(Lexington) Bulldozers and trucks are leveling the land near I-20 and
Highway 6 in Lexington County. It's an industrial area, but the work is
clearing the way for an interchange, not a business.
Construction work for new industry has become something of a rarity in
Lexington and many other South Carolina counties. Lexington Economic
Development Director Tammy Coghill says it's still hard to get companies
to commit, "What we're seeing, unfortunately, is there is a drop-off,
not necessarily of interest, but of decision-making on the company
side."
Lexington County can claim just one major industrial recruitment success
this year. Call Tech is a customer service call center that opened
earlier this year in the St. Andrews area. The company is based in
Columbus, Ohio.
The Lexington County operation has 380 employees, which is more than
originally expected. General Manager Brad Keckler says Call Tech could
add another 120 workers by the end of the year, "We've been very pleased
with the response that we've had. The people that we've been able to
recruit are high quality, high caliber people."
Lexington had been counting the SwanSeanic call center in Swansea as the
county's other significant industrial expansion for 2003. Work has never
begun on the project and the 200 jobs it was supposed to provide.
South Carolina business leaders often point to BMW in Greer as one of
the state's biggest industrial wins. Coghill says with the nation's
economy still in recovery, state and local economic developers are
looking for much smaller victories, "While it's wonderful to be able to
announce a new relationship with a company, it's ever important for us
to continue to concentrate on the businesses that are here, listen to
what their needs are, and be ready to respond when they're looking at
expanding."
Coghill says Lexington used to average six or eight business expansion
announcements a year. The challenge for cities and counties now is to
prevent job losses. That's not easy in a state that's had to write off
almost 19,000 manufacturing jobs alone in just the past year.
