Ken Ruinard Independent-Mail Dan Coughlin, left, vice president of distribution and Jodi Dalton, middle, senior real estate manager, both representing Walgreens, accept gifts from Gov. Mark Sanford with County Administrator Joey Preston, background, in the County Council chambers of the Historic Anderson County Courthouse Wednesday.

By Nicholas Charalambous
Independent-Mail
January 7, 2004

PIERCETOWN — Anderson County is pursuing development of up to two new industrial parks in response to the Walgreen Co.’s decision to locate a distribution center at the Alliance Industrial Park, which overnight halved the amount of top-of the-line industrial sites available in the county.

Anderson County administrator Joey Preston confirmed Wednesday that Anderson County was "in the early stages" of finding land, investors and developers to build one or two new so-called Class A industrial parks within the next three years.

The county said one of the parks would likely go somewhere on Interstate 85 in the area served by the Beaverdam Creek sewer line and another might go on newly widened S.C. 81 South between Anderson and Iva, where sewer lines also are now being installed.

The county also is courting investors to build so-called "speculative" buildings in privately-owned industrial parks to offer flexibility to recruit small and mid-size companies that want to move in quickly.

Mr. Preston disclosed the strategy on the same day that Gov. Mark Sanford made a visit to Anderson County to celebrate Walgreens’ announcement that it would invest $175 million in the center at the intersection of Interstate 85 and S.C. 81, creating an estimated 450 jobs.

Mr. Preston said the county needed to be well placed to respond to inward investment as the economy picks up in 2004 and beyond. He noted that Greenville County is pursuing construction of industrial parks.

"They are busy over there, and we need to remain competitive," he said.

Economic Development Director John Lummus said that the county can’t have too many industrial sites already developed and ready for construction. And he said the county shouldn’t rely solely on the private sector to meet the need.

"The county needs to have involvement because the county is responsible for doing the recruitment," he said.

Class A industrial parks are seen by economic development officials as essential to recruiting top companies, and they also are favored by residents who want industrial development to have minimum impact on nearby communities.

Class A parks come fully served by utilities, fiber optic lines, road and sewer infrastructure and include lighting, landscaping and protective covenants controlling aesthetics and the types of industrial uses allowed.

The county presently has 800 acres inside 12 parks for commercial and industrial development, but the 150-acre Alliance Park at the intersection of S.C. 81 and Interstate 85 is the county’s only Class-A park.

The Walgreens distribution center will take up 60 of the 123 usable acres of land inside the park, separate from the 50 acres added to it for the Walgreen’s deal.

Tom Brown, a principal at site developer Easlan Capital, said there was still enough room for two "nice-size" companies at the park and "several" smaller ones.

It’s unclear how much money the county would have to invest in the new parks. Mr. Preston said it contributed only $250,000 for roads to Alliance Park, not including sewer lines.

Mr. Preston said he considered the Alliance Park "a model." Mr. Brown said his company would be interested in working with the county on a similar project but had no discussions so far.

Opened in 2000, the $650,000 park was a public-private venture in which the county agreed to cover infrastructure costs for roads and sewer while private utility companies and developers Easlan Capital put up the money for the rest of the development.

Since then the county has offered infrastructure tax credits to industrial park developers, such as the Liberty Bay Business Center at U.S. 178 and Interstate 85.

It’s possible some of the existing parks could be upgraded to Class A space, Mr. Lummus said.

County Council chairman Clint Wright endorsed the idea of forward planning for new Class-A park space. He said he supported the idea of parks that were "private-sector driven with county support."

"If your industrial parks are filling up, you need to look at expanding," Mr. Wright said.

Council member Larry Greer said Anderson School District 3, which he represents, was primed for economic development.

"We’ve worked hard to build the infrastructure," he said. "Some industries do want to be near the interstate, and there’s no swaying them?but there’s some industries that may not prefer that."

Lee Luff, president of the Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce, said the county’s decision was "common sense."

"If you don’t have the facilities with infrastructure to bring industry in they’ll settle elsewhere,’’ he said. "From my experience, a park has to be ready and available for prospects. Time is money."

Industrial spaces Construction of the Alliance Industrial Park was a key goal for Anderson County under County Administrator Joey Preston. The public-private joint venture still provides the county’s only class A industrial sites, which are fully served by infrastructure and utilities and feature intensive landscaping and protective covenants. Here’s a list of other industrial parks in the county. • Anderson Airport Business Industrial Park, 156 acres, Airport Road, Anderson • Alliance Park, 143 acres, Alliance Boulevard, Anderson • Upstate Industrial Park, 80 acres, Hurricane Creek Road, Piedmont • U.S. 29 South Business Industrial Park, 53 acres, U.S. 29, Anderson • Kravet Industrial Park, 50 acres, U.S. 29, Anderson • Standpipe Industrial Park, 44 acres, U.S. 76, Belton • Clemson Research Park, 38 acres, S.C. 187, Anderson • Yeargin Industrial Park, 35 acres, Hurricane Creek Road, Piedmont • Anderson Business Industrial Park, 25 acres, Hampton Road, Anderson • Riverchase Business at S.C. 153 Industrial Park, 14 acres, S.C. 153, Piedmont • North Park Industrial Park, 14 acres, Camson Road, Anderson Source: Anderson County Development Partnership.

Nicholas Charalambous can be reached at (864) 260-1256 or by e-mail at charalambousnc@IndependentMail.com.

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