnishings market. For more information, including jobs visit www.usfibers.com

Greenville’s Main Street gets a new hotel

Next door to Greenville’s City Hall, developer Windsor/Aughtry has just opened a 135–room Courtyard Marriott connected to the Nantucket Grill. In the ornate hotel lobby is “Nantucket Lite,” part of a bistro atmosphere that’s a whole lot more interesting than any hotel room. The concept is to encourage guests to mingle in the lobby instead of staying in the rooms. In the office wing above, Fidelity Investments has taken space as its first office in S.C. A shot in the arm for Greenville’s Main Street, the product would sell on Columbia’s Main Street. Windsor/Aughtry is the developer of Columbia’s convention center headquarters Hilton and the nearby Hampton Inn on Gervais.