SouthernCarolina Alliance held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 to celebrate the completion of the CrossRhodes Industrial Building, located at 61 Innovation Drive in the CrossRhodes Industrial Park on Highway 301 South of Bamberg.

“It’s amazing what we can do working together, thanks to all of you, we’re just beginning to celebrate all sorts of accomplishments,” DeThane Johnson Vice Chairman of SouthernCarolina Alliance told the gathering of local and state governmental and business leaders from the four county area of Bamberg, Barnwell, Allendale and Hampton and the across the state of South Carolina.

The 30,000 SF industrial building was completed in partnership with the S.C. Department of Commerce, Bamberg County, Santee Cooper, Edisto Electric Cooperative, Bamberg Board of Public Works, AT&T, and other allies, as a marketing tool to assist in attracting industry to the region.

SouthernCarolina Alliance, the regional economic development organization representing Bamberg County announced in June that a new industrial building would be constructed at CrossRhodes Industrial Park, located on US Highway 301 in Bamberg. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on June 18 at the construction site.

Site preparation at the construction site began on Memorial Day for the 30,000 sq. ft. expandable industrial building, often referred to as “spec building” or a promotional building.

SouthernCarolina Alliance Chairman Johnny Williamson said after the groundbreaking, “The new industrial building will serve as a marketing tool to show industrial prospects interested in manufacturing, distribution, or commercial opportunities in the region. It’s a project that we have been working on with our economic development partners for some time now, and we’re excited for the construction to be under way.

“We have already talked with several existing industries and prospective industrial clients interested in the building,” SouthernCarolina Alliance project manager Kell Anderson, who handles Bamberg County said at the time of the groundbreaking. “We have plans to bring another company in for a site visit in the coming weeks.”

According to Anderson, the construction of the building at CrossRhodes provides an additional incentive to prospective industries because of the multicounty status of the industrial park.

“Not only do the four counties in the alliance benefit from the multi-county tax revenue sharing agreement, the company locating here will receive additional tax incentives for locating in a multi-county park.”