Piedmont Tech manufacturing center goes out to bid this winter

A flagship project that will be financed through the capital projects sales tax will go out to bid in December.

On Tuesday, Piedmont Technical College President Ray Brooks said a planned Upstate Center for Manufacturing Excellence, a 47,000-square-foot facility, will be located across from the Medford Family Events Center on Emerald Road.

“I’m ready to get a shovel now and start digging,” Brooks told Greenwood County Council, which approved a memorandum of understanding that will commit $6.1 million from the penny sales tax toward the $20 million venture.

Under terms of the agreement, the county will put in its share of the $20 million project after all other funds have been expended.

“I have full trust and confidence in you, but I see some things happening in the lower part of the state where people get into the middle of projects and abandon them,” council chairman Steve Brown said. “There are decisions that other people can make to influence this project that we have no control over.”

In other business, the council is poised to approve the inclusion of a swimming pool as part of an 82-unit development known as Ponder Place within the Ponderosa Heights community.

The council voted 5-2 on second reading to require that builder Todd Bailey install a pool rather than the community center he hoped for.

A third and final reading on the matter will take place later this month.

“This has been a long and arduous process with a lot of back and forth and unfortunately, I think a lot of hard feelings in the process. I hope after taking this vote tonight we can seek common ground in making this development the best it can be,” said councilman Theo Lane, who represents the district where the development is located.

Originally Published by Index-Journal on: Oct 4, 2017

 By ADAM BENSON abenson@indexjournal.com

Article Link: https://www.indexjournal.com/news/piedmont-tech-manufacturing-center-goes-out-to-bid-this-winter/article_91ac3b44-0633-577a-962e-eb45417cc4ca.html