Lowcountry lets businesses lead the high life

If you are looking for a blend of business opportunity and quality of life, you are looking for Beaufort County – and the Beaufort Commerce Park has a space reserved just for your company.

The Beaufort Commerce Park is the county’s premier industrial location. Boasting about 175 developable acres for light to moderate industry, the park offers some of the highest land elevations in this South Carolina county.

The Beaufort Commerce Park is currently home to sophisticated industry, including Parker-Hannifin Corporation and Flint Ink Corporation. The park is strategically positioned about 1.5 miles from U.S. Highway 21, a four-lane highway offering a direct connection to the county’s major transportation corridors, U.S. Highway 17 and Interstate 95.

In fact, I-95 – the main north-south transportation corridor on the East Coast – is only about 20 miles from the park. In terms of accessibility, the Commerce Park offers unfettered entrance from two, two-lane highways with 66-foot right-of-ways – and there are no structures with weight restrictions between the Commerce Park and U.S. Highway 21.

“In Beaufort, business is good and life is better,” says Kim Statler, executive director of the Lowcountry Economic Network. “People come to this area to vacation at Hilton Head Island, but it’s also home to high-energy professionals who live, work and retire. Many of them vacationed here before deciding to relocate their corporations to this area.”

Since the park is located near a military base, Statler notes, companies located at the park enjoy access to a highly skilled workforce of exiting military personnel and their spouses. That ensures companies in the park of a talented labor force that keeps replenishing itself year after year.

In terms of technology and telecommunications services, the Beaufort Commerce Park boasts telecom services by Embarq, digital switching capability, fiber optic cable service, and high-speed DSL broadband.

Utility-wise, South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G) provides electrical service to the park, with transmission lines located less than one mile north. A substation strategically located adjacent to the site is capable of providing three-phase power and two-way feed capabilities are possible for locating industry. An eight-inch natural gas transmission line is located one mile north of the park.

Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority (BJWSA) provides on-site water and sewer services, including site-by-site tap-in accessibility, to the park. The Lowcountry Economic Network recently installed a 10-inch water line into the park’s perimeter. Potable water infrastructure delivers water to the site via a 16-inch line, providing about 1,881 gallons each minute. There is also a 200,000-gallon water storage tank located within a mile and a half from the park, bringing excess water capacity to 5 MGD. The park also features two wastewater pump stations with corresponding force mains and two separate gravity collection systems. The plant has allocated capacity of 3.2 MGD with excess capacity of 1.6 MGD.

“This is precious land,” Statler says. “It’s the only existing industrial property in the entire county. The Beaufort Commerce Park has all the amenities and infrastructure necessary to support a light industrial operation.”

The park is certified through the South Carolina Department of Commerce. Certification of the site includes completion of preliminary environmental studies, wetlands delineation and certification, endangered species and archeological investigation, aerial photography and geotechnical studies.

Beaufort County has optimum sites available for industrial and corporate relocation and expansion. For more information about Beaufort County and the Commerce Park, contact the Lowcountry Economic Network at 843-379-3955, e-mail jbridges@lowcountrynet.org or visit www.lowcountrynet.org.