Bus company’s plans of 1,300 jobs show ICAR paying dividends
By Rudolph Bell
and Tim Smith
Upstate workers who haven’t had much to cheer about in a stretch of unrelentingly bad economic news will see the clouds part more than a bit with the expected announcement this week that Greenville has landed an electric bus assembly plant that could employ as many as 1,300.
It’s a desperately needed shot in the arm for Greenville County, where unemployment stands at 10.5 percent, and for South Carolina, where the jobless rate has climbed to 12.6 percent — the fourth-highest in the nation.
It was unclear late Monday over what period of time the jobs would be created.
Though the Protera LLC bus manufacturing company of Golden, Colo., declined to say anything before its scheduled Thursday announcement, state Sen. David Thomas confirmed late Monday that it is coming.
And U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint said the company’s decision proves that Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research in Greenville is acting as a magnet to expand the automotive industry in the region — building on the earlier successes of Michelin, BMW and a host of automotive suppliers.
The company was drawn by South Carolina’s pro-business climate and cluster of automotive companies as well as the prospect of collaborating with researchers at ICAR, DeMint said.
“They’re hoping that the research and development that goes on (at ICAR) is something they can take advantage of,” DeMint said.
Proterra has previously said it was considering Greenville for a $68 million plant and research office at ICAR. It wasn’t clear Monday what the jobs would pay.
Joshua Goldman, the company’s director of business development, declined to comment, as did Kara Borie, a spokeswoman for the state Commerce Department.
A spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford said the governor has been invited to an economic development announcement at ICAR on Thursday and would attend. He said he couldn’t provide any other details.
Greenville County Council has voted to give Proterra property tax breaks and other incentives, including nearly $7.5 million from county-issued bonds, in exchange for building the plant locally.
Butch Kirven, County Council chairman, declined to comment on whether Proterra was scheduled to make an announcement, but he said ICAR gets credit if Greenville lands the plant.
“The whole reason we’re here is because of the investment and infrastructure in ICAR,” Kirven said.
Proterra, founded in 2004, makes battery-powered buses for the mass transit market and employs about 40 people in Colorado.
Goldman told The Greenville News in December that part suppliers for the plant should create another 5,000 jobs, on top of the 1,300 jobs at the plant, but that not all of the supplier jobs would be located in the state where the plant goes.
Goldman said then that Proterra was scheduled to deliver 20 buses in 2010 and expects to be selling more than 500 a year in several years.
DeMint said South Carolina has spent decades building a pro-business climate that includes reasonable tax rates, competitive energy costs and right-to-work laws.
“Companies are looking at South Carolina not because it’s good weather,” said DeMint, who met with Proterra executives as part of state and local officials’ efforts to recruit the company.
“This is a team effort if I’ve ever seen it,” DeMint said about the recruiting of Proterra.
Thomas, who is running for the 4th District congressional seat, said South Carolina needs to go “nonstop” in recruiting companies such as Proterra.
State Sen. Larry Martin of Pickens called it “huge.”
“It’s extremely exciting,” he said. “It will be a real asset to the Clemson ICAR development.”
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20100202/NEWS/2020310/Bus-company-s-plans-of-1-300-jobs-show-ICAR-paying-dividends
