By T&D StaffMonday, June 16, 2008

Roseburg Forest Products presented the Orangeburg County Development Commission with a $2,500 donation recently toward the commission’s building fund.

Through the pledges of Room Benefactors and Friends of the OCDC, the OCDC headquarters will be free of debt by 2010. Details on how much has been pledged and raised were not immediately released.

The 4,400-square-foot headquarters is located at the Carolina Regional Park’s Ellison Building near the U.S. 601 and Interstate 26 interchange.

“Roseburg is very pleased to be a part of Orangeburg County and look forward to what the future holds as we believe the location is strategic to our growth,” said Darrell Keeling, Roseburg vice president. “We are very happy with the service the Development Commission has provided since they do recognize the importance of cultivating and maintaining a favorable business climate for existing businesses as well as attracting new enterprises.”

OCDC Chairwoman Jeannine Kees said the contribution epitomized “team Orangeburg County.”

Roseburg Forest Products knows the importance of being a team player and has exhibited a commitment to being a member of the team by its gift, Kees said.

Both OCDC Executive Director Gregg Robinson and Orangeburg County Council Chairman Harry Wimberly praised Roseburg’s contribution.

The OCDC building cost an estimated $607,000. The funds have come entirely from

Orangeburg County Council Chairman Harry Wimberly and Orangeburg County Administrator Bill Clark look at a scale model of the Palm Jumeirah in the sales office of property development company Nakheel. (Special to The T&D)

Orangeburg County Council Chairman Harry Wimberly and Orangeburg County Administrator Bill Clark look at a scale model of the Palm Jumeirah in the sales office of property development company Nakheel. (Special to The T&D)

Orangeburg County officials say acquiring a better understanding of the business and cultural climate of Dubai and the workings of Jafza International (Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone) was the primary mission of a recent week-long trip to the Middle East.

Gregg Robinson, Orangeburg County Development Commission executive director, said meeting with Jafza leadership enabled the county to better comprehend the company’s past and shed light on the company’s needs for the future.

“We wanted to understand why they want to diversify and why they want to be in the North American market,” Robinson said, noting the city of Dubai is experiencing some “massive growth” and has seen the need to expand to a prime region.

And what better place than Orangeburg? he said.

“We wanted to show them our location is better than anywhere in the Southeast,” Robinson said.

Robinson was among four Orangeburg County officials who embarked on a 14-hour flight to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Orangeburg County Council Chairman Harry Wimberly, County Administrator Bill Clark and Development Commission Chairman Jeannine Kees also went on the trip from March 8-16.

The United Arab Emirates-based logistics company, a subsidiary of Dubai World, announced last fall that it intends to invest between $600-700 million in Orangeburg County.

Plans call for a logistics, manufacturing and distribution hub that could employ between 8,000 and 10,000 workers. With construction planned for late 2009, the project is expected to attract some $1.2 billion in private investment.

The OCDC funded the trip for the Orangeburg delegates. The OCDC is the economic development arm of Orangeburg County. The county paid for the flight, accommodations, entertainment and promotional materials, with Jafza covering the business expenses related to meetings and gatherings held in Dubai.

The OCDC has $25,000 allocated in its budget toward international marketing trips which consists of both private and public dollars. Of the $25,000 budgeted, approximately 32 percent, or $8,000, was spent on the trip.

About 10 percent of the trip cost still needs to be tabulated, though Robinson said added items are small and will not significantly increase the expense.

The state delegation also included an S.C. Department of Commerce official with the global business division and a writer for the “Charleston Business Journal.”

On Monday, Robinson presented Orangeburg County Council a PowerPoint presentation on the country of Dubai, the country’s interest in the United States and, in particular, Orangeburg County, along with pictures of the city and Jafza.

“What they have done with tremendous vision … is to diversify (Dubai’s) overall GDP (gross domestic product),” Robinson told the council and the packed council chambers, noting the country expects to exhaust its natural resources of oil in about 25 years. “It (diversity) is a very significant undertaking from a national perspective to take care of (Dubai’s) citizenry.”

The Orangeburg delegation took a flight from Charleston to Atlanta and then a 14-hour direct flight to Dubai. The delegation arrived in Dubai on Sunday night, March 9. The country is about eight hours ahead of Orangeburg.

“It was a good flight, but long,” said Robinson, adding that, fortunately, the Orangeburg group was able to “get its legs” as the first full day (Monday) was primarily dedicated to touring the city.

During the remainder of the week, the delegation was able to meet with various industrial representatives who expressed casual to more serious interest in locating to South Carolina and, in particular, the Santee area.

“There were serious questions about the business environment and skill sets,” Robinson said. “We tried to answer all the fundamental questions that needed to be addressed for companies.”

He said as well as providing information about the state and the county for those in Jafza, the trip was a learning experience.

“One thing I learned … is there are significant similarities between our cultures,” Robinson said. “They have a very open, honest, direct business relationship and an eagerness to make a positive impact on the citizens of (their) own country with their ability to make a profit. They are very business oriented … they are choosing our location because they feel like it is a good place to do business.”

And what a location it is, Robinson said.

“It is a tremendous target market for companies all over the world, and this is where they want to be to sell their goods,” Robinson said, noting that Orangeburg County is in the center of the heavily populated East Coast. “We can miss on that opportunity and let them logistically handle it someplace else, or we can embrace it, add value, assemble and get it out the door and, therefore, get it out to the end user faster.”

Robinson said when it comes to Dubai, there is no hindrance to their vision. Whether it is building an island, or building the tallest building in the world, he says the sky is the limit for that country.

“It is beyond words,” Robinson said. “They have the intellectual, financial and leadership wherewithal to accomplish whatever they set out.”

OCDC Chairwoman Jeannine Kees could not agree more.

She described the trip as “wonderful” and the “right move” for the county.

“This is an investment,” she said. “Usually we work real hard to get in front of one prospect. Here we had 30 in the same room. If you don’t invest, you can’t get any return on your investment.”

Beyond the business aspect of the trip, Kees said she was impressed with the ongoing development in the city as well as the culture.

“People are people,” she said. “They are interested in the same things, like the quality of life, educating their children, good housing and jobs.”

Kees said the city was “pristine,” without any noticeable trash or graffiti, and she was surprised at the “openness” of the culture. About 80 percent of the city’s residents are foreigners.

“I thought it would be more conservative,” she said, noting that while traditional Muslim dress was evident, the Mall of the Emirates had complete sets of designer clothes, purses and bags. She said everyone fit right in. “I was concerned about the dress,” Kees said.

And then there was the desert.

“I expected to see some cactus. and there were no cacti,” she said, laughing. “It was just desert. There were a few little scrubby things.”

Wimberly said the trip was “well worthwhile” and “unimaginable” for what he says could most likely be one of the biggest projects to ever hit South Carolina.

“I had expressed some doubts whether we needed to go, but after meeting with those folks over there and seeing the excitement of customers anticipating being able to relocate … in the United States and South Carolina, I realized we had a real winner,” he said.

Wimberly said two brothers approached him during the meeting, expressing interest in the U.S. market.

“When Jafza announced they had purchased property in South Carolina and Orangeburg County, it opened up a whole new avenue for them,” he said.

Representatives of at least six international companies said their firms are determined to locate facilities at the logistics park with company surveys estimating the possible expansion of a total of 33 companies into the county.

The owner of Sider Gulf FZCO, a supplier of steel and stainless steel products, and M.R.S. Packaging Limited, a company that works with seven U.S.-based candy and snack food manufacturers, said he wants to establish a presence in Orangeburg to provide his clients with the kind of logistics solutions they need to help grow their companies, Wimberly said.

He said construction is ongoing everywhere in Dubai.

“Basically, a whole city was building up right around itself,” Wimberly said, noting that it will be interesting to see what happens to already bumper-to-bumper traffic when the buildings currently under construction are occupied. “Traffic was pretty tough. I would say that Charleston does not have traffic like that.”

The Jebel Ali Foreign Trade Zone project has been cited as a model of what Jafza would like to see occur in Orangeburg. The local center would be Jafza’s first entry into the United States.

But Robinson said what has happened in Jebel Ali and what will occur in Orangeburg are in many ways different.

For one thing, the “massive size” of the 35,000-acre Jafza project overseas will not compare with Orangeburg, he said.

Robinson said about 1,324 acres have been set aside in Orangeburg, approximately half of which will be dedicated to green space and a mixed use of warehousing and light manufacturing.

“There will be significant design that goes into this,” Robinson said, adding that Jafza is committed to environmental sensitivity.

County Administrator Bill Clark said what impressed him about the trip and the city of Dubai was how a “small fishing village” a few decades ago has been literally transformed overnight into a bustling metropolis.

“It is a pretty extraordinary thing,” he said. “You have an indoor snow-skiing facility built in the middle of the desert; you have an island development created in the Arabian Sea where previously none existed.”

Clark said the ingenuity and vision of the Dubai people is something the county can learn from, albeit on a smaller scale.

“Our vision for the future should not be limited by what we see but instead should be directed by what can be,” he said.

As part of the trip, the state delegation provided Jafza officials with various gifts — “pretty much anything with a Palmetto tree on it,” Robinson said.

Palmetto tree pins, Palmetto tree neckties and “The South Carolina Encyclopedia” written by Dr. Walter Edgar, University of South Carolina history professor.

Robinson also pointed out that the state flag with the familiar crescent moon was a welcome symbol in the predominately Muslim country.

When asked if another excursion is planned, Robinson said the next step will be for the county to play host to the leadership of Jafza and to provide the same hospitality the company provided them.

“It was truly the epitome of Southern hospitality,” he said.

In the meantime, the Jafza project is moving forward here.

Applied Technology and Management Inc., a Florida-based engineering, design and consulting firm, has been chosen to provide program management and development support services for the first phase of the 1,300-acre center. The company has a staff of 15 working in Dubai on a number of projects.

And Jafza South Carolina LLC, a subsidiary of Jafza International, announced Columbia-based BP Barber as the company contracted to do due diligence and environmental services for the first phase of the project.

The civil engineering firm will be responsible for providing geotechnical, environmental, roadway evaluations, wetland and survey services as well as assisting Jafza with completing related studies and site-surveying services.

Jeannie Kees, chairman of the Orangeburg County economic development commission, and Gregg Robinson, executive director, say two potential developments have put Orangeburg on the map. “Everybody in DC knows what’s going on,” Robinson says. “Get ready for an incoming tsunami of trade

Patricia Salley leads community development for Orangeburg’s economic development commission. She says people are excited about potential new jobs, and she says she’s ready to help make sure the work force does well.

Business interests from both Dubai and China are looking at Orangeburg County for major development projects, which may help lift the county from its standing in the “poverty belt.” And for the largely rural county, change will be inevitable. Here’s a look at some of its residents’ reactions.

PROVIDENCE — Dahl Shuler steps down from hammering in roof trusses on a new concession stand for the Purple Hurricanes baseball diamond at Providence United Methodist Church. The stand is about the only new construction around this tiny crossroads community amid the vast farmlands of eastern Orangeburg County.

From this vantage point, you’d never know that Providence sits at the middle of what Orangeburg County economic development officials have dubbed the Global Logistics Triangle, a huge chunk of the county bordered by interstates 26 and 95 and U.S. Highway 301.

If county planners have their way, Providence will soon be bustling, as it hosts a mammoth inland port, factory and office complex serving not only the Port of Charleston but also companies shipping products up and down the East Coast.

It could bring thousands of jobs and do what nothing has done before: End the high unemployment that has kept this county strapped in the poverty belt that runs along I-95 from Georgia to North Carolina and forms a semi-circle around the Charleston metropolitan area.

Orangeburg’s dream may be on the verge of coming true with two massive projects proposed for Orangeburg County: One is a 1,300-acre land deal in which Jafza International, a division of Dubai World, the mega Persian Gulf trading company, plans to build an inland port and office complex. Earlier this month, Jafza opened its North American headquarters in Charleston.

The other project is a 1,200-acre land deal in which a Charleston-based company, World Trade City Orangeburg LLC, plans to build a massive business center and bring in Chinese manufacturing and assembly plants. Together the two projects could bring investments of up to $2 billion over 10 to 15 years and thousands of jobs.

“Get ready for the incoming tsunami of trade,” says Gregg Robinson, executive director of the Orangeburg County Development Commission. “I want every child in Orangeburg County to know when they finish high school they have a job in the Logistics Triangle.”
Shuler offers a more sober perspective.

He runs a construction company and says the influx of money and construction will be good for him. But his two brothers are farmers, and he worries that all the investment and increases in land value will kill the farming nature of eastern Orangeburg County. “They see what one guy sold 100 acres for, a million dollars, and you think, ‘I’ll just sell mine,’ ” he says.

Shuler says he’s happy that the companies might bring badly needed jobs, but adds, “I’m scared of the Chinese and Arabs” and the change they could bring to this county’s lifestyle.

He gazes across the baseball diamond. He used to play here as a kid. He was catcher. His kids play here.

He built the concession stand for the church baseball diamond without profit.

“Everything is volunteer in these places,” he says. “Things aren’t going to be the same.”

Reward for a lot of work
Robinson smiles a lot when he talks about what’s happening. This is what Orangeburg County has been waiting for forever, he says. And it’s the product of years of work getting money, strong political leadership and cooperation between county, city and town governments to lay down the costly but necessary combination of water, sewer, power, roads, rail access and available land to finally take advantage of the county’s position astride two interstates.

The result is what he calls “fertile soil conditions” — a readiness to plant the seeds of economic growth.

James E. Clyburn, the powerful U.S. House Majority Whip who represents the Orangeburg area in Congress, says the effort really got under way in the early 1990s when he set out with county and community officials to get one thing much of the area lacked: clean drinking water. That led to sewer systems and the other basics that businesses and industry need.

But it also took something outside the county’s control: a surge in international business, which many expect will bring a flood of imports through the Port of Charleston and other nearby ports, bound for cities across the eastern United States. And Orangeburg County sits at the center of that.

For years that position gave this county no advantage. Its list of negatives is long, including a massive economic disparity between its majority black population and minority whites, one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, and poverty gripping more than one in four residents.

While some in the county worry that the newcomers will change the county’s rural character, Robinson disagrees. “We’ve got plenty of land,” he says. Besides — and this is a theme he and his team repeat again and again — “poverty is not acceptable.”

“This is an opportunity for Orangeburg to turn the corner,” he says. “If we fail to deliver, we’re missing a golden opportunity.”

And missing is not an option.

“I want children in Orangeburg County to know that when they finish high school or college, they can stay at home and work,” Robinson says.

Other residents of the county say any change is welcome if they can get good jobs in the county.

That has not been an option for many in Orangeburg who must commute to Columbia or Charleston, each about an hour away.
Marion Cain, 37, a route salesman for Sara Lee, says he would jump at the chance to work in a factory or plant. He’s done it before. The area needs more industry, he says.

Cain’s colleague, Tyrone Johnson, 37, figured that his military training would help him land a good job and support his two sons and daughter. “Family, that’s why I came here,” he says.

His wife has no choice but to commute. She’s a flight attendant based in Charlotte. But the airline allows her to work out of the Columbia airport, a 40-mile drive.

“Coming here, you have to have a plan,” Johnson says. The promise of good jobs from new international businesses could make it a lot easier to call Orangeburg home.

Jessica Roberts, 24, is part of the Gina’s Housekeeping team that cleans the Santee Wire Products facility on Vance Road and other buildings in the county. Surely, new development would bring more work, she says.

“Orangeburg’s been needing change for a long time,” she says. “Orangeburg needs to be really on the map.”

Homer Spencer, 45, fills out a job application at the South Carolina Employment Security Commission. Spencer does a little landscaping and painting work, when he can find it, but wants something steady. He worked part-time for most of last year at Koyo, a bearing manufacturer, but such jobs often are temporary or seasonal. The planned inland port sounds good.
“I’m waiting on that,” he says.

CHRISTOPHER HUFF/T&D
Miller Valentine Group partner Kevin Werner, left, and Orangeburg County Development Commission executive director Gregg Robinson don hardhats as they prepare to break ground for the construction of a new shell building in the Orangeburg County/City Industrial Park Tuesday morning.

As long as there is a demand, they will build.

That is the message Kevin Werner, partner in the Columbia-based development company The Miller-Valentine Group, brought to Orangeburg County officials gathered Tuesday morning for the groundbreaking on a $5 million, 150,000-square-foot speculative building at the Orangeburg County/City Industrial Park.

With the sound of heavy equipment moving dirt in the background, Werner said Orangeburg County has already made a name for itself in the state and nationally with announcements by Jafza International and Monteferro America.

“Orangeburg County is on the map in South Carolina,” Werner said. “Anybody who is considering manufacturing, industrial or commerce in general has to consider Orangeburg. New companies making investments in South Carolina, new companies growing and expanding in South Carolina are all considering Orangeburg County.”

In light of this expected attention, Werner said Miller-Valentine is ready and willing bring buildings to house industry.

“This is one project … but we are here to meet the demand that Orangeburg is seeing,” Werner said. “We will do a second building once we move on, if there is a continued demand.”

The building, which is expandable to 300,000 square feet, will be located on about 21 acres across the street from Allied Air and next door to H.T. Hackney. It is being constructed to give the county an available building to show companies interested in moving into the area. The building is scheduled to be completed in late April or early May.

The building is The Miller-Valentine Group’s first shell building in the park. There is already about 1 million square feet of industrial space throughout the park.

The Miller-Valentine Group is constructing the building with the assistance of the city and county, which own the park. Under a financing agreement, the city and county will pay the interest, or “carrying costs,” of the developer for up to three years if the building does not have a tenant or buyer in the first year.

The county and city will split the costs equally. At the end of the three-year period, the county and city have the option of continuing to pay the carrying costs for three years or purchasing the building.

Orangeburg County Development Commission Executive Director Gregg Robinson said the new building will allow the county to recruit world-class companies.

“This is a very momentous occasion, for it has been quite some time that a speculative building has been in design,” he said.

Robinson said the construction of the building is a testament to the collaborative effort on the part of the city, county and community.

“This again proves that we are ready to take on the global industrial market through a speculative perspective,” he said.

Robinson said, “It is about jobs. This building is about creating opportunity for future Orangeburg as well as South Carolinians in the region. It gives us the go ahead to recruit the world-class companies.”

Werner said the speculative building will be designed to be as “flexible as possible for the end user.”

“Orangeburg County is a market that sets up perfectly for both manufacturing and distribution,” Werner said. “The Global Logistics Triangle will continue to be an area of focus in the global market for companies wishing to invest in South Carolina. This location is a great entry point into the North American market.”

Werner praised Orangeburg County leaders and said the county creates an atmosphere of open arms.

“An industry wants to go where they are accepted,” he said. “You certainly do that here in Orangeburg County.”

Orangeburg County Council Chairman Harry Wimberly noted that not long ago, the industrial park was a soybean field.

“Look at the progress we have made,” he said. “If you want to be big, you have to think big. We are well on our way to being big.”

Wimberly noted that despite having three educational institutions in Orangeburg, the area is often known for its inability to retain individuals after they receive an education.

“I am telling you, no more,” said Wimberly, with a noticeable passion. “We want to keep our folks home and we want to provide the economy, the jobs and the infrastructure that will keep them home so they can grow a family and raise a family here in Orangeburg County. This is the way we do it. We are just touching the tip of the iceberg here today.”

Orangeburg Mayor Paul Miller expressed his excitement that Miller-Valentine has chosen to invest in the region.

“I am looking forward to having this building occupied before they get finished with it so we can move on to another one,” he said. “If you don’t have product to show, it is hard to get a customer to be here.”

A South Carolina State Ports Authority official says Jafza International’s plans to build an logistics, manufacturing and distribution hub in Orangeburg County has further emphasized the need for the Port of Charleston to continue to upgrade and expand its Charleston facilities.

“We are very excited about what that will mean for the port as well as this region,” South Carolina State Ports Authority public relations director Byron Miller told a handful of business and county elected officials at the Orangeburg County Development Commission’s annual board retreat luncheon at the Tourville Lodge Thursday afternoon.

“They are interested in our success. The port expansion of the Navy base is going to be absolutely essential for these projects to continue to move forward. If the port doesn’t grow, these type of projects don’t really have the impact. It is vital we expand. We are aware of it and think it is a great opportunity.”

Jafza, a subsidiary of Dubai World, says it plans to invest $600-700 million in the area to build a logistics, manufacturing and distribution hub that could employ between 8,000 and 10,000. The project is expected to attract about $1.2 billion in private investment. Construction could begin in late 2009.

Earlier this week Applied Technology and Management Inc. announced it would provide program management and development support services for the first phase of the 1,300-acre logistics center. ATM, which is based in Florida, has its largest office in Charleston.

While not getting into details about the nature of the discussions, Miller said the SCSPA’s president and chief executive officer, Bernard Groseclose, has been in close contact with Jafza leadership throughout the company’s interest in the state and Orangeburg County.

“The port plays a key role in international trade and we appreciate them reaching out to us,” Miller said. “As this moves ahead and additional companies locate in South Carolina, in Orangeburg. We need to be ready to serve their needs.”

During a brief question-and-answer session, a question was asked about the Port of Charleston’s relationship and connection with the Jafza project.

“A project of what they are talking about and that name and the significance of this, if this were happening in Chicago or Atlanta, it would be a very big story,” Miller said. “It is happening in Orangeburg, it is happening in South Carolina. This is one of the biggest and the best in the world.”

Miller said there are a number of companies interested in and looking at developing distribution parks … in and around Charleston, in and around this area and all across the state.”

He says industrial parks like the Jafza project are critical to the port in that there are about 700 companies on a daily basis and 1,400 on a less frequent basis that use the port. An inland distribution center would be important for such companies.

“They rely on international suppliers and buyers and they are shipping products through the port,” he said. “That is why there is a need for port expansion.”

Orangeburg County Development Commission Executive Director Gregg Robinson acknowledged the Dubai World Group’s Jafza International’s announcement to invest in Orangeburg would have to be considered one of the biggest announcements not only for South Carolina but for the Southeast.

“One thing that makes it exciting is that all this global logistics attention is making us focus on what we know we need to do,” he said, noting that the county will make it a priority to develop infrastructure, land development and the building of parks.

Miller said Jafza’s plans are not the only thing that points to a need for the port to conduct a multimillion dollar expansion.

The other is the projected continued stress on a port that has seen cargo volume double over the past decade with about 2 million 20-foot equivalent unit containers coming through the port in 2006 alone. Volume over the next 20 years at the Port of Charleston is projected to double.

Trends are for bigger ships that are no longer constrained by using the Panama Canal but have gone to oceans and the Suez Canal, expanding trade and increasing congestion on the West Coast ports, which will open up opportunities for the Port of Charleston.

As a result, the port has recently placed in service four new container cranes totaling about $10 million each.

The port is also expanding at the site of the former Charleston Navy Base, with the first phase of the project costing about $550 million. The expansion would increase the capacity about 50 percent. The first phase should be completed in about five years.

The research phase of the expansion cost about $5 million and consisted of a 5,000-page study.