The following was published in the March 9 edition of the Neighbors section of The Beaufort Gazette

If you happened to drive through Buckwalter Place in Bluffton the afternoon of March 1 the sight of backhoes and dump trucks moving around an open dirt field probably didn’t seem too out of the ordinary.

“Likely another store going in,” you probably thought to yourself; or another building awaiting a tenant in what’s still a slow market.

The reality is that only hours earlier a group of local officials and business leaders stood together to mark the groundbreaking of what will be an economic boon for our region. CareCore National, one of the nation’s leaders in specialty benefit healthcare management, began the expansion of its presence in the Lowcountry.

An insert by the Municipal Association of South Carolina in the most recent issue of SC BIZ highlights the state's Creative Class and Creative Cities.

Beaufort received prominent recognition. 

Check out the images or download the pdf here.

As discussed in this morning's Island Packet/Beaufort Gazette, Boeing has become a popular topic among Lowcountry residents and officials. Over the past week or so economic development officials along with Nexsen Pruet, a key player in the Boeing deal, have been touring the Lowcountry talking about the deal and how it can translate into new opportunities for our region.

(from the Island Packet story)

Kim Statler, head of a public-private partnership that recruits businesses to the region, was slated to speak at another event Wednesday at Belfair in greater Bluffton.

The session -- titled "BOEING SC: Dreams Take Flight" -- was about how incentives can boost business in South Carolina.

Statler said Boeing's plant dovetails with fellow aircraft manufacturer Gulfstream's existing facility in Savannah and the arrival of the Joint Strike Fighter, a next-generation military jet. Some of the jets are expected to be based at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort by 2014.

Groundbreaking for the new 31,200 sq. ft. CareCore National, LLC corporate headquarters was held Monday morning (March 1) at 11:30 a.m. at Bluffton’s Buckwalter Place near the intersection of Buckwalter Parkway and Bluffton Parkway. 

Donald R. Ryan, Chairman and CEO of CareCore National, LLC, presided at the groundbreaking together with Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka, Bluffton State Legislator Bill Herbkersman, and Beaufort County Council Chairman Weston Newton.

CareCore National’s Ryan said, “we are pleased about this groundbreaking because it not only means we are making a capital investment in our community and creating needed knowledge-based jobs." 

Plans Call for Addition of 3G to More Than 200 Cell Sites and the Expansion of Backhaul to Increase Wireless Network Capacity

Columbia, South Carolina, February 18, 2010

AT&T* today unveiled its South Carolina wireless network investment plans for 2010, which include the addition of 3G to more than 200 new and existing cell sites throughout the state.

The planned wireless network enhancement strategy is part of AT&T's 2010 wireline and wireless capital investment, which is expected to be in the $18 billion to $19 billion range companywide, an increase of between 5 and 10 percent over 2009. This planned amount also includes an increase of about $2 billion in capital expenditures for wireless and backhaul related to AT&T's wireless network. This planned level of investment is framed by the expectation that regulatory and legislative decisions relating to the telecom sector will continue to be sensitive to investment.

Wednesday, 10 February 2010

Staff Report 

CHARLESTON -- FastTracSC, an organization designed to help entrepreneurs hone the skills needed to create, manage and grow successful businesses in South Carolina and supported in the Lowcountry by the Technical College of the Lowcountry, reached a statewide milestone last month.
]]>

By JULIANN VACHON
jvachon@beaufortgazette.com
843-706-8184

With a signed letter of intent, hope has risen again that the idle Port of Port Royal has found a buyer.

S.C. State Ports Authority chairman Bill Stern signed a letter of intent Friday to sell the approximately 51-acre port of Port Royal property to a prospective Charleston developer.

Although the sale is not final, the authority will take the property off the market while it finalizes a contract with the buyer, Stern said.

Officials would not release the name of that buyer nor the sale price, citing ongoing negotiations. NAI Avant, the broker listing the property, reduced the price tag from $27 million to $20.4 million last year.

A group of Hilton Head Island investors tried to get financing for the parcel in 2007, but the deal fell apart in 2008.

By JOSH McCANN
jmccann@islandpacket.com
843-706-8145

Travel down Innovation Drive in Bluffton and you will hear bulldozers and dump trucks roaring and clanging away at the site of a planned 32,000-square-foot second building for CareCore National.

The company, whose 400 employees manage cost, quality and safety for national health insurance plans, is expanding after moving its corporate headquarters in 2007 from Wappingers Falls, N.Y., to the Buckwalter Place mixed-use development and technology park.

To many who seek to diversify the Lowcountry's economy, the construction noise -- and the 150 new CareCore employees it promises -- is the sound of much-needed progress.

For the most part, Beaufort and Jasper counties don't have much in the way of high-tech industry.

Rare exceptions include XRDi, a Beaufort firm that makes small engines for unmanned aerial vehicles, and Vetronix Research, a Hilton Head Island firm that designs and builds electronics used by the military.

The Lowcountry Economic Network & Alliance on Tuesday announced its 2010 Ambassadors for Economic Development as part of South Carolina’s celebration of Industry Appreciation Week.

Canada Smith, manager of Turkey Hill Plantation, has been named Economic Development Ambassador for Jasper County while Craig Schauss, president of Hilton Head Island-based Vetronix Research Corporation has been named Ambassador for Beaufort County.