GSP UPDATES

The Business of Upstate, South Carolina

January 2019 Newsletter

The Upstate

Not just passing through anymore – tourists spent a record $278 million in Spartanburg County last year, up almost $90 million from five years ago.  Also, hotel room growth is up 23% in the last two years.  (Post and Courier)

A guide to Greenville, complete with event calendar (p 70).  I’ll bet you find something in this guide you didn’t know about. I liked the Gateway Walks, starting on page 84 – clever way to showcase the city.  (Community Journals via Issuu)

Is there still hope for the Bass Pro Shop in Greer? (Greenville News)

New solar projects planned in Spartanburg county. (Greenville Business Magazine)

BMW begins building the new X7 at the Spartanburg plant. (UBJ)

Below the radar…Mid-size companies are a significant part of the state’s economy. (Greenville Business Magazine)

Back story to the GVL’s County Square Development Team. (UBJ)

Greenville Business Magazine lists 50 influential people from the region. (GBM)

Passenger and Cargo traffic continues to rise at GSP International Airport. (UBJ)

Spartanburg Regional buys Mary Black. (GSA Business Report)

A survey shows 75% of downtown Spartanburg businesses reported increased revenues over the past 3 years. (WSPA)

The State

Alarming…
“Since 2008, South Carolina saw its total student loan debt increase by 315%, growing from $5.5 billion to $23 billion.” (Experian) H/T GVL Today Newsletter

The State Ports Authority enjoyed its third consecutive year of record containerized cargo growth in 2018 – 6.8 percent (Post and Courier)  Also, it is considering a plan to use barges to move containers.  (Post and Courier)

See also, BMW may ship partially assembled cars in containers to South Africa, China and Thailand. (Post and Courier)

C&M Hog Farm opens a transload facility at Inland Port Dillon…a good example of how the inland port system could support state agriculture. (Progressive Rail Roading)

Automotive gets a lot of attention, but Aerospace is a big hitter too – adding $14.1 billion to the state’s GDP.  (Greenville Business Magazine)

The Bigger Picture

How to fund Land Banks (ShelterForce)

Wearables appear to be catching on.  Apple reported 50% year-over-year growth in these types of devices, driven by the popularity of the Apple Watch and AirPods among holiday shoppers.  (Apple)

Thanks for reading!

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)

September 2018 Newsletter

Opportunity Zones (or O-zones) are a hot topic lately.  Forbes has a good write up featuring Senator Scott (Charleston) who was a co-sponsor of the Investing in Opportunity Act.  The act provides tax incentives for investors and corporations to invest in these defined zones.  We have a few in the Upstate.  An historic mill in Greer could be one of the first beneficiaries of the new program. (UBJ)

Mauldin is booming. Since 2016, construction spending has increased 150 percent to more than $46 million with no end in sight. (Greenville Journal)

Spartanburg’s minority business accelerator is set to begin its first program in October.  The program offers business training, mentoring, networking and potential access to capital.  (GoUpstate)

The city of Greenville buries its power lines.  (Greenville Journal)

 

Automotive

Mercedes-Benz opens $500 million Sprinter plant in North Charleston and lands a deal to build 20,000 vans for Amazon. (Autoblog)

Volvo Cars, which has a plant near Ridgeville, SC, is asking for an exemption to tariffs on a mid-size SUV it imports to the U.S. from China. (Post and Courier)

 

Logistics

Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport breaks ground on a $30 million warehouse and expanded apron.  It can currently accommodate only one 747-800 at a time on its cargo apron. The expansion will increase the capacity to three.  The airport has moved from No. 84 to 72 on the Federal Aviation Administration’s list ranking airport cargo data.  (GSA Business)

The Port of Charleston set an all time container cargo record.  This can mainly be attributed to larger ships traveling from Asia to East Coast ports via the expanded Panama Canal.  (Post and Courier)

 

Tech

SeeDaten relocates to the Spark Center.
“SeeDaten partnered with Germany-based IOXP (Input Output of Experience) to deliver reality, augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) learning and process analysis software and techniques to automotive OEM/Tier 1 manufacturing, healthcare/nursing — clinical/academia, equipment manufacturing and technical services, and manufacturing industries.” (Union Daily Times)

Boeing is testing exoskeleton vests to assist workers. (Post and Courier)

 

Food and Entertainment 

Gather GVL (a food hall constructed of shipping containers) announces four more tenants and breaks ground at 126 Augusta Road.  (UBJ)

Owners of the Streatery food truck (Spartanburg) will open a brick-and-mortar restaurant at 401 E. Kennedy St. in the site formerly occupied by The Farmer’s Table.  (GoUpstate)

Rick Erwin Dining Group is opening a new seafood restaurant at Haywood Mall.  (UBJ)

Greenville has a new professional soccer team.  (Greenville Journal)