Local Data

Location & Expansion Log

Diverse companies – from startups to multinational corporations – continue to relocate and expand existing operations in the Charleston region.

Archive:    2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995

New, Expanding, and Mergers & Acquisitions

2011

TWL Precision

December 21, 2011

Jobs: 35
Investment: $5 Million

Precision automotive components

The expansion of the facility in the Palmetto Commerce Park will double the company’s current manufacturing space and bring total employees to 90.

Sportsman Boats Manufacturing

December 21, 2011

Jobs: 30
Investment: $20 Million

Saltwater fishing boats

Sportsman Boats Manufacturing is a start-up company that will initially lease space in the East Point Industrial Park in Dorchester County. The company will produce boats ranging in size from 20 to 25 feet and will initially build deep “v” center consoles and bay boats.

Cargo Composites

December 8, 2011

Jobs: 40
Investment: $.7 Million

Air cargo containers

The company plans to relocate its headquarters and assembly facility to the Charleston region. Their products are used by world's leading airlines to safely and securely transport cargo around the world.

Agilex Technologies Inc.

November 19, 2011

Software development for large systems engineering projects

Chantilly, Va.-based Agilex Technologies Inc. is opening an office at the Lowcountry Innovation Center in North Charleston. The software company serves the health care, defense and public sectors, and the new local office will support projects at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center and other clients.

Streit USA Armoring, LLC

November 17, 2011

Jobs: 50
Investment: $5.8 Million

Armored vehicles

Streit will establish a new facility in the Charleston region which will allow the company to add four new production lines, greatly increase its output and more than double the manufacturing space to 75,000 square feet.

Cummins Technical Center

November 16, 2011

Jobs: 31
Investment: $24.3 Million

Research & development for the automotive industry

The expansion of Cummins Technical Center will nearly double capacity at the North Charleston site with state-of-the-art facilities to enable testing on diesel, natural gas and biofuel engines and help the company in its drive to be the innovation leader in the automotive industry

Sunoco Recycling

October 26, 2011

Jobs: 15
Investment: $1 Million

Materials recovery facility

Sonoco Recycling, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hartsville-based Sonoco and one of the largest packaging recyclers in North America, is establishing a materials recovery facility in Charleston County. Sonoco Recycling operates four materials recovery facilities and serves more than 125 communities with processing of curbside-collected residential and commercial materials.

PeopleMatter

October 25, 2011

Jobs: 265
Investment: $18.8 Million

Human resources software

North Charleston human resources technology firm PeopleMatter will invest $18.8 million in a new King Street headquarters in downtown Charleston and will create 265 jobs during the next five years. PeopleMatter also has offices in Atlanta and San Francisco.

Mesco

October 10, 2011

Jobs:

Quality control and warehousing for automotive parts

The new Ladson firm will take shipments of engine parts and other supplies, check their quality and repackage them for regional companies like Navistar, Cummins and WABCO.

Summerville Medical Center

September 23, 2011


Investment: $26 Million

Health care

Trident Health System's Summerville Medical Center will spend $26 million on a 30-bed expansion to the 94-bed facility, which will allow it to further develop specialty care at the hospital.

TIGHITCO

September 14, 2011

Jobs: 350
Investment: $30 Million

Aerospace structures

The company will locate a new aerospace manufacturing facility in North Charleston to meet its growing demand for products. The company is part of locally-headquartered The InterTech Group, a global investment firm.

Immedion

August 19, 2011

Jobs: 20
Investment: $6 Million

Data center: enterprise hosting, colocation, cloud services

The first dedicated data center and managed services provider in South Carolina, Immedion currently operates two 15,000 square foot, fully redundant facilities servicing businesses across the Southeast - one at its headquarters in the Upstate and one in the Midlands area. This center will be their third in the state and is expected to open in May 2012 and add 12 to 15 employees to the firm's total.

Fantzer

August 16, 2011

Jobs: 6

Software development

Software company Fanzter Inc. is relocating its headquarters from Collinsville, Conn., to Charleston due to its business-friendly environment, according to CEO Aaron LaBerge. The five year old company, which designs and develops consumer-focused mobile and Web products, will, at first, be based in the Charleston Digital Corridor's Flagship2 incubator.

Trident Technical College

August 10, 2011


Investment: $30 Million

Technical college

The South Carolina Budget & Control Board approved $30 million in capital expenditures for a nursing and science education building at Trident Technical College in North Charleston. The new building will comprise 91,590 square feet of nursing and science labs, general classrooms, study and meeting space for students, faculty offices and the Nursing Resource Center. According to the announcement, "Trident Tech is the largest provider of nursing education in the Lowcountry; enrollment in nursing and pre-nursing programs has increased 554%, with similar increases in related fields."

Kohl's

August 7, 2011

Jobs: 130

Retail

Kohl's department store is opening another area store west of the Ashley River in Charleston in September 2011, hiring approximately 130 workers.

Coastal Corrugated Inc.

July 25, 2011

Jobs: 26
Investment: $1.5 Million

Specialized corrugated packaging

Coastal Corrugated Inc. will spend $1.5 million to add 40,000 square feet to its facility. With this expansion, the firm will also add 26 additional jobs due to a new contract with Robert Bosch to make packaging for specialized parts that Bosch makes for “just in time” delivery.

Cooper BioAG LLC

June 25, 2011

Jobs:

Agricultural-based R&D

Cooper BioAG's mission is to develop innovative biological-based technologies that will lead to the creation of the next generation of products required by production agriculture. The firm hopes to eventually manufacture biological products for agricultural use at its site in the Bushy Park Industrial Complex.

PeopleMatter

June 25, 2011

Jobs: 55

Software developer targeting service-industry's hiring, training, scheduling and other management needs

PeopleMatter's targeted industries are currently convenience stores, hospitality-related, retail and food services. With 45 employees currently, PeopleMatter plans to grow to 100 by the end of 2011 and double its staff again in 2012. The software company is also opening an office in San Francisco this summer (2011), but 80% of the firm's workforce will remain based in North Charleston.

Southeast Renewable Energy

May 1, 2011

Jobs: 20
Investment: $50 Million

Biomass energy plant

Roswell, Ga-based Southeast Renewable Energy will build a 15-megawatt biomass energy plant in Dorchester County that will be fueled using virgin wood residues. The company will sell the green power to Santee Cooper, and the plant is expected to be completed in late 2012. It is expected that the new plant will also create many indirect jobs in the logging, trucking and forest product industries.

TAM Energy

April 21, 2011

Jobs: 100

Wind turbine manufacturing

TAM Energy expects to add between 75 and 100 jobs by the end of 2011 as it begins assembling wind turbines as a supplemental energy producer. Company officials said that the turbines are good for residential uses with the capability of providing about 20% of the power needed for an average-size home. They pointed to the turbines as "not a power source to replace...but a power source to supplement.” TAM Energy is an affiliate of New York-based Titan Atlas Manufacturing.

Hills Machinery

March 30, 2011

Jobs:

Sales, Rental and Servicing of heavy construction and agrictultural equipment

This Case equipment distributor based in Columbia, SC, announced expansion to the Charleston area with a new facility on Cross County Road in North Charleston. Company president Jim Hills attributed the firm's choice of the Charleston region to the area's impressive economic growth.

Interwrap, Inc.

March 8, 2011

Jobs: 48
Investment: $15 Million

Global manufacturer of innovative coated woven products and diverse multi-layer laminated reinforced plastic substrates

The company looked at sites in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida when considering an expansion in the Southeast. Available tax incentives and access to the Port of Charleston drove the decision to expand its facility in Charleston County.

Le Creuset of America

February 14, 2011

Jobs:
Investment: $12 Million

Headquarters

The new headquarters site in Charleston will serve as the base for marketing, new product development and global resource staffing. The center will house a state-of-the-art test and demonstration kitchen, and Le Creuset will use the facility to host global retail partner visits. In addition to its 50 company-owned stores across the U.S., including one on King Street in downtown Charleston, Le Creuset sells its products through more than 1,000 stores in such national upscale shops as Williams-Sonoma, Bloomingdales and Sur La Table and locally owned merchants such as Coastal Cupboard in Mount Pleasant and Charleston Cooks in downtown Charleston.

Showa Denko Carbon

February 9, 2011

Jobs: 100
Investment: $236 Million

graphite electrodes

A principal supplier of graphite products to the global steel industry, Showa Denko Carbon plans to significantly expand its Dorchester County operations.

New Breed Logistics

January 31, 2011

Jobs: 150

Third party logistics

Headquartered in High Point, N.C., New Breed will receive, store, provide inventory control, kit, package, distribute and transport 787 parts, tools and supplies to designated locations within Boeing’s North Charleston assembly facility. The company already provides support for other Boeing airplane programs, including logistical support for several defense industry aircraft and for the 787 in Everett, Wash.

Trader Joe's

January 5, 2011

Jobs: 45

Grocery store

Monrovia, Calif.-based Trader Joe's describes itself as a neighborhood grocery store “with foods and beverages from the exotic to the basic,” and today anounces it will open a store in Mount Pleasant in late 2011. Trader Joe's is owned by German parent Aldi.

Odfjell Holdings

January 4, 2011

Jobs: 12
Investment: $37 Million

Chemical distribution

A Norwegian shipping company, Odfjell will build a distribution facility with deep draft marine, rail and truck accessibility to be located along the Cooper River shipping channel.

Geocent

January 1, 2011

Jobs: 40

Application development, data conversion and integration, systems engineering and information security

New Orleans-based information technology company, Geocent, works with the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, and is opening their first Charleston area office with 40 employees. The company’s work for SPAWAR includes application development, data conversion and integration, service-oriented architecture, and systems engineering and security.

Back To The Top