Charleston County celebrates year of record-breaking economic developments

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) – Charleston County’s Economic Development Office is boasting a year-end total of $1.28 billion in capital investment creating 1,029 jobs in the county.

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“It’s not only a good year, it’s a blockbuster record-breaking year. It’s the single biggest year in our county investment history thus far. So we’re thrilled with it,” Executive Director of Charleston Economic Development Steve Dykes says.

The standout investment of the year is Boeing’s $1 billion investment in aircraft manufacturing. It’s the largest single investment announcement in Charleston County’s history. The investment is expected to create 500 jobs in the sector, despite Boeing’s multiple layoffs in 2024 due to significant losses.

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Aside from the Boeing investment, the county is touting an additional $280 million in investments from industries ranging from local breweries to easement and title search solutions.

Other major job-creating investments include the Tradd Advisory Co. freight transportation expansion with 100 jobs, the Portside Technology IT services expansion with 89 jobs and the Allegiance American Flag Supply American Flag production with 84 jobs.

“We love creation of jobs, and that’s always been one of the county council’s top metrics. We love years that are bigger than 1,000 but 1,000 seems to be our average year after year, so we’re happy to be hitting 1,000 again this year,” Dykes says.

Dykes notes how job creation is a boom for the overall economic welfare of an area since those wages then transfer to spending at local businesses. He appreciates the variety of investments secured this year, including craft beer manufacturing, global specialty chemicals manufacturing, supply chain logistics software and animation experiences.

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“In some ways, it shapes the goals for next year because we’re happily home to not only a wide-body commercial plane maker but also an automotive product maker, which is Mercedes Benz vans. And so with Mercedes Benz vans and Boeing, we’ve always got follow on that we’re interested in doing. Their suppliers are constantly looking to move here, and that’s something that will never stop. And then we’ve got another layer that I think is pretty exciting with locally grown businesses, especially tech-related businesses. And this was a big year for tech businesses,” Dykes says.

Dykes is set to be leaving the Economic Development Office to retire at the end of 2024 and says it’s an honor to put on such a good year. He says the reason for the job is the people behind all the statistics who are getting salaries or better quality of life thanks to the investments putting money back into the community. Going forward, he says the department is a strong team and he has his eyes out to see what other achievements they might accomplish.

“I would say that one of the big, one of the big opportunities for this community still lies in the life science sector, medical concerns. And so I think that is what I look forward to hearing more about in the future. How we have leveraged the presence of MUSC in the presence of so many good medical minds and capitalized into a bigger sector here in our community,” Dykes says.

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