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Article published Apr 15, 2004
Lighting company eyes Renaissance Park
ROBERT W. DALTON
And Chris
Winston
Staff Writers
Renaissance Park could soon have a
new player.Spartanburg is one of three Southern cities in the running to become
the new home of Hubbell Inc.'s corporate headquarters. Hubbell, the parent
company of Spartanburg-based Progress Lighting and Prescolite, is currently
headquartered in Orange, Conn.Landing Hubbell could mean about 300 new jobs and
a new building for Renaissance Park in downtown Spartanburg.Asheville, N.C., and
Savannah, Ga., also are competing for Hubbell's headquarters.Gov. Mark Sanford,
House Speaker Pro Tem Doug Smith, R-Spartanburg, Mayor Bill Barnet and state
Department of Commerce officials met with Hubbell representatives Scott Mews and
Doug Mannion on March 15, the Herald-Journal learned through information
obtained from the Governor's Office through the state open records law."This is
one of many projects that our economic development committee is looking at,"
Smith said. "They have our information and are considering our package. In
fairness to them and their board, the best thing I can do is reserve
comment."Hubbell's annual shareholder meeting will be held at the Spartanburg
Marriott at Renaissance Park on May 3. The board of directors could approve the
move at that time.State Rep. Brenda Lee said having the meeting in Spartanburg
is a positive sign."We have a wonderful city and great schools," Lee said. "What
a wonderful opportunity to showcase our community in having the shareholders
here."Hubbell is a giant company that makes everything from lighting fixtures,
outlet boxes, enclosures and fittings to surge arresters, digital signal
processing components and measurement equipment.The company had sales of nearly
$1.8 billion in 2003, and net income of $115.1 million -- up 38 percent from the
previous year. The company has nearly 11,000 employees.Its divisions include
Hubbell Lighting (which includes Progress Lighting and Prescolite), Hubbell
Electrical Products, Hubbell Wiring Systems, Hubbell Power Systems, Industrial
Technology and Telecom.Progress Lighting makes more than 3,000 lighting fixtures
for residential and commercial lighting. The company has four distribution
centers across the country.Prescolite, which Hubbell purchased in 2002, is a
leading designer and manufacturer of recessed, surface and track lighting
products. It manufactures its products in Arkansas, where the company has 900
employees and more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing space.Both
Progress Lighting and Prescolite are based at 101 Corporate Drive.Sanford
spokesman Will Folks said the governor aggressively pursues new industry and
jobs for South Carolina every day, "but we don't comment specifically on
projects."Barnet said he also focuses on economic development, but declined to
talk about Hubbell."We spend a lot of time and energy trying to attract jobs and
investment to the community," Barnet said. "If this company or any other wants
to comment on their own, that's their privilege. I just don't think it's
appropriate for me to comment."Attempts to reach Mews were unsuccessful.Robert
W. Dalton can be reached at 562-7274 or bob.dalton@shj.com.Chris Winston can be
reached at 562-7267 or chris.winston@shj.com.