Land in northern Aiken County, near Monetta, is site for new industrial park

Dede Biles, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·3 min read

Apr. 28—A land transaction completed recently sets the stage for a project that a prominent local elected official, Gary Bunker, said Wednesday would be "transformative" for northern Aiken County.

The Economic Development Partnership of Aiken and Edgefield Counties Inc. purchased a 397.17-acre tract near Monetta for $2.4 million from KHP LLC earlier this month.

Plans call for a new industrial park to be located there.

"We're excited because it's a part of the county where a lot of folks living there feel like they have been ignored and that a lot of growth and success in the rest of the county has passed them by," said Bunker, who is County Council's chairman. "It also will allow us to continue to attract world-class manufacturing and industrial growth to the county long after we run out of space in Sage Mill Industrial Park."

Aiken County is collaborating with the Economic Development Partnership of Aiken, Edgefield, McCormick and Saluda counties, or EDP, to create the new industrial park.

The Economic Development Partnership of Aiken and Edgefield Counties Inc. "is our legal incorporation name," said EDP President and CEO Will Williams. "If you look at our state charter, that is how our corporation is organized."

Sage Mill Industrial Park, which is in the Graniteville area, has been around since the 1990s.

It is the home of two Bridgestone Americas tire plants, Rolls-Royce's MTU Aiken Plant and other companies' manufacturing operations.

"We realize at some point in time that Sage Mill Industrial Park will be out of industrial property," Williams said. "We are down to probably, right now, 300 acres, and they aren't contiguous.

"And if you look at the current labor draw (for Sage Mill), it encompasses Aiken County probably from Aiken down and goes over into the Augusta area," Williams continued. "It is becoming a little stressed now with all the good success that we've had in Aiken County as well as what has been experienced on the Georgia side of the Savannah River. If we could reach into a new labor market, that would be good.

"And the state (South Carolina) overall is running out of bigger industrial properties," Williams concluded, "so they had been encouraging us to try and find new, additional land."

EDP has been searching for suitable, available property for a new industrial park for "about the last four years," Williams said.

The land on Wire Road close to Monetta was attractive because of its "strategic location in Aiken County" and its proximity to Interstate 20, according to Williams.

Access to the expressway via Exit 33 is approximately two miles away.

To acquire the property, "we were able to access some funds because of us being recognized as a regional economic development organization," Williams said. "The state allows us to access funds if we raise private sector dollars. We have accumulated some funds and were able to do this."

The county and EDP are hoping that a portion of the plutonium settlement money will be allocated to the new industrial park project.

The South Carolina legislature is in the process of deciding how the funds should be spent.

Currently, "there is $10 million for an industrial park in this area" in Senate and House bills, Williams said.

A priority for the property is getting the needed infrastructure, including a sewage system and pipes for water, in place.

"That is still a relatively undeveloped area," Williams said, and certain basic amenities are necessary to be able to market it to "actual clients" successfully, he explained.

The county and EDP also would like to acquire more property adjacent to or near the nearly 400-acre parcel.

"This is a good start," Williams said. "We could put several smaller companies on the 400 acres. But if we had another Kimberly-Clark or Bridgestone come in, it would take all of that land, so it would be in our best interest to find additional land."