South Carolina Answers Biopure's Prayers -- Site Selection magazine, January 2002

Crescent Center Adds
to Upstate's Industry Fabric

As in most Southeastern states, the once booming textile industry is slowly fading away in South Carolina. The trick is to find a way to turn a bad situation into something good. Greenville-based Navarro Real Estate has done just that.
Navarro Real Estate joined forces with Atlanta-based Rollins Inc., creating Smith Chapel Holdings, to redevelop the former Fiber Industries facility located at the intersection of Woodruff Road and Interstate 85 in Greenville. The new development will be named The Crescent Center (www.thecrescentcenter.com), and will provide more than 800,000 sq. ft. (74,300 sq. m.) of flexible office and industrial "flex" space upon completion (phase one construction is slated for completion in spring 2002).

The goal of the redevelopment project is to take advantage of the property's flexibility and its superior location by designing a unique class A business park. According to reports by Grubb & Ellis/The Furman Co., more than 600,000 sq. ft. (55,700 sq. m.) of office space was leased to tenants requiring in excess of 35,000 sq. ft. (3,250 sq. m.). Greenville and surrounding areas lack buildings with large floor plates and contiguous space, so larger tenants have no choice but to lease multiple floors that are in many cases not contiguous.

A former fiber plant (top) will be developed
into the mixed-use Crescent Center (below)

    "As a result, you loose efficiencies and end up with higher occupancy costs per employee," explains Marty Navarro of Navarro Real Estate. "The building's high ceilings and open floor plates provide for an easy conversion into flexible workspace. High-density office users will find high parking ratios, while industrial users will benefit from the site's easy truck access and close proximity to two major interstates."
    As proof of the site's flexibility, the building already serves as home to a wide variety of companies, including Operations Associates, Exel Logistics, Grammer Industries, CICC, Contract Interiors, Upstate Alliance, Navarro Real Estate and St. James Capital.
    The center also provides excellent access to labor. Located at the convergence of I-85, I-385 and Woodruff Road, the site draws from a 900,000-population base within a 30-minute drive time. "We feel that the mixed-use environment the Crescent Center has to offer and easy access to major thoroughfares will add to the positive environment and help in the retention of employees," Navarro notes.

But there's more to locating a manufacturing facility for a non-approved product than meets the eye. Sure, work force and infrastructure are important, but David Jarvis, the CB Richard Ellis consultant who acted on behalf of Biopure, saw early on that "the overwhelming consideration for the project was getting capital to build the factory without diluting Biopure's equity. That's always a challenge for startup companies that have to invest very heavily in technology," he explains.
"For most biotech firms coming out of R&D, it's not like financing a project for a Fortune 50 company," agrees Skeeter Powell, manager, Business Development, with Century Contractors, the general contractor for the project. "It requires a little bit of thinking and creativity." Therefore, Jarvis went in search of a location in the contiguous 48 United States that would be able to finance the entire project at a reasonable cost of capital.
The winnowing process began with CB Richard Ellis contacting more that 2,500 economic development groups -- both state and local -- about the
availability of incentives and other financing.