Orangeburg County breaks ground for western spec building

A former sorghum farm was selected from among 10 sites. The 230-acre park is located north of Neeses, next to S.C. Highway 389 and U.S. Highway 321.

It was favored because of its S.C. Highway 389 frontage, its rail access and the heavy car and truck traffic that uses the route from Charleston to Atlanta.

There has been no structural or building development at the Western Orangeburg County Industrial Park – until now.

County and local leaders gathered Thursday morning to break ground on a $4.4 million, 50,000-square-foot industrial speculative building. Spec buildings are built without a customer in mind, but with the expectation they can be filled later.

“What I am going to make sure that happens in this district is that we grow,” Orangeburg County Councilman Joseph Garvin said at the ceremony. He represents District 4.

“This is a growing period, so we are planting a seed today so that it can flourish to make things happen on the western end of the county,” he said.

The building will be placed on about 11 acres. Irmo-based Pyramid Contracting LLC is going to construct the building.

It will be the first speculative building at the industrial park.

Construction is expected to end in August 2024.

“I am very excited about this particular day,” Neeses Mayor Kenneth Gleaton said.

Town residents have asked when activity would begin at the industrial park, Gleaton said. “We are really glad to see this. I think the building itself will have an impact.”

He noted that local businesses should see an increase in business during construction.

“That will be a plus for the town itself. We are excited about the future and the impact it might have on this area,” he said.

North Mayor-Elect Jeffrey Washington said the speculative building will only mean good things for residents of North. North is about six miles from the park.

“I think it will mean a whole lot to the county,” Washington said. “It is a nice building coming up and there will a lot of jobs in the future for some of the citizens of North and Neeses and Norway. It is going to help out a whole lot.”

“I am hoping that this will bring some new residents to North to live,” Washington continued.

Other mayors in attendance included current North Mayor Julius Jones, Livingston Mayor Bobby Gordon and Norway Mayor Lynn Garrick.

Orangeburg County Development Commission Vice Chairman Joey Williamson said the area was chosen for its access to the CSX main line rail.

He said rail can be taken to the Cayce, South Carolina’s switching yard, and sent to all of the 48 contiguous United States.

“It can go anywhere,” Williamson said.

Williamson said the property is also a good location for trucking goods.

“This is the shortcut from I-26 back to I-20,” he said. “It saves them (truckers) 45 minutes to an hour.”

Despite being an attractive logistical location, Williamson said industries like to have interstate access as well.

“We should have had I-77 coming through here and that didn’t happen,” Williamson said, reflecting on when the interstate system was built.

He said the original plan was to have I-77 run through Charlotte, Columbia and into Savannah, Georgia. The state did not accept the federal funds at the time to build it.

Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said the development of the spec building has been a long time coming.

“This is hopefully the next step in having jobs – local jobs. Jobs so that we can have our children graduate and continue to live right here in this community and work right here,” Hutto said. “That is what this is all about.”

“We are building the building to build for our future,” Hutto continued. “The dirt you see over there right now, it really represents our future. It represents the future for our children and our grandchildren.”

Hutto said the funding for the building construction comes from the state’s legal settlement with the U.S. Department of Energy related to the Savannah River Site.

Hutto explained that at the end of the World War II, a bomb manufacturing plant was built in the Aiken, Barnwell and Allendale county areas. It’s now known as the Savannah River Site.

“Citizens from the western end of Orangeburg County answered the call to go and work in that bomb factory,” Hutto said. “Those are the people who won the Cold War. It collapsed the Soviet Union because of their hard work.”

“It was the workers in this area that worked in that factory,” Hutto continued. “It was this area that was impacted.”

Eventually, the bomb plant closed down, leaving people without jobs and leaving behind waste.

Hutto said the state then entered into negotiations with the federal government to remove the waste, but the federal government decided the area would be good for plutonium processing. The plans were to process the plutonium at the plant and then ship it to an isolated area in Nevada.

The project fell through, requiring South Carolina to store the plutonium, Hutto said.

The state sued the federal government and was able to achieve a settlement of $600 million, or $525 million after attorney fees. The federal government has until 2037 to remove 34 tons of plutonium from the site.

Of the $525 million, Orangeburg County received $6.2 million.

Hutto said the speculative building will be paid for with the settlement money based on a formula of how many workers from the western part of the county still commute to the Savannah River site.

“I wanted to make sure money went back into the western Orangeburg County,” Hutto said.

The county also used about $500,000 to purchase about 84 acres of land near North for future economic development. Money will also go to Holly Hill for its services center renovation and for a sewer project on Hidden Valley and Essex Road near the Hillcrest Golf Course.

OCDC Chairman Kenneth Middleton said county economic development officials are “working like crazy people to try to bring progress to this area.”

“I smell progress,” Middleton said. “Sometimes vision is beyond the scope of others who don’t know what working in the vineyard would do. Through the able leadership of our council, they have given us a mandate to go forward and make progress.”

“There will be other days out there,” Middleton said. “I promise you that is the case.”

“We are always grateful for the opportunity when we see progress being made in our county,” Orangeburg County Council Chairman Johnnie Wright Sr. said, thanking all those who have been involved in the project.

“In Orangeburg County, we have an opportunity to keep growing,” he said.