Just as Bluffton, its booming neighbor to the east, has capitalized on Hilton Head Island's development, Hardeeville is riding Bluffton's economic coattails.

Hardeeville and Ridgeland, as well as Jasper County, hope to capitalize on old and new Lowcountry residents who have been priced out of Beaufort County or who are looking to the next economic frontier.

And the development is coming. The Jasper County Development Board this week will highlight $29 million in commercial investment in 2003 in its annual report to local and county officials.

A host of commercial projects more than doubled the $12.3 million in commercial development in 2002. The largest contributor is the initial investment of $14.8 million for construction of the $32.6 million Coastal Carolina Medical Center.

The 41-bed hospital near I-95's Exit 8 is expected to open by the end of the year, along with a South Carolina Electric and Gas power plant and a Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority water treatment plant, both near Purrysburg.

The $450 million natural gas power plant was the star of the 2002 report, boosting industrial development to nearly $452 million. This year's industrial development came in at $3.1 million.

Although the investment dollars are much smaller, the new hospital has generated a lot of excitement. The hospital is less than 15 minutes from the county's major industrial and housing developments, said Rose Dobson, deputy county administrator for economic development, and several new commercial projects have been waiting for the hospital to break ground.

The Cripple Crab Steak and Seafood restaurant in downtown Hardeeville already is seeing some benefits, with construction workers coming in for lunch, said manager Becky Scott.

"It hasn't changed much since we opened nearly 11 years ago," she said. "But it's changing now."

Scott said the restaurant's business has been about 80 percent tourist-driven, but she expects that percentage to drop as the city grows and residents become patrons.

Over the next few years, the county and its municipalities have more projects planned to foster growth, including a law enforcement center set to open later this year and two new public school campuses set to open in 2006.

Along with state and federal officials, the county also is looking to relocate the Ridgeland Airport in the next decade to accommodate larger airplanes and more frequent flights.

Negotiations continue over how to bring a $400 million deep-water shipping port to 1,776 acres along the Savannah River. A port could lead to thousands of jobs, making Jasper County a destination for developers ready to put jobs and homes on land ignored for decades.

OPEN LAND

With or without a port project, some say Jasper's development progress is a foregone conclusion as Bluffton development nears the county line.

The development board report points to the Riverwalk Business Park and the New River Center, both near Sun City Hilton Head, as major contributors to Jasper County's new business growth.

New River Center, which includes Wal-Mart and the New River Center Auto Mall on U.S. 278, invested more than $2.7 million in new projects last year. The development report also shows $2.8 million in construction at the Riverwalk site along S.C. 170 last year.

Larry Heichel, listing agent for the business park, said increased traffic has been the key to success.

"Highway 170 is heavily traveled, and all the growth is moving in that direction off Hilton Head and Bluffton through Okatie," he said.

Dobson said less red tape gets developers a quick audience with county officials and a permitting process easier than Beaufort County has helped developers.

"We're probably just as selective about the types of development," she said. "But due to our size, we're able to be more user-friendly."

Jasper County also relies on state tax incentives to lure some of its biggest investors. County and Hardeeville officials are negotiating a tax agreement with the hospital, similar to one with the power plant, that would allow the hospital to pay property taxes based on a fixed rate.

Ridgeland and Hardeeville rely on the county to provide these economic benefits, but both can offer up discounted water and sewer rates, through the Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority in Hardeeville and the town's system in Ridgeland.

"What caused the growth sooner rather than later was being able to offer these incentives," Hardeeville Mayor Rodney Cannon said.

Both Hardeeville and Ridgeland also use increased fire and police protection as selling points.

JOB HUNTING

Growth can be measured a number of ways, but the one that hits the pockets of residents is jobs.

According to the development board report, 350 jobs were created last year. Job numbers for 2004 will include 250 hospital jobs, and those kinds of jobs are what the county needs, said Zenie Ingram, executive director of the county's development board

"We're trying to focus on bringing in higher-paying jobs with benefits," she said, noting that 43 percent of Jasper's work force has to go outside the county for employment.

With the University of South Carolina Beaufort expected to open in August just over the county line on U.S. 278, Dobson said, new education opportunities could keep some of Jasper's brightest in the county.

"You lose a lot of people when they go off to get an education and stay gone," she said.

The county also has learned from Beaufort County's development missteps.

Jasper's planning includes road widening for areas expected to carry the heaviest load for new development. Frontage roads are required to lessen curb cuts around major commercial and residential developments along main roads, and the county is considering impact fees to pass on to developers the cost of other road and infrastructure improvements.

"It's a necessary evil to keep up with the development we're getting," Dobson said.

But it's forward thinking, not history, that has netted Jasper its biggest economic development successes, she said, citing the county's 1997 purchase of nearly 360 acres north of Ridgeland for the Cypress Ridge Business-Industrial Park.

Dobson said having the infrastructure at the park helped pull in current tenants Haven Homes, Ohio Grating and TYCO/Terminal Services. Ohio Gratings and Haven Homes accounted for the entire $3.1 million in industrial investment listed in the development board report.

Dobson said the water and sewer work at the business park will help Ridgeland school construction across U.S. 278, as well as benefit a nearby site being eyed for a new county airport.

The county's purchase in 1999 of the state's 441-acre Sgt. Jasper Park has the makings of a similar success story, Dobson said, but growth in the area just north of Hardeeville will need to be watched carefully.

"That's an area that could get overdeveloped," she said of the land off Red Dam Road that will be the home to Hardeeville's new school in 2006 and continued plans for the Butterfly Kingdom project, a $25 million glass structure to house 200 species of butterflies.

"We'll want to conserve some green space out there, so we don't have to go back and buy it later," Dobson said.

Some of the excitement over the hospital construction at Exit 8 can be attributed to the lack of progress made on other developments announced for the area. Promises of an ice rink and a water park are still unfulfilled, and the Butterfly Kingdom continues to be a contentious issue for county officials.

Hardeeville may not control land at Sgt. Jasper Park, but the area surrounding it and along U.S. 278 is home to the city's major growth plans, including properties owned by two families. Their annexation would expand the city from 4.3 square miles to 11.5 square miles.

The city is building a community center and recreational facilities on Main Street to prepare for what Cannon, Hardeeville's mayor, expects to be 7,000 new residents in the next five years.

Cannon said one concern addressed in the city's planning ordinance is retail development.

"We need the right kind of growth on the commercial side to benefit residents so they don't have to go out of the city for what they want," he said.

While Hardeeville counts on growth, Ridgeland is looking to redevelopment.

The town has spent more than $1 million, mostly through private and state grants, to "dress up" the short stretch from I-95's Exit 21 to downtown.

"Before we did this, the downtown was essentially a ghost town," Ridgeland Mayor Ralph Tuten said, noting that the town had been ignored by travelers until Exit 21 was built in the mid-1980s.

Since the town began its revitalization work, more than 60 new businesses have come into the area.

"It created an environment where people wanted to come back in and live (and) work," said Town Administrator Jason Taylor.

But Ridgeland's next big development may be on the other side of the interstate.

The Weathersbee project, a $25 million retail, commercial and residential development, has been helped by Ridgeland water and sewer services provided through a state grant.

"We're hoping that will be another spurt for Ridgeland when that takes off," Taylor said.

For Becky Scott at the Crippled Crab, the change is good.

"It just keeps on growing and growing and that's good for business."