(Blythewood) Feb. 6, 2003 - The Blythewood
area of northern Richland County has
historically been known as a place away from the
city. A place with space, for better or for
worse, like the old Ambac Diesel Fuel Plant
that's been vacant.
American Standard
Companies, of Piscataway, New Jersey, plans to
put a Trane air conditioning plant in a former
auto parts factory near Interstate 77. Ronald
Clements, vice-president at Trane, made the big
announcement on Wednesday, "This is what the
real estate people call a fixer-upper
opportunity."
Clements says Trane Air
Conditioning will give the plant a $30
million facelift to manufacture air conditioning
parts, bringing in 400 jobs over five years, "We
will create something that the Trane Company and
Columbia is very proud of."
Trane spokeswoman Lisa Glover says Columbia
offers an educated workforce and Blythewood
offers proximity to I-77, "We know we can have
this part at six of our manufacturing plants
within a days drive."
The factory, formerly owned by Ambac
Industries Incorporated, has sat vacant since
September. The $30 million facility has more
than 300,000 square feet of space and could
employ 400 workers in five years. Ambac
moved its 100-employee diesel fuel systems
operation to a smaller plant near Pontiac.
Richland County Administrator Cary McSwain
says Blythewood's location is attractive to a
growing number of industries, "As you bring in
jobs, people making more money to spend,
commercial opportunities, some people call it
trickle down."
Blythewood House of Pizza owner Dewayne
Street has already seen a slice of industrial
growth in his profits, "A lot of increased
business. We pretty much fill up the restaurant
at lunch time."
Not everyone is eating it up. Mike Watts'
family has lived in Blythewood for six
generations, "I believe they're going to get a
majority of the research downtown and we're
going to be stuck with the manufacturing." He
doesn't want a new Blythewood, even while
industries like Trane bring in new jobs and new
consumers, "The sanctity of being in a rural
area is that you're away from all of these
things."
The South Carolina Job Service will be on
hand at the plant itself accepting applications
next week The Job Service number is
803-737-9999. One-hundred of the 400
jobs are expected to open up
immediately
By Megan
Hughes
Updated 8:24am by Chris
Rees
