Kevin Boozer
Staff Writer
RIDGEWAY — Fairfield County held a ribbon cutting Monday for its newest speculative building, a 75,000-square-foot structure in the Walter Brown II Industrial Park.
The site had been graded with an expansion pad to make the facility up to 150,00 square feet. With 30-foot clearance ceilings, this facility can be used to recruit a variety of manufacturers to the county.
Those specifications were plans the county was advised to follow to make the building as desirable as possible to new industry. With a final cost of $2.4 million, the building has already been shown to a few prospective businesses before its grand opening, in fact.
Maceo Nance, director of Small Business and Rural Development for the S.C. Department of Commerce, said that the majority of inquiries to the department are from businesses looking for available space to move into quickly.
He said the newest industrial park is shaping up to be a key asset not just for Fairfield but for all of South Carolina, a project that he believes will pay dividends.
“Fairfield is doing all the right things,” Nance said. “This (today) is a testament to time. Congratulations because you have a continued vision that lots of folks are paying attention to.”
He pointed out the drawings of the building to people, the view and its unique facade and windows as selling points for the county.
This is part of a long term economic growth plan for the county. Fairfield County sold a speculative building for profit and those profits were used to fund another speculative building, this one. Fairfield County economic development leaders plan to use the funds from the newest speculative building to fund another building project once this facility becomes occupied.
“We plan to be here at the other end of the (development tunnel) with the product to put folks to work,” County Council Chairman David Ferguson said.
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