Greenwood County vote paves way for business park site development
Voter approval of a penny sales tax in November means in the near future, Greenwood County will host an industrial park in the north end anchored by a 100,000-square-foot speculative building.
On Tuesday, the County Council took the first step toward making that concept a reality, approving $1.1 million for construction and engineering of an access road, sewer lines, and signage leading to the site off Highway 25 between Hodges and Ware Shoals.
The funds are coming from three places: $600,000 from a state Department of Commerce Grant, $125,000 from Duke Energy’s site readiness program and $395,000 from the county.
Greenwood-based Satterfield Construction was awarded the $866,540 construction contract, and Greenwood Commissioners of Public Works is receiving $55,000, according to documents provided Tuesday to the Index-Journal.
“It’s a move toward the future. We can’t have new industry coming in without places for them to locate,” County Council chairman Steve Brown said. “This is one step toward making it a workable site.”
On May 1, county residents began paying an additional 1 percent in local sales tax to finance $85 million worth of capital improvement projects after voters approved the levy in a November referendum.
The North Greenwood Industrial Park is slated to receive $8.4 million of that for development of a 31.7-acre parcel offering businesses ready-made pads. Plans also call for the construction of a spec building that can be presented to potential investors.
Councilman Theo Lane — a vocal proponent of the penny sales tax and particularly the business park — said early action on site preparation and land clearing sends a strong message to potential investors.
“I fully believe the north industrial corridor is the best development opportunity out there for Greenwood County. In the south end, because of road access and getting product to customers, we’re probably not going to be able to put any significant industry there,” he said. “When they (potential businesses) see it graded and grubbed and all the work going in with a marquee out front, that says, ‘this isn’t a pipe dream, it’s something that’s really going to happen.’”
From June 2014 to June 2016, at least 20 projects were lost for Greenwood because of lack available buildings and 19 requests for information were never submitted because of a dearth of building space.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Aug 9, 2017
By ADAM BENSON abenson@indexjournal.com