Carolina Bound

South or North, the Carolinas continue to combine the best of Southern lifestyle and East Coast commerce. And much of that momentum continues to find its shining example in the Research Triangle area.
        One key, of course, is the ties established between corporate operations and the research-rich environments at Duke University, the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University. In 2002, for instance, Duke alone realized corporate research contributions of $110 million, and had 700 different agreements with corporations.
        One corporation locating not far away from there, in Sanford, is Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which will be adding 350 employees as part of a 115,000-sq.-ft. (10,684-sq.-m.) expansion that is a consolidation of vaccine plants in Sanford and New Jersey.
        Beer distributor Harris Wholesale, in Raleigh since 1949, cited those very roots in its decision to invest $13 million in a new facility on a 20-acre (8.1-hectare) site in Walnut Creek Business Park, even though Garner, N.C. offered a better site price.
        "Local government and business organization leaders were very helpful in bringing this deal together," says Andrew Kelton, senior vice president of Duke Construction, which will complete the facility by April 2004. The Harris facility will consist of 40,000 sq. ft (3,716 sq. m.) of corporate office space and about 110,000 sq. ft. (10,219 sq. m.) of controlled environment warehouse space. Situated on 93 acres (37.6 hectares), the park is master-planned to accommodate more than 1 million sq. ft. (92,900 sq. m.) of industrial and office space.
        With its planned $8-million, 400-job investment in corporate administrative offices in Cary, German semiconductor firm Infineon will be the first candidate to benefit from the state's new job grant program, which is based on state income tax revenue from companies. In Infineon's case, around 65 percent of employee income taxes will be redirected back to the company. The rationale for such legislation was based on long-term benefits derived from such a location — in this case, a $620-million increase in gross state product and a tax revenue boost of $10.3 million over the 11-year grant period.
        As an analysis of new metros by Moran, Stahl and Boyer points out, triads like Greensboro-Winston-Salem, N.C., have grown enough to bolster both their individual identities and their interdependence. Winston-Salem, through the Piedmont Triad Partnership, is exerting itself to attract biotechnology and medical technologies, but meanwhile the old traditions are thriving. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, which just built a manufacturing facility in Illinois, is planning to occupy a $60-million headquarters complex downtown. In a community-focused real estate arrangement that is beginning to pop up in other cities as well, the complex is owned and operated by Unity Development, a not-for-profit arm of the N.C. School of the Arts, and will include a performing arts center and condos in addition to the headquarters.
        One project just over the North Carolina horizon is a potential $80-million, 65-job expansion by Energizer in Asheboro, which hinges in part on passage of a $1.27-million incentive package from the city and Randolph County. The company already is the largest employer in the county, with more than 1,100 employees working at two battery plants.
        In Wilson County, adjacent to the aforementioned Greenville in Eastern North Carolina, BB&T Corp. is building a $12-million, 100,000-sq.-ft. (9,290-sq. m.) loan processing facility that will employ 300 by 2006.
        That same industry sector is finding a home in the Palmetto State as well. In Florence, S.C., Atlanta-based Assurant Group is opening a $14-million, 560-new-job flood and insurance tracking center, consisting of two owned 50,000-sq.-ft. (4,645-sq.-m.) buildings that the company hopes to fully occupy by the end of 2003. The move is a significant expansion of the Fortis division's existing 135-person facility in the city, and joins a network of three others in Georgia, Ohio and California. And once again, among the criteria directing the choice was client proximity.
        New entries on South Carolina's growing menu of business parks along the coast are the 900-acre (364-hectare) Georgetown County Business Industrial Park, halfway between Charleston and Myrtle Beach; the 1,600-acre (648-hectare) Buzz Aldrin Business & Technology Park near the I-95 and I-26 interchange; the 460-acre (186-hectare) Gateway Industrial Park just south of the North Carolina border on I-95; and the 1,000-acre (405-hectare) Lowcountry Regional Industrial Park near Yemassee on I-95.
        Spartanburg's identity continues to define itself with new opportunities (see sidebar, p. 458). Much of that opportunity is related to German automotive firm BMW, but not all of it is. In April, Chicago-based R.R. Donnelley & Sons announced it will invest $75 million in a 150,000-sq.-ft. (13,935-sq.-m.) expansion of its printing plant. The growth will encompass two new printing presses and several dozen new jobs. The Spartanburg County Council approved a fee-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement in February 2002 that would allow the company to pay taxes based on a 6-percent assessment ratio of its property. The standard assessment rate for industrial property is 10 percent.