Attracting jobs gets tougher

Regional Development Alliance copes with nation's economic realities
By Katy Stech (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Colorado-based WellDyneRX liked what it saw in the Charleston economy.

While scoping out potential sites for a $20 million, 670-worker business expansion to sort and mail medications, company officials said they were impressed with the local labor costs and the availability of skilled workers.

Plus, they found a building that met their tricky real estate requirements in North Charleston's Remount Business Park.

But it wasn't enough to win the company over in the end. WellDyne said Monday that it opted for a competing site in Lakeland, Fla., putting it closer to distribution companies it already works with closely.

"Charleston did an admirable job," said John Krug of Charlotte-based Development Advisors, a site-selection consulting firm that assisted WellDyne in its search.

It's inevitable in the economic development business that one location loses a big employment prospect to another. But the loss of this particular company stings because the Charleston region has had so few job announcements this year.

So far in 2008, just two companies have announced plans to open or expand local operations with the help of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, which markets the three counties as a business destination.

2AM Group LLC, a technical support company that works with the BMW manufacturing plant in the Upstate, launched a 50-worker operation in North Charleston, while Cummins Turbo announced plans to add 100 jobs and invest $11 million in new machinery at its turbocharger assembly plant off Ladson Road.

At the current pace, 2008 could mark the slowest year for the alliance in recent memory as measured by the number of new jobs, the amount of money invested and the number of announcements.

David T. Ginn, the alliance's chief executive officer, said the uncertainties in the financial and energy markets and in the overall economy have forced many companies to re-evaluate their expansion and spending plans.

"Businesses are obviously very cautious with what's going on in the world," Ginn said.

Companies that the alliance has assisted have created an average of almost 1,200 jobs annually for the local economy over the past decade, according to the North Charleston-based group's figures.

The slowdown comes as unemployment is on the rise. In July, the jobless rate for the Charleston region increased to 6 percent compared to 5.4 percent in June and 4.7 percent in July 2007.

Still, alliance officials estimate that they are working with about 15 business prospects on expansion projects that could solidify in the next 90 days. In each of those instances, Charleston is competing only against either one or two other sites, Ginn said.

"It's increased in the last four to six weeks," he said. "We've seen a substantial increase in new projects that have come onto our books. ... That's obviously a very good sign."

The alliance has altered its strategy to keep pace with the changing times, Ginn said.

For example, it is investing more resources to make its Web site more effective and useful. And its marketing efforts are now focused more on the site-selection consultants who advise companies like WellDyne rather than industry trade shows.

The group also continues to pitch success stories about the Charleston economy to an array of publications that reach corporate decision-makers, Ginn said.

Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postandcourier.com