Yesterday's announcement that Boeing has chosen its North Charleston facility as the location for a second final assembly site for the 787 Dreamliner program is obviously huge. The company could break ground as soon as next month, with the first 787 slated to leave the factory in the first quarter of 2012. Boeing’s decision came shortly after South Carolina legislators approved an incentive package that will allow the state to spend as much as $170 million on economic benefit bonds for a single project. Will it be worth it to the state? You bet.
BMW Manufacturing Co. has pumped more than $8.8 billion into the South Carolina's economy since opening their plant in Greer, SC in the early 1990's. That plant employs 5,000 and was secured with a $130 million package at the time. For each job created at the company's Greer facility, 4.3 jobs are created throughout the state, according to a September 2008 study by USC's Moore School of Business. Currently, BMW is in the middle of a $750 expansion. Integra Realty Resources has completed appraisals on many of the facilities of BMW suppliers spread out through the upstate. We've seen the transformation of Greer, SC into a competitive industrial location over the years. It will be fun to watch the ripple effect in the lowcountry. Congratulations to those that made this happen.
Michael Dodds, MAI, CCIM, MRICS
