A recent article, Charleston Business Magazine took a look at the new Beaufort County Economic Development Corporation’s early success and the county’s balancing the scale between industry and conservation as a top priority.
Beaufort County’s hospitality and tourism industries rely on preserving the area’s pristine natural surroundings to maintain a regional economic impact of $1.5 billion while welcoming more than 3 million visitors each year, the article said.
While coastal tourism is a strong economic driver for the area, Beaufort is also benefiting from being situated between Savannah and Boeing’s North Charleston operations. This means companies in the aerospace supply chain looking to service manufacturers in both neighboring metropolitan areas look to Beaufort County as a nice spot to locate.
John O’Toole, executive director of the newly established Beaufort County Economic Development Corporation, told the magazine that the county brought in around $40 million in new capital investments over the last nine months and are on track to reach their goal of $50 million by June.
“The projects that we are attracting in Beaufort are small to midsize companies that slot into Beaufort creating great employment opportunities, expanding and diversifying the tax base, but don’t dramatically change the landscape of what we all love in Beaufort County,” O’Tools said.
In the development corporation’s first full year of operation, they have welcomed the creation of 313 new local jobs created in the area—far surpassing their initial goal of 200. Part of their strategy has been leveraging the work done by the local destination marketing organizations to help spread the word about Beaufort.
“We have a lot of attention right now,” says O’Toole. “South Carolina obviously has been a really hot economy. Beaufort has been a little slow in getting in the game, but I would say with all of our towns’ and county’s backing, we’re getting our message out.”
One goal, according to O’Toole, is working closely with the area’s underserved populations, particularly the Gullah community, African-American community, and the Hispanic community, to make sure everyone enjoys a good quality of life.
Military veterans important key
The bulk of the attention that Beaufort County is receiving from employers is largely attributed to one local group….veterans. With 1,000 to 1,200 exiting military members in Beaufort County annually, many of whom choose to stay, investors are taking notice.
“Employers are looking at Beaufort County with a keener eye because of our exiting military. It’s not just the exiting military, but it’s the fact that we team up with the Technical College of the Lowcountry and USC Beaufort to track the military and their dependents in their programs,” O’Toole explains.
In the last nine months, Lockheed Martin began the process of hiring 78 new employees in Beaufort County, bringing the count to more than 200 employed at their facility on the local Marine Corps Air Station.
Meanwhile, the Beaufort County Economic Development Corporation is working with Samet Corp. to develop a 50,000 square-foot spec building located in Beaufort’s Commerce Park that will break ground later this year.
