After its best year ever recruiting new business, what’s next for Chester County?

Chester County looks to follow up a banner year for new business by replacing one big manufacturer and cozying up to another.

“Our year is off to a great start,” county economic development Director Robert Long said. “We have already hosted several visits” for companies looking to expand in Chester.

Last year the county had a record $2 billion in announced investments. Over a dozen companies committed to more than 600 new jobs.

Long said a priority this year is to find a company to occupy the former Footprint South Carolina building at 546 L&C Distribution Park in Richburg. In January 2023, the company reported plans to close the site by the end of March. The closure impacted 168 employees.

The building covers 110,000 square feet near Interstate 77, Long said, with 36-foot high ceilings and ample space for a range of manufacturing uses, he said.

When the next wave of new business hits the York County region, will we be ready?

Another priority is development of a new industrial park that could target spillover business from the only place that scored a bigger economic development win last year than Chester County did.

Last year, Scout Motors announced plans to invest $2 billion and create 4,000 jobs in Richland County manufacturing electric trucks and SUVs. Now Chester County aims to put an industrial park on Hwy. 9.

“This will help position Chester County to go after...suppliers for the Scout Motors EV assembly plant in Blythewood,” Long said.

Rock Hill and Chester County helped SC set a new mark for billion-dollar investments

Knox Station Industrial Park

That new industrial park industrial park is already in development.

On Jan. 2, Chester County Council finalized a rezoning of more than 180 acres along Lancaster Highway. The property is across that highway from Knox Station Road, with Rodman Road bordering the northeastern site of the site. That zoning change swapped a rural land use designation for an industrial one.

Griffin Land Holdings applied for the change that brought months of public feedback and debate.

The end result is a development that would allow up to 1.4 million square feet of space. The vision for Knox Station Industrial Park is up to eight buildings, with between 79,000 and almost 285,000 square feet of industrial park space.

A concept plan shows two entrances off Lancaster Highway with the largest building in between them, facing S.C. 9. Four buildings are clustered on the Rodman Road side of the project.

Online traffic mapping options put the drive from Knox Station to Blythewood at fewer than 40 minutes, via Interstate 77.

Big business investment in Chester County

South Carolina announced economic development projects at a combined $9.2 billion last year.

That number was just down from a record $10.3 billion in 2022. Almost one of every five dollars — 18% — in announced capital investment statewide last year came from just two Chester County projects.

Albemarle Corp. announced $1.3 billion plans for more than 300 jobs in Richburg. The lithium hydroxide processing plant will serve the electric vehicle and batter industries. The Albemarle announcement was second only to Scout Motors in projected investment.

And IKO Industries announced a $363 million investment and 180 jobs. The first phase for the roofing products maker will reopen the former PPG fiberglass plant that closed in early 2020. That site will serve a second phase, a new 325,000-square-foot mat plant.

Many companies in the Rock Hill region got incentives, but have they kept their promises?

Long said both projects needed access to dual rail lines to support heavy natural gas loads.

“Both of these projects play to the strengths of Chester County,” Long said.

Rail line Norfolk Southern named the Albemarle project, along with Scout Motors and an $8.5 million Home Depot lumber distribution facility in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, as among the largest of its 62 customer projects last year. Those projects combined for $3.1 billion in new rail investment and almost 4,200 jobs across the Southeast.

The $2 billion of new investment announced last year in Chester County eclipsed 2014, a year when Giti Tire announced its $560 million project and 1,700 planned jobs. Last year, there were 14 Chester County announcements set to add 641 jobs.

South Carolina splits its 46 counties into four tiers based on income, employment rate, population and related data. Those tiers determine tax incentives companies can utilize when coming to or expanding in the state.

Chester County is in the fourth tier with many of the more rural counties in the state. York County, by contrast, is in the first tier with counties like Charleston and Greenville.

Chester County Economic Development assistant director Kris Phillips said the Albemarle announcement last year was the largest ever in a third- or fourth-tier county. “Four of the top five projects in the state’s history are from Chester County,” Phillips said.

Giti is No. 2 and IKO Industries is No. 5. Also on the list is No. 4 E&J Gallo Winery with its $423 million announcement in 2021.

Setbacks and opportunities for Chester County

Chester County didn’t see just economic wins last year.

The Footprint facility was one of two closings where over 100 people lost their jobs. Westlake Royal Stone announced in October it would close by mid-December. That Chester plant closing meant job losses for 110 workers.

Still, there were many more announcements in the black than in the red.

At its first meeting this year, the same one that finalized the Knox Station rezoning, county council agreed to a renegotiated tax incentive deal for a company that’s overshot its investment.

Paper products maker Morcon agreed to invest almost $3.2 million as part of expansion plans in 2022. Job creation and investment figures are critical to incentive deals and can determine what breaks companies get, and they typically get five years to hit their targets.

According to county documents, Morcon already invested almost $4.5 million and projects $10 million more by the 2027 date given them by the incentive deal.