North Carolina

It's been built up as the model for 25 years now, and Research Triangle Park just continues to be the one to emulate.
        "We have expanded globally and in RTP, where we have been pleased to work with Governor Easley and other state and business leaders over the last seven years to invest $300 million and create more than 300 jobs," said Biogen President and CEO James C. Mullen in May at a dedication celebration for the company's $173-million large-scale manufacturing plant and a 150,000-sq.-ft. (13,935 sq.-m.) laboratory and office building.
        Nearby, Eisai recently broke ground for an 80,000-sq.-ft. (7,432-sq.-m.) expansion of its pharmaceutical operation, growing ahead of schedule.
        But all is not sweetness and light in the high-tech sector. In a move similar to the Clearfield, Pennsylvania, advanced manufacturing work force offering itself as a commodity, a $50-million, 300,000-sq.ft. (27,870-sq.-m.) facility on 50 acres (20 hectares) in Laurinburg, North Carolina is being offered by the Laurinburg-Scotland County Chamber of Commerce free of charge. The drastic action is being taken in order to speed the replacement of Abbott Laboratories, the departure of which left behind a 1,000-member work force.
        Sandusky Athol, a maker of fabrics for the transportation market, is bucking the textile trend and adding 75 jobs in a $6-million expansion in Butner. Like many companies seeking to consolidate, the apparel unit of Sara Lee Corp. is doing so by picking one place, in this case Winston-Salem, to do some growing. In May, the company revealed plans for a $35-million, three-building campus that will total 638,000 sq. ft. (59,270 sq. m.). Further automotive-related development is taking place in High Point, where Thomas Built Buses will invest $39.7 million in a new 250,000-sq.-ft. (23,225-sq.-m.) manufacturing plant that will employ 178 when it opens in 2004. The company already occupies 850,000 sq. ft. (78,965 sq. m.) of manufacturing and corporate headquarters space in High Point.
        A $6-million expansion by Black & Decker and a $4-million location by Cedar Creek Fibers are among recent announcements adding to the economic pace set by Cumberland County.
        Offering opportunity to prospects is the fact that the Carolinas combined have the highest unemployment rate of the South Atlantic states, with 6.6 percent in North Carolina and 6 percent in South Carolina as recently as this spring, indicating the presence of available and affordable labor.

South Carolina

Yes, the port city of Charleston (home of minor league baseball's RiverDogs) is battling with South Atlantic rivals Savannah, Ga. (Sand Gnats), and Jacksonville, Fla. (Suns), for a purported $700-million, 3,000-employee DaimlerChrysler van assembly facility.
        But while that game moves into the late innings, DaimlerChrysler's Freightliner truck division has already made the move to re-open a plant in the city, spending $12-15 million on a new building and equipment in making the move from Cleveland, N.C. The division subsidiary, American LaFrance, will begin operations with 210 employees, and with an expected ambulance expansion, hopes to employ 800 by November 2003.
        The customs district of Charleston ranks No. 6 in the nation in international shipments value, with cargo worth some $33 billion annually.
        Port projects underway include a $150-million Charleston harbor deepening project begun in 1999, a $300-million near-term capital expansion program to improve productivity and utilization and a new marine terminal.
        Ten-year-old CropTech Corp., a biotech firm working on therapeutic uses for tobacco, began construction in June on a $40-million, 115,000-sq.-ft. (10,684-sq.-m.) facility in the Mt. Holly Business Park in North Charleston, expected to employ 40 at the outset and 110 by 2004.
        "CropTech's supply of expanded manufacturing capacity is bound to attract many additional biotech companies as production partners and serve as a magnet for such firms to join us in South Carolina, in order to access our crucial services," said Robin Radin, president & CEO."
        The southernmost Carolina won out over its northern rival in luring Japanese home and automotive textile firm Kawashima to Wateree, near Columbia, where it will locate its first American facility and employ 100.
        Meanwhile, the fortuitously-named town of Prosperity is seeing a former textile plant converted to a dough and baked goods plant for Texas-based C.H. Guenther & Son, which will spend $32 million on a 227,000-sq.-ft. (21,088-sq.-m.) facility that will employ 90 at the outset when it opens late this year.