Charleston Regional Development Alliance

Berkeley, Charleston & Dorchester Counties

Printed from www.crda.org

Locating & Expanding Companies

The CRDA directly assists companies with location and expansion projects within our three-county market. Following are the projects we’ve helped facilitate:


Announced Projects

2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 Recent
Date Company Name Investment Direct Jobs Description
12/18/2002 Le Ore USA, LLC $0.1 million 5 Le Ore, an internationally recognized manufacturer of inlaid furniture, clocks and music boxes, is establishing its North American distribution center in the Charleston region. In moving to the Charleston region, Le Ore is seeking to strengthen its North America distribution. The U.S. presently represents about 40% of the company’s sales.
12/17/2002 ArborGen, LLC $1.0 million 47 ArborGen, a research and development firm developing and commercializing biotechnology improvements for the forestry industry, announced that it will locate its headquarters, laboratory and greenhouse space in Summerville, where it will employ nearly 50 scientists and technicians.
12/05/2002 MTU Drive Shafts LLC $25.0 million 200 MTU Drive Shafts, a DaimlerChrysler company and the world’s largest manufacturer of passenger-car drive shafts, is creating a new U.S. subsidiary and manufacturing operation, MTU Drive Shafts LLC, based in the Charleston region of South Carolina. The Charleston area plant will produce drive shafts for premium automotive companies in the United States. Company officials expect production capacity in the new operation to reach one million drive shafts per year. A total workforce of more than 200 is expected by 2006.
10/29/2002 Transportation Management Concepts, Inc (TRAMCO) $0.08 million 8 Transportation Management Concepts, Inc. (TRAMCO) has selected the Charleston region for its east coast operations center. Founded in 1990, TRAMCO specializes in transportation logistics for the food service industry. The company’s East Bay Street location falls within the Charleston Digital Corridor, a stretch of specially zoned properties from peninsular Charleston to Daniel Island.
10/04/2002 Pilot Therapeutics $2.0 million 100 Specialty pharmaceutical company Pilot Therapeutics plans to construct a $2 million headquarters and research & development facility in the Charleston region that, within five years, is expected to create 100 new jobs.
08/30/2002 The Scotts Company $8.0 million 8 The Scotts Company will triple the capacity of its facility here, investing $8 million in the region. The company is the world’s largest marketer of lawn and garden products and services, employing over 4,200 worldwide. In addition to the planned expansion, Scotts will consolidate operations from a facility in California into the Charleston plant.
08/20/2002 Sea Fox Boats $2.0 million 75 Local boat manufacturer Sea Fox Boats announced that it will expand its manufacturing operations in the region, adding 75 new, direct jobs. The firm considered other possible locations for the expansion before committing to stay in the Charleston area. Sea Fox will move its manufacturing operations and over 100 employees to a 200,000-square-foot plant between Goose Creek and Moncks Corner.
07/22/2002 American LaFrance Corporation $61.5 million 590 American LaFrance Corporation, a subsidiary of Freightliner LLC, officially opened its new fire truck and ambulance manufacturing facility in North Charleston. American LaFrance has invested $12 million to prepare the facility for production.
06/25/2002 Giant Cement Holding, Inc. $100.0 million N/A Giant Cement Holding, Inc. announced that it will invest more than $100 million in its Dorchester County manufacturing facility. Among the reasons cited for investing in the Charleston area facility were a strong relationship with the state of South Carolina and the depth of the local workforce.
06/04/2002 Signature Building Systems $1.25 million 80 Signature Building Systems manufactures new modular homes in a limitless range of styles. Headquartered in Moosic, Penn., Signature Building Systems sees the new St. George facility as offering a strategic location from which to service customers in the Carolinas, Georgia and other parts of the Southeast.
05/30/2002 CropTech Corporation $40.0 million 110 CropTech Corporation, an emerging leader in biotech manufacturing, announced plans to relocate its operations from Blacksburg, VA to the Mt. Holly Business Park in Berkeley County. CropTech is commercializing its patented protein manufacturing technology, which uses specially prepared tobacco plants as molecular "factories" to produce biotech therapies for human diseases.
05/15/2002 DAK Americas $36.0 million 40 DAK Americas plans to expand its Cooper River manufacturing site with the construction of a PET resin unit, doubling the company's total resin production capacity. The company offers a wide range of innovative resin products for use in carbonated soft drink containers, custom containers, thermoforming, crystallized PED and heat set containers.
05/14/2002 American LaFrance Corporation N/A 210 American LaFrance announced that its corporate headquarters will move to the Charleston region from Cleveland, N.C. The 170-year-old fire truck manufacturing company will centralize sales, engineering, purchasing, customer support and some manufacturing functions at a state-of-the-art plant in North Charleston.
02/20/2002 McNaughton Apparel Group, Inc. $13.0 million 200 McNaughton Apparel Group, now part of Jones Apparel Group Inc., announced a second distribution facility in the region within two years of opening its first facility here. The company makes several lines of moderately priced women’s clothing and distributes its products to many national retailers, including J.C. Penney, Sears, T.J. Maxx, May Co., Federated Department Stores and Kohl’s. In announcing its expansion, the company cited the Port of Charleston and the quality of the local workforce as key factors.