Economic Development

Attractive to business and industry, Orangeburg County is enjoying economic growth. Strategically located between Columbia and the port city of Charleston, Orangeburg County features a strategic location, excellent infrastructure, positive business climate, natural beauty, temperate climate, and enjoyable quality of life. The past five years have proven to be unprecedented in terms of retail expansion. With population increases, a rise in per capita income, aggressive marketing efforts and industrial growth, the future of Orangeburg County is exciting. For six years in a row, Orangeburg County has enjoyed record industrial growth. More than 4,000 new manufacturing jobs have been created in the last six years.

Climate

Market Profile

A demographic profile of the regional market shows the population of Orangeburg in 2000 at 67,326 within a 15-mile radius, and 170,787 within a 30-mile radius.

The population figures of the market area and its environs have been aggregated into three categories representing the ranges of proximity to the City of Orangeburg.

Transportation

Orangeburg County is part of the global economy and is well connected to the rest of the world. Manufacturers and distribution centers have multiple links to primary roadways, quick access to a major seaport, and gateways to international markets via air cargo and commercial flights.

Orangeburg County boasts more than 1,600 miles of highways within its borders, and therefore distinguishes itself from the rest of South Carolina through unparalleled access. In fact, Orangeburg County ranks second in the state in number of highway miles and fourth in the state in number of interstate miles.

Orangeburg County businesses are strategically situated within four hours of three of the fastest growing markets in the Southeast—Atlanta, Charlotte and Jacksonville. Columbia and Charleston, the two largest commercial centers in the state, are reached via Interstates 26 and 95. Those two highways alone offer 10 interchanges throughout Orangeburg County.

Within a 500-mile radius of Orangeburg County are 15 states stretching from Pennsylvania to Florida. These states are home to 32 percent of all U.S. manufacturing facilities and generate 34 percent of total U.S. retail sales. What’s more, they are all easily accessible from Orangeburg County.

Also beneficial to Orangeburg County businesses is the Port of Charleston. This Foreign Trade Zone is only one hour away. Better yet, more than 50 shipping lines serve this leading container port servicing the south Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Orangeburg County offers obvious advantages of rail service. CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railroad provide main line service. Many industrial sites currently are served by rail, and both railroads have intermodal yards near I-26 between Orangeburg and Charleston.

Equally convenient is air transportation, thanks to Orangeburg County’s location between Columbia and Charleston. Columbia Metropolitan Airport, 39 miles from Orangeburg, provides direct flights to major cities throughout the Southeast and connecting flights to other destinations. Charleston International Airport offers direct flights to other major cities along the Eastern seaboard, as well as connecting flights to several major hubs. General aviation service is provided by the Orangeburg Municipal Airport, which can accommodate small corporate jets.

Orangeburg County boasts a “global logistics triangle” to the rest of the world. With the abundance of transportation and distribution availabilities, businesses have numerous options in Orangeburg County.

Highway
Interstate highways       I-95 and I-26 (I-20 & I-77 in Columbia)
U.S. highways              301, 601, 178, 21, 321, 78, 176, 15

Motor Freight
35 motor carriers
One motor freight terminal

Rail
Norfolk Southern (main line)
CSX (main line)

Air
Orangeburg Municipal Airport
Paved 5,401-foot lighted runway.
Columbia Metropolitan Airport
Direct flights to major Southeastern cities. Located 45 minutes away.
Charleston International Airport
Direct flights to major cities on Eastern seaboard. Located one hour away.

Seaports
The Port of Charleston is approximately one hour away and the Port of Savannah is less than two hours away. These ports are among the leading container cargo ports on the south Atlantic & Gulf coasts.

Infrastructure

The City of Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities (DPU), one of the largest municipal utility providers in South Carolina, supplies electrical power to the greater Orangeburg area. DPU has purchased its electricity wholesale from South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G) for approximately 80 years, which has allowed DPU to offer some of the lowest electric rates in South Carolina.

SCE&G is an investor-owned utility that supplies electrical power to some of the small towns and unincorporated areas of Orangeburg County. SCE&G owns and operates Cope Station, a coal-fired electric generating plant near Cope, SC. The company pays approximately $8 million in property taxes annually to Orangeburg County.

Three electric cooperatives also supply power to small towns and unincorporated areas. South Carolina Public Service Authority, better known as Santee Cooper, is the state’s publicly-owned utility which generates power for these local membership cooperatives. Palmetto Economic Development Corporation represents Santee Cooper and the cooperatives in negotiations with industrial clients.

South Carolina Pipeline Corporation, a subsidiary of Columbia, SC-based SCANA Corporation, is the DPU’s wholesale provider of natural gas.

Most communities in Orangeburg County provide municipal water and wastewater services within their town limits. Depending on demand and project feasibility, service may be extended to individual industrial sites near these communities.

DPU provides water and wastewater services to industrial and commercial customers in Orangeburg County. The north fork of the Edisto River serves as the primary source of clean, high-quality water. DPU’s water treatment plant can produce 19 million gallons per day (gpd), and its wastewater treatment plant can process 9 million gpd. Currently, excess water capacity is 7 million gpd and excess wastewater treatment capacity is 4.5 million gpd. DPU is preparing for further growth by building an additional water storage facility capable of holding 4 million gallons.

More than 11 years in the making, the physical plant groundbreaking of the Lake Marion Water Project was held January 2005. Eventually this water system will provide up to 12 million gpd. It will utilize this area’s extraordinary asset, Lake Marion, to bring potable water to communities in Calhoun, Clarendon, Dorchester, Orangeburg and Sumter counties. This is the first key piece in the puzzle that will develop the water and sewer infrastructure that is pivotal to attracting new economic investments needed to create jobs and improve tax bases.

South Carolina is a leader in upgrading its telecommunications infrastructure to meet business needs in the information age. The state’s local telephone companies are collectively investing millions of dollars to install fiber optics and other leading-edge telecommunications technology. Eight telephone companies provide modern telecommunications services in Orangeburg County from 15 central office locations. All of these central offices are equipped with state-of-the-art digital switches to ensure speed, flexibility and reliability for voice, data and video transmissions.

Electricity
City of Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities
Provides electricity, natural gas, water and wastewater services in Orangeburg, the greater Orangeburg metropolitan area and some of the surrounding towns.

Palmetto Economic Development Corporation
Represents Santee Cooper and the three electric cooperatives (Aiken, Edisto and Tri-County Electric Cooperatives) that serve Orangeburg County in marketing to potential industrial customers.

South Carolina Electric & Gas Company
Provides service to small towns and some unincorporated areas of Orangeburg County.

Natural Gas
Available from the City of Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities and South Carolina Electric & Gas Company.

Water & Wastewater Services
City of Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities
Water capacity            19 million gpd
Excess capacity            7 million gpd
Sewer capacity              9 million gpd
Excess cpacity              4.5 million gpd

 
Training and Labor Force

Prepared for the future — that describes the Orangeburg County workforce, which can save your business both time and money.

Competitive advantage in business today belongs to those companies with a well-developed workforce: leaders and first-line supervisors who motivate employees to accomplish the corporate mission, teams throughout a manufacturing site that drive improvement and individual performers with the skills to get the job done today and tomorrow.

Nearly 100,000 potential employees reside within a 30-mile radius of the City of Orangeburg. But quality is far more important than quantity. Graduates from local colleges and vocational schools entering the labor pool are considered highly trainable by local industries.

Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College (OCtech), a comprehensive two-year public institution, provides the resources to identify the skills you and your business team need and the training and education to get them. Since enrolling its first students in 1968, more than 8,956 have graduated from OCtech. The Continuing Education Division of OCtech provides:

• qualified, trained and experienced experts to deliver training in many areas of certification and specialization
• customized training that can be tailored to company-specific needs delivered at your site or on the OCtech campus
• consulting services that address your specific organizational or business need
• online courses that are available in a variety of career fields that provide both maximum flexibility in meeting shift and scheduling challenges, and the skills necessary to acquire or maintain professional positions for in-demand occupations
• WorkKeys® profiling and assessment services to ensure you are hiring and training employees with skills aligned for specific jobs within your business and industry
• National Center for Construction Education Research (NCCER®) accredited training programs in 26 crafts, including electrical, maintenance and instrumentation.

In addition to the programs offered by OCtech, employees in Orangeburg County may seek higher education from South Carolina State University and Claflin University, both located in Orangeburg.
Orangeburg County businesses have yet another advantage — South Carolina’s Center for Accelerated Technology Training (CATT) located on the OCtech campus. Organized to supply a trained workforce for new and expanding companies, the center’s programs are prepared to address the specific needs of individual companies through customized recruiting, testing and training.
CATT’s training programs were featured in the June 2004 issue of The Manufacturer, a trade publication that promotes best practices in the manufacturing industry. The October 2003 issue of Expansion Management magazine ranked the center’s programs No.1 in 15 states for workforce training. CATT’s program received the most votes from the consultants who made site selections and participated in the survey.
The Wall Street Journal recently best described our training philosophy: “South Carolina has committed itself to providing all the hand tools, manuals and classroom facilities that are needed by business in the state ...” Orangeburg County has taken this dedication to training seriously. Our well-trained labor force can save your business both time and money. And, that’s better for everyone’s bottom line. 
 

Available Sites

Orangeburg County is prepared to meet your site selection criteria with numerous available sites, buildings and build-to-suit options throughout the area. Free-standing tracts ranging from four to more than 1,000 acres are available

A 450-acre Class A industrial park strategically located at the intersection of I-26 and U.S. 301, offers all utilities, protective covenants and one-half mile of interstate visibility. Speculative shell buildings and greenfield sites are available. Owned and operated by Orangeburg County and the City of Orangeburg, the park is destined to become the premier industrial park in South Carolina’s midlands.

The John W. Matthews, Jr. Industrial Park is the newest entry in Orangeburg’s extensive portfolio of industrial sites. Located at the intersection of U.S. 176 and U.S. 301, the park is comprised of 556 acres with approximately 335 developable acres of land. This park is located 15 minutes from the I-95/I-26 interchange. It is anticipated that intersection can provide the engine that drives the economy of this region for many years to come.

The South Carolina World Trade Center already has committed to the pursuit of a World Trade Park and is seeking to partner with South Carolina State University to establish and Education Research Center at the site. This proposed development could be the perfect compliment to an inland port and inter-modal facility at this intersection. Other private developers are beginning to express interest in this location as well.

The Orangeburg County Industrial Park, a 93-acre county-owned development located south of the City of Orangeburg is just nine miles from I-26. Twenty-five acres remain available in the park. All improvements and utilities, which are serviced by the City of Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities, are in place. Norfolk Southern’s main line forms the eastern boundary of the park, and the Orangeburg Municipal Airport is easily accessible.
 

Taxes and Incentives

In South Carolina and Orangeburg County, new and expanding business concerns will find a tax structure that favors and supports economic growth. To assure equitable local treatment, the South Carolina Department of Revenue determines the value of taxable real and personal property for manufacturing, distribution, corporate headquarters and corporate office facilities. The assessment rate statewide is 10.5 percent of market value for manufacturer’s real property, while other business real property is assessed at 6.0 percent. Manufacturing and business personal property is assessed at 10.5 percent of depreciated value.

To encourage investment in the state, South Carolina offers a variety of incentive programs to new and expanding industries. Classified as a “least developed” county, Orangeburg County offers maximum benefit for these programs. Job tax credits, job development fees and other bottom line assistance programs carry maximum weight in Orangeburg. In addition, the county has adopted a policy for, and implemented a number of, fee-in-lieu-of tax agreements. If a company qualifies, for five years following start-up, manufacturers are exempt from county ordinary taxes, except school and special purpose taxes. In addition, the exemption can be renewed for an additional five years when plant expansions, add-ons or other improvements exceed $50,000.

Other tax incentives include no tax on intangibles, no inventory taxes and no taxes on goods moving in interstate commerce. Machines used in manufacturing to prevent or abate pollution are exempt from both property and sales taxes. South Carolina also has no wholesale sales tax; electricity and fuel used in manufacturing materials that become an integral part of the finished product are exempt from sales tax.

South Carolina offers corporate income tax credits to companies engaged in manufacturing, processing, warehousing, wholesaling, research and development, and to service-related industries when locating or expanding in the state and creating a minimum number of full-time permanent new jobs.

For More Information Contact

Orangeburg County Development Commission
C. Gregory Robinson – Executive Director
125 Regional Parkway, Suite 100
Orangeburg, SC 29118

             or

P.O. Drawer 1303
Orangeburg, SC 29116
(803) 536-3333
(803) 534-1165 (fax)
www.ocdc.com
grobinson@ocdc.com

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