Sallie Alderman Site earns Clarendon’s second industrial certification

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Clarendon County now has not one, but two certified industrial sites, according to the county’s lead economic development official. Clarendon County Economic Development Board Executive Director George Kosinski said the “exhaustive process” for the certification of the Sallie Alderman Site in Alcolu is now complete. “This site was put through the same process at the Clarendon County Industrial Park, which was certified earlier this year,” Kosinski said in an emailed statement. Located at U.S. 521 and Interstate 95 in Alcolu, the Sallie Alderman Site consists of 132 total acres and has been classified as a “general industrial park with rail access,” Kosinski said. Greenville company McCallum and Sweeney and the state Department of Commerce awarded both parks with the certification. They are two of only a quarter of South Carolina parks to have such a distinction. “What it means is that all of your Phase 1 work has been completed,” said Kosinski. “For an industry, that means that you don’t have to worry about any environmental soil conditions that you’re otherwise unaware of. Companies are looking to build fast, and you won’t have the risk associated with the environment. We’ve taken care of that by being certified.” He said “significant improvements to the infrastructure” have been made at the site, including water and wastewater access. “We will also be extended Spigner Road out to U.S. 521 in the very near future for ease of truck access,” he said. The total certification process takes between 12 and 18 months, Kosinski noted, but it’s well worth the effort. “This saves companies time and money, as the corporate risk has been mitigated,” he said. “As time goes on, there will be a higher demand for certified sites.” Kosinski said this means that if a company is looking in Clarendon and in another nearby county in which the site is not certified, Clarendon stands a better chance in closing the deal. “I’m right up the road and I have a certified site, so they have less risk by locating in Clarendon County than by locating in the neighboring county without the certified cite,” Kosinski said. He said the county’s possession of two certified industrial sites will make the area even more irresistible to outside industries. “That puts two recently certified sites in our portfolio, further enhancing our marketability,” he said. “The message is that we’re ready. We have everything you need to get your business of the ground and started in a more speedy time frame than anyone else.” McCallum and Sweeney, Kosinski said, perform such site certifications “all over the southeastern United States.” “They work all over Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama,” he said. “And some of the sites they have certified have landed pretty big users.” The company has said the county’s sites’ strengths lie in having one owner, the Clarendon County Business Development Corporation, of which Kosinski is also the director. “Since the BDC owns the property, you have the one owner,” he said. “You don’t have to deal with multiple landowners or tracking down who owns what parcel of land.”