More daily flights to Chicago, Washington

Columbia travelers flying to Washington, D.C., and Chicago have more options.

United Express has added a fifth daily flight between Columbia Metropolitan Airport and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The airline also will add on Oct. 31 a fifth daily trip from Columbia to Dulles International Airport.

This week, American Eagle added a new route between Columbia and Chicago’s O’Hare. The airline already flies three daily trips between Columbia and Dallas.

• Belgian manufacturer to build S.C. plant

A Belgian manufacturer of CD cases plans to move into an abandoned textile plant in Cherokee County, employing 50 people and investing $25 million within five years, the S.C. Commerce Department reported Friday.

Carthuplas will hire most of those workers by year’s end, said Jim Inman, executive director of the Cherokee County Development Board. The 54-year-old, privately owned company makes plastic injection molded packaging.

It will move into a 115,000-square-foot building empty since 2001, when Phoenix Finishing closed its plant valued at $5.5 million, putting 106 people out of work.

• Sanford to attend sports store opening

Gov. Mark Sanford will attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony today for the opening of Sportsman’s Warehouse in Columbia, using the occasion to trumpet his opposition to incentives for a proposed Charleston sports store.

Lawmakers overrode a Sanford veto this summer for incentives that include 50 percent sales and income tax credits for retail stores with an aquarium or museum that draws 2 million visitors a year and spends $25 million on its site, among other requirements.

Tailored for stores like sports store Cabela’s, lawmakers argued that the store would be a tourist draw for North Charleston and is worth the breaks.

Sanford said its unfair for small merchants.

“It amounts to a penalty against family-owned businesses and a penalty against straight-up competitors like Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop who didn’t ask for special treatment and subsidies,” he wrote.

• Developer proposes 10-story condo project

GREENVILLE — A Greenville developer is planning a $20 million, 10-story, 60-unit condominium project in the town’s West End.

Developer Tom Croft, who has successfully completed two condominium projects downtown, said the latest building would be as tall as City Hall.

Some members of the city’s Design and Preservation Commission, which would have to approve the project, questioned its size. The nine-member panel didn’t vote on the project.

• Coastal Financial top S.C. community bank

MYRTLE BEACH — Coastal Financial Corp. is ranked first in the Carolinas, 16th nationally, in the annual U.S. Banker Magazine listing of the top 100 Publicly Traded Community Banks.

Banks with assets of between $1 billion and $10 billion are considered. The annual ranking is based on a three-year average return on average equity.

This is the seventh year for the Myrtle Beach-based bank to make it onto the list. Coastal Financial is also the 22nd largest publicly traded company based in South Carolina.

Contributors: Jim DuPlessis Noelle Phillips, Jason Ryan, Ben Werner and The Associated Press