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Article published Aug 21, 2003
Auto park may mean 20,000 new jobs

Chris Winston
Business Editor

CLINTON -- An automotive research park will be built in the Upstate, Commerce Secretary Bob Faith promised a group of Upstate development leaders Thursday.Faith did not provide any more details about the project -- a joint venture between the state, Clemson University, BMW, Michelin and others on a 400-acre site near I-85 in Greenville that could mean billions of dollars in investment and as many as 20,000 new jobs.But he did vow it was going to become the engineering, design and knowledge-base centerpiece of the nation's auto industry."An automotive research park will open in the Upstate. It's coming," Faith told board members and investors of the Upstate Alliance at the group's midyear meeting at Presbyterian College."And it's going to be bigger and better than you even imagined … whenever we can talk about it."The status of the research park has been up in the air since January, when Gov. Mark Sanford said he wanted to review plans between Clemson and developer Rosen Associates Development Inc. of Miami. It is unclear how the governor's involvement has affected the plans for the park. Sanford has said several times that he was totally behind the project.Don Rice, director of Clemson's Brooks Institute for Sports Science, said he didn't have any further details to announce about the project. He said the final details are being hammered out."It's going to be the most significant economic development project in the state," Rice said. "It's going to create a lot of high-tech jobs."An official with Rosen Associates Development was also at the meeting, but declined to be interviewed.Advancing the state's automotive industry to create a cluster of research and know-how that will make the Upstate known across the country is the centerpiece of Faith's economic plan for South Carolina.In a 45-minute speech to Upstate Alliance members, the commerce secretary explained that the state would improve its wealth and prosperity by discovering and exploiting its unique competitive advantages.He's developed his plan by working with Michael Porter, leader of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at the Harvard Business School and a former professor of Faith's.If industries in South Carolina, from automotive to textiles to pharmaceutical to manufacturing, can add value to their products by making use of these advantages, productivity and efficiency will rise, Faith said -- and so will the state's per-capita income, which is 80 percent of the national average.The automotive sector has found its niche already, Faith said, even though there's been a strong Upstate industry only since BMW announced it would build a plant in Spartanburg County 10 years ago.The automotive industry is taking advantage of experience, expertise and quality of life issues to gain production share as well as paying wages above the national average for the industry.Faith said the textile industry, which is losing thousands of jobs in the state each year to overseas production, could do the same.He said many domestic textile companies are doing well because they are supporting niche markets that make sense only for the United States."Don't abandon textiles," he said. "Figure out a way to compete. It's how you choose to compete."But political, development and business leaders across the state must work together to make good things happen, Faith said.And he's taking his plan for economic development, which includes committees and teamwork from the Governor's Office through the corporate level, across the state to gain support."I will have been a failure if this becomes Bob's plan," he said."If I can get out and help it become a collective plan for everybody in the state … then we have a shot to be successful."Chris Winston can be reached at 562-7267 or chris.winston@shj.com.