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Article published Nov 13, 2003
Auto park plans unveiled
ROBERT W.
DALTON
Staff Writer
GREENVILLE -- A decade ago, Carroll
Campbell brought the automotive industry to South Carolina when he persuaded BMW
to put its first manufacturing facility outside Germany in Spartanburg County.On
Wednesday, BMW and Clemson University honored the former governor, who suffers
from Alzheimer's disease, by announcing that the graduate engineering center at
the university's International Center for Automotive Research would bear his
name.The $25 million center was just one piece of the puzzle announced for the
400-acre research park at I-85 and Laurens Road.BMW Manufacturing Corp.
President Helmut Leube announced that his company would be the park's first
nonacademic tenant. It will build a $15 million, 84,000-square-foot Information
Technology Research Center that will focus on improving automotive software
systems and software/hardware compatibility for BMW vehicles.Clemson will own
the building and lease it to BMW.IBM Global Services spokesman Todd Kirtley said
his company would form a partnership with Clemson that would provide $1.1
million in software and support in the first year.Microsoft Corp. representative
Charles Johnson said his company would provide support for the project, but that
the details would come later.The ceremony was held in a field that will one day
be a tree-lined parkway in the middle of the research park."This project
represents a new era in economic development in South Carolina, an era when
research universities are actively engaged in creating high-paying,
knowledge-based jobs and enhancing the productivity of key industrial sectors,"
Clemson President James Barker said."The automotive research campus proves that
the combination of academic strength, industry partnerships, local leadership
and strong state support is a very powerful formula."The research park consists
of the 250-acre Clemson campus and a 150-acre tract that Cliff Rosen of
Miami-based Rosen Associates will develop.Plans call for the campus to include
an automotive electronics systems lab, a crash-worthiness test lab, a fuels lab
focusing on hydrogen-based research and a wind tunnel.Nine faculty members and
up to 50 graduate students will work in the four-story Carroll A. Campbell Jr.
Graduate Engineering Center. The center will offer master's and doctoral degrees
in automotive engineering. The programs will focus on systems
integration.Construction will begin next spring and the center will open in
2005.BMW was given the opportunity to name the center because of its $10 million
gift to endow the academic chairs."Today, BMW exercised that option and the
board of trustees approved it," Barker said.The crowd of about 400, which
included Gov. Mark Sanford, Commerce Secretary Bob Faith and numerous political
and business leaders, stood and applauded when the name was announced."This is
heartfelt from our company," said Carl Flesher, BMW's vice president for
corporate communications. "He has developed a genuine personal relationship with
our company and with our chairman, Dr. Helmut Panke. This is not only
appropriate, it's well-deserved."Campbell almost declined the invitation to
attend the ceremony. He and his wife, Iris, had attended his uncle's funeral in
Brevard, N.C., and were going to go straight home."Finally they had to tell me
what was going on," Iris Campbell said.Plans for the park were originally
announced in 2002. After his inauguration in January, Sanford slowed the process
because he wanted to take a closer look at the deal.After hammering out an
agreement that he said was more fair to the taxpayers, Sanford took the brakes
off last month and announced the land purchase.Sanford said Wednesday that the
park would be "a key driver of South Carolina's economic engine, a job-creating
shot in the arm for the Upstate as well as a huge step toward making our state a
major player in the emerging high-tech economy."Carter Smith, CEO of the
Spartanburg County Economic Development Corp., believes the benefits of the
research park could spill over into Spartanburg County."This gives us the chance
to bring additional opportunities to the Upstate," Smith said. "Spartanburg
County will be a major player because of the infrastructure we have in
place."Robert W. Dalton can be reached at 562-7223 or bob.dalton@shj.com.