Lowe's Corp. opened the first phase of its new corporate campus in Mooresville in December. This facility is home to about 1,300 employees of the home improvement retailer.

Lowe's Campus Becoming A Magnet
For Suppliers

Lowe's Companies, the second largest home improvement retailer, opened the first phase of its new corporate campus near I-77 in Mooresville in September 2003. The first facility, a 400,000-sq.-ft. (37,160-sq.-m.) structure the company describes as its Customer Support Center, is home to 1,300 employees, many moving from the company's long-time headquarters in North Wilkesboro.

More Recent South Carolina Expansions         Safe Auto Insurance Co., an insurer of high-risk drivers, plans a new call center in Williamsburg County that will create 200 to 250 jobs.         Johnson Controls is expanding its car battery component operation in West Union. An investment of up to $20 million will add 50,000 sq. ft. (1,450 sq. m.) and create about 45 jobs. The company recently made a similar investment in a battery component plant in Red Oak, Iowa.         Sterilite Corp. of Townsend, Mass., plans a new manufacturing and distribution center in Clinton that will initially create 200 jobs and may grow to 600 in a few years. The company, which is the largest independent producer of plastic products for the home, anticipates a $65-million capital investment.         Westinghouse Electric Co. will invest approximately $35 million in the manufacture of boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel at its fuel fabrication facility in Columbia. Expansion should begin in September 2004 with completion in 2005.

        While various published reports have the complex eventually growing to 1.2 million sq. ft. (111,480 sq. m.), company spokeswoman Chris Ahearn says plans call for an eventual development of a campus, but future growth will be on an as-needed basis. Estimates place eventual employment at the 175-acre (71-hectare) site at 8,000.
        Meanwhile, Lowe's vendors are already lining up to locate nearby. Melanie O'Connell Underwood, executive director of economic development for the Mooresville/South Iredell Chamber of Commerce, estimates 300 to 400 of the company's vendors may eventually move some type of operation to the area.
        "We're expecting a lot, but it won't be a mad rush all at once," says Bob Palmes, vice president of business development for G.L. Wilson Building Co. in Statesville. G.L. Wilson is building a $1.5 million, 21,300-sq.-ft. (1,978 sq. m.) building for DDP Holdings Inc., a company whose subsidiaries supply store racks and displays for Lowe's. "Vendors like to be close or at least have an office close."