Sanford: 'Table set' for auto research park

Developer Clifford Rosen, right, watches as Gov. Mark Sandford talks about his support for the proposed auto park during a press conference at City Hall in this file photo. Staff/Owen Riley Jr. e-mail this story Related Related stories: • Sanford says delay hurt him Previous coverage • Sanford: Deal near on auto park • Financing for auto park causes Sanford concerns

Sanford, appearing with Commerce Secretary Bob Faith and Clemson University trustee Bill Smith, provided new information on the park plans, which his administration renegotiated during the past nine months.

He said that negotiations with developer Cliff Rosen will add roughly $134 million in value to the state's and Clemson's stake in the project — $12 million in savings from development and management fees, an additional $12 million in land value and the opportunity to generate another $110 million by developing land it will now control.

Sanford provided few details about what will go into the park. Faith said "the table has been set. In early November, we will be announcing in great detail the vision and the anchor tenants, if you will."

Rosen said Wednesday he is "pleased the negotiations are concluded, and I'm pleased with the final deal. I'm very excited about moving forward in a positive manner to create what I hope will be one of the finest research campuses in the country."

Rosen said Sanford "definitely saved the taxpayers money from the original deal."

Sanford said that, as a result of his review of the deal, Clemson will control up to 253 acres in the park, instead of 100 acres it would have controlled under the original proposal.

Clemson had already said it will build a graduate school of automotive engineering in the park that will serve as a magnet to draw automotive and high-tech companies and possibly the federal government. The university has been planning a research presence in Greenville for more than three years.

Wind tunnel on hold

Sanford and Faith said there are no concrete plans to build a wind tunnel at the park, an idea that Clemson had initially considered.

Wednesday's announcement ended almost nine months of negotiations after Sanford said in January he wanted 60 days to review a development deal that Clemson and the administration of former Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges had worked out with Rosen.

Under the previous deal, Clemson would have controlled 100 acres of the 407- acre plot along Interstate 85 owned by the estate of the late John D. Hollingsworth. Now, the school will control the development of 250 acres.

BMW Manufacuring Corp., a major corporate backer of Clemson's graduate school of automotive research, said the school will benefit from the lengthy negotiations.

More for Clemson

Bobby Hitt, BMW's spokesman, said Wednesday that his company has always felt Clemson needed a bigger role to differentiate the project from other research parks.

"If it's going to be an academic-driven research park, then obviously the academic institution has to have a greater deal of control" than the 100 acres it would have had — 25 of them donated — under the original deal, Hitt said.

BMW's main interest is in training management for the company and its suppliers, which takes more than just research capabilities, Hitt said. Local automotive jobs continue to multiply, "yet we have no way right now to train people for the management side of the company."

The Clemson University Real Estate Foundation and Rosen will compete to attract private investment to the park, Hitt said, which can only be a good thing.

Delay criticized

But Howard "Champ" Covington, chairman of the State Infrastructure Bank when it committed $12 million last year for auto park roads, said the deal could have been done sooner if Sanford had paid it due attention. Sanford replaced Covington earlier this year.

"To indicate that a decision would be forthcoming in 60 days and to have it forthcoming in what amounted to over 200 days is again inexcusable," Covington said. "I think that he as chief executive of the state had a responsibility to be personally involved in the process — I think it would have moved along more quickly."

Irving T. "Buck" Welling Jr., president and chairman of Hollingsworth Funds Inc., said from the land seller's perspective, "the deal didn't change, except the timing."

Welling said the foundation was "very involved" in negotiations during recent months, and the sticking point was that Clemson "wanted to be more directly involved in purchasing the land."

The fund, which manages the estate of the late textile millionaire John D. Hollingsworth, has already sold about 165 acres to Rosen, Welling said, and will sell another 20 to Clemson by February. Still other tracts will be purchased by Clemson from both Rosen and Hollingsworth Funds, eventually totaling 103 acres for the university, Welling and Clemson said.

The university has options on 150 more acres, Welling said.

BMW partnership

Chris Przirembel, Clemson's vice president for research, said that the university will now work "with BMW and other future corporate partners" on the next phase of the park.

He said Clemson continues to talk with companies interested in putting research facilities in the park but "at this point doesn't have any signed contracts."

BMW has not said anything publicly about conducting research in the park, but it has announced a $10 million gift to endow professorships at the proposed graduate school.

Also, BMW helped secure $25 million to construct the graduate school by making that amount part of what it got from state officials in exchange for a 400-worker, $400 million expansion at its Greer plant.

In July, a Microsoft Corp. spokesman said that the software giant may play a role in the park, conducting high-tech research there in conjunction with BMW.

Last month, Microsoft announced that BMW Chairman Helmut Panke would join its board, but it's not clear whether that has any connection with a potential technology alliance between the two companies or the research park.

Przirembel said Clemson has not been talking to Microsoft.

Clemson said its real estate foundation would buy about 103 acres at the site for $6.9 million by June 30 and has options to buy nearly 150 more acres by 2007 for $14 million. Przirembel said Clemson hopes to raise the $6.9 million needed to make the intitial land purchase and will borrow any deficiency still remaining by the June 30 deadline.

Two-part development

Officials described the park as a two-part development — with Clemson controlling 250 acres with interstate frontage and Rosen Associates Development Inc., a Miami development company, controlling 150 acres wrapping around Clemson's land.

Clemson described Rosen's role as planning a "complementary development on an adjacent 150 acres."

Sanford concentrated his remarks on what he said was $134 million in additional value that his administration secured for taxpayers by re-negotiating an earlier development plan between Clemson and Rosen.

Rosen's company worked with Clemson for a year and a half and controlled the I-85 acreage when Sanford initiated a review in mid-January, saying he wanted to protect taxpayers' interests.

Smith, a Columbia developer that the Sanford administration assigned to re-negotiate with Rosen, said there was "no question" that the governor's intervention "tremendously enhanced the deal for us."

"We control our own destiny now," Smith said. "That's important."

Rosen said he couldn't verify the taxpayer savings claimed by the governor. He received them by fax Wednesday night for the first time.

"I'm not in any manner debating any of it," Rosen said. "I can't speak to it because I didn't write it. I haven't really looked at it. The acreage looks right."

Sanford also said Wednesday that the State Infrastructure Bank would release $12 million to build roads in the park that it had previously approved but later held up.

Greenville Mayor Knox White predicted the research park would "change the whole complexion of Greenville" in a "short order of time."

"It brings the 21st century economy to Greenville," White said.

Staff writers Ben Szobody and John Boyanoski contributed to this report.