Technology park planned for tract in Berkeley County

In the ongoing effort to attract high-tech, high-wage jobs to the Charleston area, local officials are looking to create a technology park on a small piece of marshfront land in Berkeley County.

Berkeley County and city of Charleston officials said the Charleston Regional Technology Campus would be established on a 19-acre tract near the intersection of Clements Ferry Road and the Mark Clark Expressway. A public-private initiative, the developers would pay about $4.2 million to buy the land and address some infrastructure needs, officials said. The city and Berkeley County would chip in $350,000 each. The rest would come from state funds and private sources.

The idea is to create a campus-like environment for technology companies. Officials would only allow technology-related companies to build on the campus. Already, two unidentified companies are looking to move into the park. Officials believe others will follow. As more companies move in, land would be sold, repaying the city and county investment and perhaps providing more money to invest in a similar fashion, officials said.

"This property is going to go up in value, no question about that," said Berkeley County Supervisor Jim Rozier, who attended Tuesday's meeting of Charleston City Council to talk about the project. Ernest Andrade, director of the Charleston Digital Corridor, would not say how interested the companies are in moving there. He did, however, say he was confident that "we will be under way by the end of '03."

The campus has been in the works behind the scenes for more than a year and there is said to be intense interest in the project from the state level on down. Plans are in the works to build similar technology parks near Clemson University and the University of South Carolina. Any profits that the public-sector partners earn could be used to keep the price of land low, making it more attractive to other high-tech employers. Also, the money could be used to fund other economic development initiatives. "It gives you more flexibility in recruiting," said Bill Harrison, a developer who is involved in the Charleston project.

Local and state officials have been eager to attract high-tech firms and nurture those that grow out of research done at the state's major research institutions, including the Medical University of South Carolina. Along those lines, several local and state public and private agencies have been trying to start an incubator near MUSC to help young companies grow. Andrade said that the technology campus could be viewed as the next step for some of the companies that would emerge from the incubator, giving them a place to go once they're able to succeed on their own.

David T. Ginn, chief executive of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, said a top-flight technology campus is sorely needed. In recent years several companies Ginn's group has met with have specifically requested to tour the area's technology parks. "We would go about showing them the best office and industrial parks we have in the region," he said. "And they would say, 'No, we're looking for your technology parks.'"

Typically, the sites are governed by highly restrictive covenants that limit the types of businesses that are allowed in. "You would want a wide range of companies that in some way support each other or add value across company lines," Ginn said.

Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said the park could help create some level of coordination on some issues among its various tenants that will attract even more high-tech companies At its meeting this week, the City Council endorsed the concept of the campus and was set to come back to give formal approval in August. "I think it's exciting," said Councilman Robert George. Rozier said the Charleston area is popular with the high-tech industry because of quality of life considerations. "It's easy to sell these high-tech people on the lifestyle," he said.