Two state legislators are spearheading a plan to help turn the state's growing number of abandoned textile mills and other industrial buildings into thriving economic-development centers, replete with park space, coffee shops, offices and loft apartments.
Rep. Scott Talley, R-Spartanburg, and Sen. Linda Short, D-Chester, on Tuesday announced corresponding bills in the House and Senate to provide tax incentives to property owners willing to revitalize any of possibly hundreds of abandoned textile-related industrial sites statewide.
About 40 textile mills have closed in the past three years alone in South Carolina, cutting thousands of jobs, spreading blight and posing fire and safety hazards in dozens of mill communities.
Backers of the South Carolina Textiles Community Revitalization Act say state incentives will encourage the renewal of defunct mills that mark the decline of an old economy. They say redevelopment will increase local tax bases and foster economic growth in many communities.
There are 60 co-sponsors of the bill in the House and 15 in the Senate.
"Just about every community in the state has buildings that have been abandoned for quite some time and are not being used," said Hunter Howard, president of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, which helped craft the legislation. "This bill offers an incentive to investors to go in and turn these properties into something productive and more appealing from an environmental standpoint."
The bill would allow property owners to choose from various real property tax credits or personal or corporate income tax credits in return for resuscitating their distressed industrial properties.
Howard said the idea grew out of a concern from business communities statewide that abandoned industrial sites increase blight, pose fire and safety hazards and drain public emergency services.
On Saturday, for example, a massive fire destroyed the historic Glendale Mill just outside Spartanburg and required more than 80 firefighters from four departments to prevent the blaze from spreading to nearby homes and a post office.
Supporters of the bill say fires and other hazards continue to threaten communities around other abandoned mills statewide.
"(Tax incentives) are a fair trade-off for somebody willing to come in and create opportunity in communities that have been the hardest hit," said Talley, referring to the decline of textile manufacturing and related jobs in South Carolina.
"I think everybody would like to see the buildings that were economic centers come back to life rather than remain eyesores," he said.
Talley said he has already spoken with several owners of abandoned mill sites in the Upstate who are interested in refurbishing or redeveloping their properties.
Greenville development consortium Mills Mill Associates is already converting the 106-year-old Mills textile mill in downtown Greenville into 108 loft condominiums.
"This bill would definitely help us develop more projects like this one that might be in less desirable markets," said Pete Brett of Centennial American Properties, part of the consortium.
The Riegel Textile Mill in Ware Shoals is another example of a former industrial site on the way to renewal. After closing in 1985, the mill was acquired by the town of Ware Shoals, which razed it and is redeveloping the site into riverfront park space, shops, homes and a restaurant.
"I think these incentives will go a long way in helping us further redevelop at least 27 acres around the former site," said Ware Shoals Mayor George Rush.
The town is one of about 50 communities in South Carolina that have expressed interest in redeveloping or refurbishing abandoned industrial properties, said Gail Jeter, environmental health manager for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Tom Darden, CEO of Raleigh-based Cherokee Investment Partners, regarded as one of the nation's foremost investors in distressed properties, called the incentives proposed in the bill "very material."
Cherokee is refurbishing 600,000 square feet of a former textile mill in Morresville, N.C., for use as lofts and offices.
Last year, the company partnered on a $32 million investment with Charleston developer Robert L. Clement III of Clement Crawford & Thornhill to acquire 280 acres of contaminated industrial land in the Charleston Neck area.
"South Carolina has a rich textile history that created an abundance of old mills suited for adaptive reuse," Clement said. "Anything the state Legislature can do to reduce those barriers takes some of the burden off developers."
