GSP UPDATES

The Business of Upstate, South Carolina

December 2018 Newsletter

Spartanburg

‘Tis the season of giving…Spartanburg County Foundation announces new $8M Center for Philanthropy.  (GoUpstate)

The Inland Port is expanding and receives $25M from the US DOT. (GSA Business Report)

More industrial spec building near the Inland Port (Greenville Business Magazine) and some in Spartanburg too (UBJ)

A twist of fate…BMW considers second plant in the US to help offset the impact of tariffs and currency fluctuations. (Post and Courier)
See also The BMW Effect -25 years later the auto manufacturing sector makes up about 5% to 7% of the total employment base for SC.  (Greenville Business Magazine)

The 94 year old Montgomery building has reopened (see pics of the inside here – Upstate Business Journal)

The Bigger Picture

Richard Branson’s Virgin Rails USA may be considering an Atlanta to Charlotte rail line…meaning it may make a stop in the Upstate (see page 9, paragraph 2 SEC) Hat Tip to Greenville Business Mag

Hard to believe…The United States has as many as two billion parking spots for about 250 million cars (City Lab)

November 2018 Newsletter

Spartanburg

The Northside continues to gain momentum (Upstate Business Journal)

A new downtown hotel may be in the works (GoUpstate)…but it has already hit a snag with the design and review board. (GoUpstate)

What happened to the Co-op? (GoUpstate)

Greenville

Greenville’s new downtown plan may include an innovation district and more pocket parks. (Greenville Journal)

A town of engineers…

“Today, nearly 11,000 engineers work here in fields including aerospace, agriculture, chemical, mechanical, electrical, nuclear, and biomedical, among multiple others.” (Greenville Business Magazine)

Unity Park is expected to begin construction at the end of 2019.  The first phase of the park is estimated to cost nearly $41.2 million.  (Greenville Journal)

Upstate

Greenville Tech partners with KUKA for robotics training.  (Greenville Business Magazine)

Passenger and Cargo activity hit new highs at GSP, with passenger activity up 10.8% in September – it marked 12 consecutive months of increased traffic and the best September on record.  (Greenville Business Magazine)

The State

Aerospace plays an important role in the state…

Currently, the aerospace cluster maintains an employment multiplier of 2.7. This means that for every 10 jobs created in the aerospace sector in South Carolina, an additional 17 jobs are created elsewhere in the state, Von Nessen says. “That is evidence that the supply chain in South Carolina is continuing to grow and develop.” (Greenville Business Magazine)

What impact will Brexit have on SC?

“I want British business to be thinking Southeast,” Staunton said. “I want them to be thinking South Carolina.” (Post and Courier)

The Bigger Picture

International e-commerce is posed to take off.  (Supply Chain Drive) Could GSP Airport capitalize on this opportunity?

This while the share of global online consumption conducted cross-border is growing at an even faster rate. By 2020, U.S. retailers will sell nearly $485 billion in goods to the world and will buy $140 billion in goods directly from overseas sellers, according to Tompkins International. For context, these totals equal approximately 96% and 27% of projected 2018 total online retail spending in the U.S., respectively….

To satisfy this demand for faster delivery, a growing share of global direct-to-consumer shipping is shifting to air freight….

In the face of terminal (excuse the pun), unresolvable congestion at legacy leading air cargo airports and permanent surging inbound and outbound flow, carriers and their customers will have to establish operations at alternative airports. Centers not thought of as leading air cargo facilities today that choose to invest strategically in building capacity inside and outside airport boundaries can create tremendous opportunities to attract surging demand in the future. (emphasis added)

October 2018 Newsletter

Spartanburg

Recognition for the retired Spartanburg City Manager Ed Memmott.  (GoUpstate)

A new City Manager, Chris Story, begins his job.  (GoUpstate)  See also, the Herald Journal sits down for a talk with Chris Story (GoUpstate) …and the full interview (Facebook Live)

David Brooks of the New York Times visits and writes about the Spartanburg Academic Movement (S.A.M.) – (Hat Tip to J.P. for sending this one to me.)
“Our actual lives are influenced by millions of events that interact in mysterious ways. And when life is going well it’s because dozens of influences are flowing together and reinforcing one another. SAM tries to harness those dozens of influences.”…”Building working relationships across a community is an intrinsically good thing. You do enough intrinsically good things and lives will be improved in ways you can never plan or predict. This is where our national renewal will come from.” (NYTimes)

Improvements are in the works for the Southside.  (Shelby Star)

Broadwalk renovations are almost complete downtown.  (GoUpstate)

The Montgomery Building gets ready for its first residents to move in.  (GoUpstate)

Greenville

Knox White, Greenville’s mayor for the past 23 years, reflects on the transformation of his city. (Greenville Business Magazine)

Across the State

David Britt talks tariffs and international trade with Kai Ryssdal of Marketplace.  (Marketplace.org)

The Inland Port in Greer celebrates its fifth year of operations and the State Ports Authority is planning an expansion – building a chassis yard on property that was purchased last year. This will free up space for more containers to be stored at the Spartanburg cargo terminal.  (Post and Courier)

Charleston Airport announced that British Airways will begin nonstop flights (twice a week until Oct 24, 2019) to and from London beginning April 4. (The State)

Entertainment

Chef Josh Thomsen, who worked with Thomas Keller at The French Laundry, has joined Rick Erwin’s Eastside on Pelham Road.  (Greenville Journal)

Greenville is a Foodie town.  Here’s a bit of history. BTW, restaurant spending in the area tops $490 million annually (Greenville Business Magazine)

The Bigger Picture
Here is a map of every building in America.  Its interesting to see how cities differ in their development and how natural resources like rivers and mountains have impacted where we build.  Try zooming in on the Upstate.  (NY Times)