Anderson County Feeling National Housing Crunch

March 10th, 2008

Anderson County feeling national housing crunch

By Heidi Cenac
March 9, 2008

Even the stable Upstate housing market is feeling the effects of a looming recession.

As the number of houses on the market starts to outpace the number of buyers, Anderson developer Baylis Maxwell is postponing plans for a 166-lot subdivision and community store at Midway Road, Harriet Circle and Crestview Road.

“It’s just not the right time to start a subdivision,” Mr. Maxwell said.

When he looks at competitors’ developments, some are fine and others are “dead in the water.” Realtors tell him the biggest reason for the slowdown is that retirees and people in other markets can’t sell the houses they are in to buy houses here.

Anderson County’s absorption rate — the real estate market’s ability to sell off the houses for sale — dropped slightly from 16 in January to 14.7 February. But a 14.7-month supply of houses still is pretty high, said Tom Carr, a Realtor at the Elizabeth Gray-Carr Team in Anderson.

“We’ve got to get that down by either selling more homes or having fewer homes on the market,” Mr. Carr said.

Transactions on the Western Upstate Multiple Listing Service — a database of houses for sale in Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties — were down 16 percent in January compared to the same month last year.

In Anderson County, 93 homes were sold in January this year compared with 113 during January 2007.

Last month brought more of the same. According to data pulled from the multiple listing service, 113 homes were sold in February 2003 compared with 133 in February 2007.

The good news for homebuyers in Anderson is that home values have remained relatively stable. A fourth quarter Zillow Home Value Report, which includes all homes in the Anderson area, not just those listed for sale, showed that home values in Anderson County bucked the nation’s depreciation trend.

Anderson County’s “Zindex” for 2007 — the median estimate of the market value homes in a certain area — was $102,408, up 5.6 percent year over year.

“Anderson has enjoyed a very stable real estate market without large fluctuations in values,” said Dave Chamblee, broker in charge at Anderson Area Properties.

And some areas, including west Anderson County and the Hartwell Lake waterfront, actually saw more homes sold in February this year than last year.

The National Association of Realtors has started running ads on Upstate radio and television stations telling consumers why now is the best time to buy. And according to Mr. Chamblee, that’s not just propaganda.

The combination of strong inventory and low interest rates means buyers can find houses that really match what they want in a home, he said.

Just don’t expect homeowners to give their investment away.

Mr. Carr’s office has seen a few offers from buyers trying to get a house for well below the asking price, and the offers haven’t been accepted. With the sales-to-list ratio above 95 percent, sellers don’t feel they have to give it away, he said.

Builders and Realtors are hoping the housing market will pick up in the spring when building typically is busiest.

Mr. Maxwell said two of his subdivisions, Austin Oaks and Ashland Oaks are seeing increased interest from buyers. Mr. Carr said his office is still on pace with new listings and has seen steady demand for showings.

“Buyers are still out there,” he said.

http://www.independentmail.com/news/2008/mar/09/anderson-county-feeling-national-housing-crunch/

Port Royal Development Moving Toward Completion

March 10th, 2008

Ambitious Port Royal development moving toward completion

March 9, 2008

By ALEXIS GARROBO
agarrobo@beaufortgazette.com

As the last phases of Port Royal’s Millennium Development rise, the project will form an instant community of retail stores, restaurants and medical offices surrounded by residents from young to old.

The Millennium Development complex is the concentration of development at the north end of Paris Avenue that includes the Keyserling Cancer Center and Port Royal Center. The area will have a continuum of ages from children and young adults at apartments in The Preserve at Port Royal to elderly in the Good Neighbor Care of Port Royal complex.

“It’s really going to complete the atmosphere we have,” said Dean Morrissey, managing director for corporate development for Millennium Development.

The project began in 2001 and was constructed in phases. “So far we’ve probably had roughly $50 million, probably another $30 million to $40 million more in development,”Morrissey said.

This would be one of the last pieces in the multi-faceted project. The Millennium Developmentcomplex includes more than 40 acres of apartments, assisted and independent living facilities, retail and commercial development and the Keyserling Cancer Center — most of which has been completed. Millennium Development, the company overseeing the project, plans to begin construction on Good Neighbor Care by June, pending permitting. Components of the project include:

•The Preserve, 400 apartments, which was a catalyst to attract retail and commerce

•Port Royal Center, a 2-acre retail and commerical center. It includes shops, restaurants and offices

•The Keyserling Cancer Center, a joint development project with Beaufort Memorial Hospital for cancer treatment and research

•Good Neighbor Care of Port Royal, a proposed 120-unit assisted and independent living facility

•4.2 acres for future medical development

“This whole section is new urbanism,” Morrissey said. New urbanism is a philosophy that encourages walking, interconnectivity, diversity in housing type and makeup of an area and a focus on traditional town layout, according to New Urbanism.org, a Web site that promotes the ideology.

The 120-unit Good Neighbor Care would provide about 100 independent units for elderly people. The plan received final approval at last month’s Port Royal Design Review Board meeting. Building permits from Port Royal and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control are needed before construction begins.

The company also plansa four-cottage Alzheimer’s living facility, Morrissey said. He said the two facilities would answer a growing demand as the area’s population ages.

The commercial and retail space, Port Royal Center, is about 60 percent full, Morrissey said. He said the development firm hopes to fill the remaining 40 percent of the building with offices.

The last undeveloped 4 acres, which are next to the cancer center, are designated for medical development. Beaufort Memorial Hospital, which worked with the development group to create the cancer center, has no immediate plans for the area, said Rick Toomey, hospital CEO.

“The hospital has limitation (for expansion) on our campus,” Toomey said. “We’re looking at options (for growth outside of the hospital campus) but there is nothing long-term or concrete.”

http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local/story/215039.html

Kroger Store to be Converted to Anderson County Offices

March 9th, 2008

Kroger store renovations moving forward in Anderson

By Charmaine Smith-Miles

March 8, 2008

ANDERSON COUNTY — The plans to renovate the old Kroger building on River Street to house Anderson County administrative offices are moving forward — once again.

The Anderson County Council in 2006 approved issuing a $7.3 million bond to pay for expansion of county offices into the former grocery store, upgrades to the current courthouse and preliminary work the expansion of the Anderson County jail.

Anderson County Administrator Joey Preston said renovations on the project could reach $5.5 million, but he hopes they will come in lower.

“The project’s budget can vary depending on what we get back in bids,” Mr. Preston said. “It could cost $4.5 million. But I wanted to estimate high on the front end.”

How much of the $7.3 million will go to the annex, the courthouse, and the jail is not available because the county is waiting on renovation bids on the Kroger building, Mr. Preston said. Some of the upgrades to the courthouse will include changes to security and the building’s sound system.

The old Kroger store is about 47,000 square feet and sits on 6.25 acres. After renovations it will house the county treasurer, auditor, assessor, register of deeds, building and codes, mailroom, and building and grounds offices — basically all non-court related offices now located in the Anderson County Courthouse.

County officials are sending drawings to contractor for the first renovation stage. That first stage will include removal of walls and other preparations, Mr. Preston said. Construction on the site should begin in June or July and should be done by May 2009, he said.

When the council approved the purchase of the old store for $1.3 million, it created a stir among residents. Some approved of the deal. Others did not.

Opponents to the project argued that $1.3 million purchase price for the building was too much for that side of town, that the area, located on Anderson’s southeast side, was unsafe and that the property’s Realtor, Marshall Carithers, was making too much money on the deal.

Arguments were refuted by county officials, saying that other empty grocery stores on the S.C. 28 Bypass and U.S. 29 South, are priced between $1.4 million and $4 million. Then, Anderson Police Chief Martin Brown said just five incidents were reported within a two-block radius of the old store in 2005.

And according to the county’s contract with Mr. Carithers, he made the standard 6 percent commission on the sale.

County Council member Cindy Wilson was the dissenting vote on the matter. And she said she is still opposed to it.

“The concerns that I had primarily dealt with the deal, with the purchase price,” Ms. Wilson said. She said she is still worried about how much the entire project will cost.

But Mr. Preston said the county has no choice but to expand county offices because the current offices are too crowded.

“We are a growing county right now,” he said. “This is going to be an anchor for south Anderson. I think once you see this project completed, I think you are going to see a transition on River Street like you saw on McDuffie Street with the new library.”

Anderson County resident John Schinnagel, who is often vocal on local politics, said the renovations should help the area. He lives off Centerville Road and often travels the S.C. 28 Bypass, across town from the old Kroger store. It is dotted with several empty grocery stores.

“The city looks bad when you ride down the streets and see empty store fronts,” Mr. Schinnagel said. “I agree with the renovation. I don’t think $5 million is a lot to spend.”

http://www.independentmail.com/news/2008/mar/08/kroger-store-renovations-moving-forward-anderson/
BLOG NOTE
Integra Realty Resources – South Carolina has appraised a variety of vacant boxes in South Carolina. In general, vacant discount stores (K-Mart, Wal-Mart, etc) have sold at prices in the range of $15.00 to $30.00 per square foot. Vacant grocery stores, which are smaller and marketable to a wider base of users, have sold in the range of $25.00 to $55.00 per square foot. The Anderson Kroger sales price was $27.66 per square foot.
MBD

USC’s Year of Construction

March 9th, 2008

University is building like never before – and planning for more

By JAMES T. HAMMOND – jhammond@thestate.com

USC is in the midst of an unprecedented, $316 million construction spurt in downtown Columbia — with 20 projects under way or on the drawing board.

The school’s fledgling Innovista research campus is a focus. But most projects are not Innovista-related. Instead, they are replacements for aging facilities.

The building blitz includes a baseball stadium, band and dance rehearsal halls, and well-appointed laboratories for nanotechnology and hydrogen researchers.

In addition to those projects, USC last month began to talk about taking advantage of the economic downturn — including low interest rates and reduced construction costs — to pursue other long-delayed projects. Some are decades-old, having been turned away time and again in favor of others.

Building as much as it can now could save USC millions of dollars, officials say. But, without the aid of state money, student fees might rise to offset the cost, they warn.

NEW SPACE

Strings students and faculty will be the first to move into a new home, on Park Street in the Vista.

Anna Mesa, a ninth-grade strings player at Spring Valley High School, thinks the facility will make her and other young students — now in the community outreach String Project — want to attend USC.

“The room we are in right now does not have good acoustics,” Mesa said. “This will sound better, and people will be more motivated. It will just be nicer.”

The site’s more than 16,000 square feet of instructional and office space will allow instructors to engage 300 students “from the ages of 8 to 88,” said Tayloe Harding, dean of USC’s music school.

The space will be tucked into a city-funded parking garage, next to the Colonial Center and the main music school building, on Assembly Street.

Like Harding, John Van Zee, director of the National Science Foundation Center for Fuel Cells at USC, said space is everything.

Moving his one-of-a-kind center into the Horizon Building on Blossom Street will raise its visibility in the scientific world — and provide badly needed labs for a growing cadre of scientists.

The fuel cell center now is Assembly Street’s Swearingen Engineering Center, designed more than 20 years ago.

“We have 10 (startup) companies in the space now, and we have no space to work with our international partners,” Van Zee said.

NOW’S THE TIME

USC also hopes to launch other new buildings despite a lack of state support and the weak economy.

State lawmakers haven’t been warm to approving bond bills lately, stranding some building projects on USC’s wish list. The current economic climate also would seem to rule out taxpayer-funded construction — beyond research space, which is funded separately — on state campuses.

But USC officials say they see a chance to address languishing needs and save money.

Because of the slowing economy, construction companies are beginning to offer lower prices. Also, low interest rates — the lowest in years — would slash millions from USC’s cost to borrow.

USC plans to pay itself to renovate two older academic buildings at Pickens and Greene streets — LeConte, at a cost of $19.6 million, and Petigru, at a cost of $14.4 million. It also plans to pay an additional $18 million to renovate the Health Sciences building at Greene and Sumter streets.

Streetscaping projects on Sumter and Pickens could add an additional $3 million in costs. Officials also want to raise $10 million a year for deferred maintenance.

However, some of these projects will require increased student fees, officials say. Still, William Hubbard, chairman of the USC trustees’ Building and Grounds Committee, and other members of that committee agreed last month that USC should move now. No official vote was taken, but Hubbard will report to the full board when it next meets.

AWAITING FUNDING

Meanwhile, three key projects still are without funding.

• The Moore School of Business is in the middle of negotiating the lease of its current building to a government agency. That could generate a revenue stream to build a new $100 million business school at Greene and Lincoln streets in Innovista.

• Another top priority is a new law school, said Rick Kelly, USC’s chief financial officer. But so far, there is no money for it.

USC first discussed plans for a new law school in 2001. Since then, the estimated cost has risen to $89 million from $45 million.

“The price has doubled, and we haven’t even broken ground,” lamented trustee Miles Loadholt, a Barnwell lawyer and board vice chairman.

If and when USC builds a new law school, the old law center on Assembly Street would require renovation for other academic uses. Cost: $60 million.

• For students, one of the highest priorities is a new clinic to replace the 35-year-old Thomson Student Health Center. The facility has outlived its mission, officials agree. But they have no plan in place to replace it.

Instead, trustees last year authorized a $450,000 study after students voiced their concerns. The study is to be completed in May.

$900 MILLION MORE

USC’s long-term needs are immense, Kelly said.

Twenty-two projects could cost an additional $900 million, the Building and Grounds Committee concluded, including:

• Demolition of the old Benson School west of Pickens Street in the Wheeler Hill neighborhood. Cost: $4.5 million

• Renovation of Wheat Street’s Blatt Physical Education Center. Cost: $10 million to $37 million

• Construction of Foundation Square, Innovista’s landscaped central square at Lincoln and Greene streets. Cost: $10 million

• Renovation of the Jones Physical Science Center at Main and Greene. Cost: $80 million

• Renovation of Barnwell and Hamilton halls, historic buildings at Pickens and Pendleton streets. Cost: $35 million.

USC also wants to build on a prime location at Sumter, College and Main streets, at the foot of the Horseshoe.

The school’s Byrnes Center office building, once the city’s federal building, now is on the site. But it is slated for eventual demolition, to be replaced by an unspecified 200,000-square-foot academic facility.

USC and the nonprofit USC Development Foundation control almost half the block, which offers some of the best views on campus — straight down the length of the Horseshoe.

“We can put together a two-acre tract,” Kelly said, adding the Byrnes Center “begs to be torn down.”

The site also begs for a signature building, he said. Estimated cost: $100 million.

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/340756.html

North Myrtle Beach Officials to Review 1,363-acre Project

March 9th, 2008

North Myrtle Beach Officials to Review 1,363-acre Project

Planned development bordering Grande Dunes petitions to join city

By Janelle Frost
March 08, 2008

North Myrtle Beach Planning Commission members expect at their next meeting to decide whether to recommend to City Council that 1,363 acres west of the Intracoastal Waterway be annexed into the city.

The land is located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Carolina Bays Parkway, or S.C. 31, and S.C. 22, extends to the waterway and borders the Grande Dunes neighborhood in Myrtle Beach.

Commission members reviewed and made some suggestions earlier this week on the proposed project called Parkway Group PUD.

Members – including H. G. Worley Jr., who was recently appointed to the board – also reviewed information from Horry County Schools that suggested the project could add 700 to 900 students to county schools.

Plans for the project include multifamily homes, single-family homes, commercial space and a marina.

Commission members’ suggestions include reducing the project’s density from a total of 10,000 residential units to 8,000 units, connecting some proposed roads, building a landscaped median and creating multipurpose paths, trees and sidewalks, Commission Chairman Fred Coyne said.

“The trend is to try to get more of a neighborhood feel,” Coyne said.

He said the commission plans to continue review of the project and a development agreement at its March 18 meeting.

“We’re still excited about this project,” Coyne said. “It says a lot about North Myrtle Beach and the owners that they want to be a part of the city.”

The six owners of the six tracts in the project are asking the city to annex and zone the property as a planned-unit development.

The property owners of the project include Apache Properties; CW Hills, JW Holliday Family and Myrtle Beach National Co.; Henry Road West, Seashore Farms, LL Chestnut, and Reach 9.

The owners are looking for the project to not exceed more than 10,246 residential units and 4.36 million square feet of commercial space on the property, based on an application submitted to the city.

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/375705.html

Easley Gets to Work on Town Center Redevelopment Project

March 9th, 2008

Easley gets to work on Town Center redevelopment project

March 8, 2008

By Julie Howle
STAFF WRITER
jhowle@greenvillenews.com

EASLEY — Rain couldn’t dampen the spirits at a groundbreaking Friday for the Easley Town Center, a project set to redevelop the former Saco Lowell site, which has sat vacant for years.

“I think it’s probably one of the biggest days as far as economic development that this area’s had in a long time,” Easley Mayor Larry Bagwell said.

He was one of many community leaders who gathered to celebrate the rebirth of the plant, once a home for manufacturing textile equipment that is now planned to be a new retail center.

Officials broke ground, gold shovels in hand, and the crowd then watched as a section of the old plant was ripped down, bricks tumbling to the ground.

“We’re very, very happy to see this day get here,” Bagwell said. “I think it’s going to be tremendous as far as opening up other economic values out through here.”

The groundbreaking kicked off construction, which is expected to be finished in March 2009, said David Scarnati, director of development for Cedarwood Development Inc.

Wal-Mart is going to be a major anchor for the center, Scarnati said, but he said they aren’t naming any of the other stores yet.

He said there would be at least 20 to 25 stores and an expected 500,000 square feet of retail space.

“This truly is a large-scale development,” Scarnati said. “I think it’s going to have a great, positive impact. It’s going to create a new corridor into Pickens County.”

State Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, said the project will bring road improvements and said the taxes paid by the center’s tenants will help improve the landscape as a gateway into Pickens County.

Easley Town Center will also create 900 jobs in addition to the local construction labor that will be used.

Scarnati said there are more than 120 acres on the site and about 80 acres will be developed in the first phase. Two additional phases are expected later.

When the project is complete it will mean an about $82 million investment, he said.

http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080308/BUSINESS/803080326/1003

Haywood Road Development Put on Hold

March 7th, 2008

Haywood Road development put on hold

Principle blames retail slowdown for decision to delay mixed-use project

Friday, March 7, 2008

By Rudolph Bell
BUSINESS WRITER
dmbell@greenvillenews.com

A Charlotte developer says its planned 25-acre, mixed-use development off of Haywood Road is in a “holding pattern” because of a slowdown in the retail sector.

“As we all know, the market has been a little soft with everything going on,” said Ken Chapman, a partner in Merrifield Partners. “The retailers have pulled back a little. We want to do something nice there, and we don’t want to rush it. So we’re going to let it sit there a while and let everything come back to us.”

The 25 acres near Haywood Mall used to be part of the Fluor Corp. campus. The site runs along Old Airport Road between Woods Crossing Road and Timmons Drive.

Merrifield’s plans — approved by Greenville City Council in August — called for 211,000 square feet of retail space, 18,000 square feet of restaurant space and 26,000 square feet of office space. Also planned were a 110-room hotel and 300 residential units.

“We need the right tenants in there,” Chapman said. “Since the right ones aren’t expanding right now, we’ll just wait.”

Chapman said he may revise the plans to include more office space and less residential space if a company he’s talking with decides to locate at the site. He didn’t identify the company.

Chapman said his plans for the development, dubbed Crescent Place, so far have not been affected by tight credit markets stemming from the subprime mortgage crisis, though other developments he’s involved with have been.

“Lenders are requiring more guarantees. They’re requiring more pre-leasing,” Chapman said. “So yeah, that’s definitely a factor all across the country.”

But at Crescent Place, he said, “I think if the retailers were expanding and wanted to come today still, then we could find a way to finance it. It wouldn’t have been as easy as it would have been a year ago, but we’d still find a way.”

http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080307/BUSINESS/803070316/1003/rss04

Developer pays $61M for tract in Hardeeville

March 7th, 2008

Developer pays $61M for tract in Hardeeville
By ALEXIS GARROBO

A Beaufort County developer closed Thursday on a $61 million deal to develop 5,000 Jasper County acres into an industrial park fed by a future shipping port on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River.

The land, known as the Hardeeville Tract, is bound by the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge on the west, crosses Interstate 95 to the north and U.S. 17 to the south.

Billy Gavigan, a broker for the deal who represents the private equity fund and owns Citadel Realty, said 2,000 acres will be used for industrial development. He said the remaining land will be residential or commercial.

The deal is one of the first projects that Jasper County has seen that can be directly attributed to its strategic position near the future bi-state port in Jasper County and the Port of Savannah, both on the Savannah River.

The land was selected because of its proximity to the Port of Savannah and is less than 6 miles from what will be the $450 million South Atlantic International Terminal Port in Jasper County.The new Jasper port is a venture with Georgia and will be overseen by a bi-state port office. It is expected to open in seven to 10 years.

The buyers were not identified by the broker because of a confidentiality agreement between the buyers and landowner John Reed. The buyers are represented by Citadel, Gateway and McVay Realty, said Gavigan.

“With the emergence of the new port, the property should be one of the biggest things to ever happen down here. It’s our intent (with the development) to create jobs for the South Carolina side,” he said.

Investors have shelled out more than $364 million for economic development on the Georgia side of the Savannah River in anticipation of the joint shipping port.

“With the growth and emergence of the port this is a logical industrial buy,” Gavigan said. He said the developers are hoping the location will make access to the port, CSX railroad and highways easier for international companies that build hubs on the site.

There also is maneuvering under way to secure money for a new exit — Exit 3 — off Interstate 95.

“The city has made it its No. 1 priority,” said Ted Felder, Hardeeville’s economic development director. The new exit would provide a permanent hurricane evacuation route and alleviate some of the daily traffic, Felder said.

“That’s what we’re still determining, who’ll pay. We can’t wait for years for the federal funds to trickle down,” he said. “I’d like to see it in place in the next year.”

Felder said the project is on the S.C. Department of Transportation’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan.

Staff for U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., confirmed that there are plans to create a new exit.

http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/246663.html

BLOG NOTE
The planned port, which will be the second largest port in the nation when finished, will be a huge impact on our state. Savannah has already capitalized on the plans, since they have the infrastructure in place. It is imperative that South Carolina makes a firm commitment to build the infrastructure necessary to support the growth.

MBD

High-tech Industrial Park Rising Near BMW

March 7th, 2008

High-tech industrial park rising near BMW
By Trevor Anderson

Published: Friday, March 7, 2008

If BMW Manufacturing Co. wasn’t enough, the Highway 101 corridor off I-85 at Exit 60 will soon receive another booster shot of investment dollars and commerce.

Liberty Property Trust, an international real estate investment company based in Philadelphia, is building the $55 million high-tech industrial park Caliber Ridge on what was once a 50-acre hay field, across the street from the German luxury automaker.

“The logic was to take advantage of the growth happening between Greenville and Spartanburg,” said F. Bogue Wallin, vice president of Liberty’s Carolinas Region, which stretches along I-85 from Raleigh, N.C., to Greenville. “The second thing was that BMW was here. And the third is to take advantage of the trend for international companies who already have facilities in another place and don’t want to construct a new building, to come in and set up shop.”

The five-building multi-tenant complex will contain almost 800,000 square feet of industrial space.

Wallin said the buildings would be perfect for housing the warehouse, manufacturing or distribution operations of any company.

Thursday, Liberty held a meeting at the park’s first 127,000-square-foot building to celebrate its completion. Construction on the park’s three 157,000-square-foot buildings and a 150,000-square-foot building is expected to begin soon.

Wallin said the company was not prepared to announce any leases signed, but interest from prospective tenants was “very encouraging.”

Caliber Park’s neighbor, BMW Manufacturing Co., is going to announce its plans Monday morning for additional investment at the plant. The expansion is part of BMW’s plan to ramp up production from 160,000 vehicles to 240,000 vehicles a year by 2012.

Community leaders hope BMW’s suppliers will be licking their chops for a chance to locate at the company’s doorstep.

“This is an extremely good park,” said Carter Smith, executive director of the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Futures Group, a committee formed earlier this year to facilitate economic growth in Spartanburg County. “We’ve needed a quality product down the Highway 101 corridor for some time. It will give companies room to grow and flexibility.”

Greer Mayor Rick Danner said Caliber Ridge is a part of the city of Greer’s “long-term plans.”

“It’s been on the radar screen for a number of years,” Danner said. “It has access to an airport (Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport) and is less than a mile from I-85. That would be attractive for any company, and we’re hoping it will be a big success.”

Caliber Park utilities will be provided by the Greer Commission of Public Works, SJWD Water District and Duke Power.

“We’re proud of this site and what it’s going to mean for the area for a long time,” said Jerry Balding, general manager of the Greer CPW. “We’re hoping it will bring in other investors and companies.”

http://www.goupstate.com/article/20080307/NEWS/625006812/1051/NEWS01

Welcome

March 7th, 2008

Welcome to the new South Carolina Real Estate News blog. Everyday, newspapers and periodicals publish articles that are of value to real estate professionals – I intend to provide a simple place to access this news. While it may not be updated daily, I hope that you find it a good source of information. Additional statistical data will be published from my commercial and residential real estate valuation firms.

I welcome your feedback.

Michael B. Dodds, MAI, CCIM, MRICS
Managing Director/Principle
Integra Realty Resources – South Carolina