Florence County Council moved one step closer to acquiring land for the site of a new judicial complex, but one county official is crying foul, saying the government grossly over paid for the recently purchased property.

Florence County Treasurer Dean Fowler said that according to tax documents and other county records, the county council authorized spending more than $1.9 million on six properties located along Irby Street and N.B. Baroody Street in Florence valued at just under $130,000.

Fowler claims county council wasted tax payer dollars purchasing the land, pointing to the latest transaction where council shelled out $541,443 for a parcel on N.B. Baroody Street that tax documents value at $45,600; however County Councilman James Schofield said the county has actually saved tax payer dollars by negotiating for properties like the N.B. Baroody parcel and that Fowler’s argument is fueled by misleading figures.

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The former DuPont Teijin Films site in Florence has been bought by a Wisconsin-based firm for $4.5 million. The site includes 32 buildings that comprise about 1.2 million square feet of space with the largest facility totaling 550,000 square feet on the first floor, according to Columbia-headquartered NAI Avant, which reported the sale. The purchaser, Florence Development LLC, of Niagara, Wis., plans to use a part of the existing buildings for PET warehousing and other ancillary work, said Nick Stomski and Tom Milliken of NAI Avant.

Florence Development also has under contract about 900 acres of land that’s yet to close.

DuPont Teijin Films closed the facility, which manufactured Mylar polyester film, in September 2010. About 200 workers were laid off. The company cited declining sales for closing the plant and it consolidated operations at another facility in Hopewell, Va. DuPont opened the Florence plant in 1961.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE PROPERTY HERE

Hackman Capital, a private-held real estate investment firm located in Los Angeles, California, announced today that Otis Elevator of Farmington, Connecticut purchased the property owned by its affiliate at 1500 Range Way, in Florence, South Carolina. Florence Industrial Center, a 423,581 square-foot, class-A industrial facility, once occupied by Maytag, is situated on 49 acres and also includes 35 acres of vacant, interstate frontage land.

John Ticon and Edward Kercher of Cushman Wakefield in Charleston, South Carolina represented Otis Elevator in the recent transaction, while Randy Stump of The Stump Corporation, represented the Hackman affiliate.

“Adjacent to Interstate 95 and in close proximity to deep-water seaports, Florence Industrial Center offers Otis a prime Southeastern location and first-rate building amenities for manufacturing and distribution,” said Michael Hackman, founder and CEO of Hackman Capital.

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LOOPNET PROPERTY INFORMATION HERE

Florence County Council Chairman K.G. “Rusty” Smith said there are no major hurdles to Florence County signing off on its part of the proposal that would bring a 53-room, upscale boutique hotel to downtown Florence in the near future.

Although discussion of the proposal and the tangled knot of steps the county must take to bring it to fruition are not on the council’s official agenda for its meeting Thursday, Smith said he and his colleagues may take up the matter anyway. And even if they don’t address it this week, Smith said, the plan likely will gain county approval eventually.

“I don’t want to speak for the council,” Smith said, ‘but I would foresee us moving forward on this. I know I’m supportive of it. There are just a lot of legal details to work out. It’s pretty complicated from our end.”

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The Williamsburg County Council gave final approval Monday, July 11 for their portion of an agreement between Williamsburg and Florence counties that will create a multi-county business park.

The business park will be located and Florence and is slated to be the home of Otis Elevator, a 158-year-old company that is based in Connecticut and aims to bring 360 jobs to Florence.

Williamsburg County will make off with one percent of the revenue Florence County brings in yearly, which is allowed by a law that allows for the incorporation of tax breaks for businesses along with the sharing of revenues with poorer counties.

Although the county will not have any jobs created directly from the agreement, Williamsburg County officials say they believe the help they are receiving from Florence County will allow them to not only ride out a difficult economic time, but come out stronger.

READ MORE HERE

August 23, 2008

By Candace Jarrett – Morning News Reporter

New businesses are popping up throughout the Pee Dee every day, it seems.

The arrivals of Heinz, Monster and a new Wal-Mart SuperCenter in Florence have all been announced, but here are some things that haven’t.

Driving down Hoffmeyer Road, you’ll not only see the signs for the new supercenter, but also a new retail center right next door to West Florence High School called the Village At Windsor.

Todd Walker — president of Walker Industry, the construction company on the project — also is the owner of the retail space.

“It’s a retail shopping center,” he said. “There are seven stores total, including Bravo Event Solutions and Firehouse Subs.”

Walker said the construction slowdown across the nation hasn’t hit Florence, and he said this project should be complete in six weeks.

“The economic hardships had scared some people away, but for the most part, people are continuing on,” he said. “Some other projects we are working on include adding onto the Greek Orthodox church along with CHOiCES Charter School and the (Florence) Boys & Girls Club.”

Radio Drive near Florence Civic Center has changed dramatically during the past few years as many hotels, restaurants and department stores popped up on the scene and the growths seems to continue.

A new AT&T store next door to Chili’s soon will be opening with additional space for another retail area.

There’s also construction going on at the site of another Marriott hotel — Residence Inn — that will be beside Springhill Suites by Marriott.

ARTICLE SHORTENED DUE TO LENGTH….

LINK TO ARTICLE HERE:
http://www.scnow.com/scp/news/local/pee_dee/article/construction_slow_down_hasnt_hit_florence/13228/

Darlington County purchases tract for industrial park

May 20, 2008

By Candace Jarrett – Florence Morning News

Darlington County is in the process of finalizing a new industrial park project. The Darlington County I-20/Highway 340 Industrial Complex will be located on about 150 acres the county is purchasing near that intersection of Interstate 20 and S.C. 340.

“This (project) goes back about 10 years,” Darlington County Council Chairman Billy Baldwin said. “We took an extended lease on the land, and our option was running out in about two or three years.”
Baldwin said he’d found out about the Pee Dee Electric Cooperative’s low-interest grant application and thought it was time to purchase the land.

“I felt like we needed something on I-20, and NESA (the North Eastern Strategic Alliance) agreed with us,” he said. “This (Pee Dee Electric Cooperative) loan was the easiest way to do it.”
William Fleming, the commercial/industrial marketing administrator for Pee Dee Electric, said Darlington County is able to purchase the land via the Pee Dee Electric Cooperative/U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rural development loan program.

“It’s a zero-percent interest loan,” Fleming said. “It was a loan to us from the USDA and we loaned it to them; $300,000 was a grant and $740,000 was the USDA loan.”

Fleming said the loan carries a 1-percent service charge, and Darlington County has to match the grant with $171,888.

“Now it is the job of the (Darlington County Economic Development) partnership to be a force for economic development,” Fleming said. “The property will be used as Darlington (County’s) new industrial park to attract industry. It gives Darlington some form of a product it hasn’t had in the past.”

The complex will be an extension of a couple of existing industrial parks in the area.

ARTICLE SHORTENED DUE TO LENGTH….

LINK TO ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE:
http://www.scnow.com/scp/business/local/article/darlington_county_purchases_tract_for_industrial_park/6161/