Home RemodelingIn Fort Mill, SC

In South Carolina, cold storage warehousing and logistics company FlexCold will invest $49.9 million to establish operations in Dorchester County. The project will create 59 new jobs, and operations are expected to be online by late summer 2024.

“We are thrilled to be expanding our footprint by establishing operations within a modern cold storage facility strategically located close to the Port of Charleston,” said FlexCold Co-Founder Jeff Manno. “We’re proud to further add to the economic development of the area in a meaningful and tangible way by helping meet the need to accommodate critical import and export business, specifically seafood.”

Charleston-based FlexCold specializes in cold storage warehousing and logistics by providing customers with personalized cold storage expertise and targeting strategic locations that are advantageous to today’s evolving food supply chain. The company focuses on storing, handling, and distributing poultry, seafood, meat, packaged goods and frozen produce.

“We are proud to announce another innovative cold storage chain locating in South Carolina,” commented Gov. Henry McMaster. “It’s companies such as FlexCold that will continue to enhance our supply chain by providing profound ideas and cutting-edge talent. We welcome FlexCold and look forward to the positive impact that they will make in the state and the Dorchester County community.”

Located in North Charleston, the Dorchester County facility marks FlexCold’s first cold storage location in South Carolina and its second facility in the U.S. The new operations will include a highly modern, cold food storage facility to accommodate a diverse customer base with a focus on receiving a substantial amount of imported goods. Operationally, FlexCold will provide import and export services, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration inspections, labeling and repacking, and cross-docking services.

“SC Ports has significantly upgraded its refrigerated capabilities to efficiently handle more frozen and fresh products for the growing Southeast consumer base,” said SC Ports President and Chief Executive Officer Barbara Melvin. “FlexCold’s investment will complement these efforts and further enhance the cold chain in South Carolina. This innovative facility will expand the ability to move more frozen products, such as seafood, through the Port of Charleston.”

Element Designs To Relocate HQ, Manufacturing Operations To York County

Element Designs will invest $5 million to relocate its headquarters and manufacturing operations to York County. The aluminum frame glass cabinet door manufacturer will bring approximately 100 new jobs to Fort Mill over the next five years. Operations are expected to be online in the second quarter of 2023.

“We are very excited to move our headquarters to Fort Mill, SC. We already feel very welcomed and can’t wait to call it our new home,” said Element Designs President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Uebersax. “It will be a transformational move for our company. This new location and state of the art facility will not only provide us with the necessary room to grow, but it will also be a testament to what we as a company want to be recognized for: an innovative industry leader that produces beautiful products in a sustainable way. Its proximity to our current location was also very important as we want our incredible team to move with us and enjoy the benefits of this new space to call home.”

Charlotte-based Element Designs’ product offerings have expanded to include custom glass and acrylic surfacing solutions and components. All products are made and fabricated in the U.S., with manufacturing processes that use water-based coatings and recycled materials to create products for customers across North America.

Element Designs’ new 112,840-square-foot facility will serve as the company’s joint headquarters and manufacturing operations, allowing the company to efficiently serve its international customers, including many well-known manufacturers in the kitchen, bath and office furniture industries.

The SC Coordinating Council for Economic Development has approved job development credits related to this project.

The Ritedose Corporation To Expand In Richland County

The Ritedose Corporation will invest $81 million to expand its operations in Richland County. The locally owned and operated pharmaceutical manufacturer will create 94 new jobs with this project. Phase one of the expansion and the addition of approximately 50 of the 94 total jobs will be completed in early 2024.

“This initial phase of the expansion project will allow The Ritedose Corporation to continue to deliver over 1 billion doses of respiratory maintenance drugs to the U.S. population, while providing the runway for multiple drugs in various stages of development to be commercialized in the coming years,” said The Ritedose Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Jody Chastain.

The Ritedose Corporation operates a state-of-the-art “blow-fill-seal” (BFS) facility, where liquid-pharmaceuticals are formulated, filled and packaged for distribution. For over 25 years, The Ritedose Corporation has been an industry leader in the aseptic production of sterile, single-dose medication, serving the contract development manufacturing, generics and 503B outsourcing markets. The company’s customers range from small startups and retail pharmacies to large pharmaceutical companies, wholesalers and hospital systems.

A Colorado school group has applied to bring a new charter school to Fort Mill.

Ascent Classical Academies is a tuition-free, K-12 charter school model. Ascent has submitted applications for four new South Carolina campuses. The first could open next year.

The four sites are in Fort Mill, Charleston, Greenville and Chapin. Ascent submitted applications to the South Carolina Department of Education naming the Charter Institute at Erskine as sponsor. The institute is in Columbia, S.C.

Derec Shuler, executive director of Ascent, said in an announcement that as a South Carolina native it’s exciting to work with area parents and communities on a new education option. The goal is education beyond just college and career readiness. One that prepares students to be happy and flourish.

Shuler said the school began as parents searching for a traditional academic experience focused on reason and virtue development.

“Seeing our own children thrive in classical schools has led us to continue working to provide these opportunities to more families,” Shuler said.

Public charter schools are non-religious, nonprofit schools that form and operate in South Carolina with the sponsorship of a public school district, the state charter school district or an institution of higher learning. They can vary considerably in grades and programs offered.

This school year there are 87 charter schools operating in South Carolina. Only 16 of those schools include kindergarten through high school senior level courses. Almost all of the area charter schools are in Rock Hill.

York Preparatory Academy and Riverwalk Academy in Rock Hill are full K-12 schools. Sponsored by the Rock Hill School District, the Palmetto School is a high school program. Legion Collegiate Academy in Rock Hill offers high school grades.

Some charter schools have well established histories. Yet not all succeed.

There have been 46 schools chartered in South Carolina since 1996 that have closed. Many of them just two or three years after receiving the charter. Children’s School at Sylvia Circle is the only one on that list based in the Rock Hill region.

The recent school enrollment freezes in Fort Mill aren’t a final solution, but are designed to disrupt the fewest students until a long-term solution is reached.

Earlier this month the Fort Mill School District announced enrollment freezes at Gold Hill Elementary School, Gold Hill Middle School and Pleasant Knoll Middle School. New students enrolled at those schools will travel to other schools within the district. The decision comes amid high population growth in the areas those schools serve.

Enrollment freezes aren’t new to Fort Mill. They’ve been enacted several times due to district growth.

Four schools had freezes heading into the school year that was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. The district doesn’t see them as the ultimate answer to growth. But they can be a short-term fix.

“It is currently in place for the remainder of this school year and will be re evaluated during the summer,” said Joe Burke, district information officer.

Burke said the district monitors all schools for growth and capacity issues.

There aren’t any additional schools flagged for enrollment freezes right now. The district has grown overall, with population increases in Fort Mill, Tega Cay and unincorporated areas between them. Fort Mill is now the largest school district in York County, despite being the smallest geographically in the state. The district has more than 18,000 students.

Burke said freezes are preferable to more widespread change -- like redistricting -- to address the distribution of students.

“That would impact thousands of students in the district and would have to done multiple times over the course of several years,” Burke said. “The freeze option allows the district to minimize the disruption while managing the growth until new schools come online.”

For new students who are impacted by the freeze, the school day will look almost identical to other students. They just won’t attend the same school other students in their neighborhood do. The only noticeable difference is the time it takes to get to another school if they ride the bus.

“They will arrive and depart their zoned school at the same time as other students if they are using district transportation,” Burke said. “They will take a shuttle to and from their assigned school if they are using district transportation.”

While redistricting isn’t planned, one advantage to the growth and growing number of Fort Mill schools comes when each school opens. When a new elementary school opens, the district has to redraw elementary attendance lines. Same with a new middle or high school. So new schools both add capacity and allow an opportunity to tweak attendance boundaries.

“New facilities are ultimately the main solution for providing space for our growth,” Burke said.

The district is finalizing a 10-year facility needs study that will lay out new school recommendations. The district hasn’t announced new school bond plans, but work continues toward new school capacity.

There’s a county zoning change proposal up for consideration now at 278 Gold Hill Road. The district has been planning since 2016 for that 88-acre site. Submitted plans show a new elementary and new middle school there.

Until 1994, the Fort Mill district didn’t have more than one school at the primary, elementary, middle or high school level in the post segregation era. The 1992 bond that funded a second middle school was the first of nine bonds presented to the community. Today, Fort Mill has 11 elementary schools, six middle schools and three high schools.

From 2002 until the COVID-19 pandemic altered school attendance figures, Fort Mill grew 3.4%-10.32% annually. Five school years in that span, the district grew by more than 7%. Last school year, growth returned at 5.4%.

This story was originally published February 21, 2023, 11:49 AM.

School leaders say new students enrolling in the district will be assigned to different schools in an effort to maintain favorable student-teacher ratios.

FORT MILL, S.C. — New students enrolling in the Fort Mill School District will be placed at different campuses as school leaders enact an enrollment freeze.

In a statement Wednesday, the district said the freeze affects families in the attendance zones for Gold Hill Elementary School, Gold Hill Middle School, and Pleasant Knoll Middle School.

The purpose, according to district leaders, is to maintain favorable teacher-student ratios and limit overcrowding at current buildings amidst a growing student population.

"What we certainly don't want to end up happening is to continue to pack kids into a school where we end up with, you know, 30 kids in a kindergarten class," Joe Burke, Fort Mill Schools chief communication officer, said. "Or you know, over too many kids to serve for lunch or breakfast time at the school."

Fort Mill is growing at a record pace, according to experts.

"Fort Mill overall has experienced 5% growth year over year, but the population growth has actually grown by over 16% since 2020," Laurie Plyler, a real estate agent and CEO of Keller Williams Connected in Fort Mill, said.

The area is not only seeing transplants from inside South Carolina, but its proximity to Charlotte is attractive for some families.

"Fort Mill is a really unique area because you get a mix of small town and big town amenities, you have new business, new growth, and education system is really attractive," Plyler said.

The district stressed that students currently attending the impacted schools will not be affected, and only affects students who enroll after the freeze is enacted.

"They're going to have those same opportunities at their newest school," Burke said. "So we've worked really hard to make sure that that experience is uniform across the board for all of our kids."

School leaders say the number of students impacted won’t be too large.

"It can be anywhere from five to 20 kids at each school, depending on the number of people who move into that particular area," Burke said.

Here's how the campus reassignments will work:

Students who take the bus to school will remain on their assigned bus and travel to their assigned school each day. The district will shuttle students to and from their homes to their assigned schools.

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FORT MILL, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – If you plan on moving to South Carolina soon, you might have to cough up some extra cash.

Legislators are considering implementing an “impact fee” for new residents of the palmetto state.

S.C. lawmakers are saying growth doesn’t pay for itself, so to make up for their large influx of new residents, some legislators want newcomers to pay a one-time fee when they get their licenses and register their vehicles here.

Senate bill 208 would allow county governments in S.C. to impose an additional driver’s license and vehicle registration fee of $250 for new residents from other states. Senator Stephen goldfinch introduced the bill and thinks it’s important for new residents to contribute to the state they’re moving into.

“We have a serious issue in South Carolina, especially in high-growth counties, where our quality of life is being diminished,” Goldfinch said. “Because of the high growth, we’re just not able to keep up with the infrastructure, the schools, the roads, the bridges, the utilities, and the green space that we need in order to keep our quality of life.”

According to data from the U.S. Census, South Carolina was the third fastest-growing state in 2022. Almost 90,000 people moved to the Palmetto State in just one year. The Mayor of Fort Mill, Guynn Savage, says that growth impacts her town daily.

“Growth does not pay for growth,” Savage said. “Even the residential growth that was here isn’t paying the taxes needed to afford all of the services that are provided in a municipality.”

Mayor Savage says she understands why lawmakers are considering passing impact fees, especially since Fort Mill’s population has almost quadrupled in size in the last ten years.

“Everyone enjoys the benefits of growth. Everybody loves a new restaurant, a new boutique, a new service, a new park,” Savage said. “I think that it’s something that also comes with challenges that must be met.”

Some legislators worry an impact fee might deter newcomers from moving to South Carolina; Senator Goldfinch thinks the financial pros still outweigh the cons.

“If you’re moving from an extremely high property tax state, like New York, New Jersey, Ohio, which is where most of our residents come from, you’re saving literally, sometimes 10s of thousands of dollars by moving to S.C., especially with the cost of living,” Goldfinch said. “$250 driver’s license fees are not going to stop that, and if it does, if that offends you so much that it stops you from moving here, honestly. Go somewhere else.”

Senator Goldfinch estimates if the bill passes and the growth rate continues as it has been over the last ten years, S.C. would bring in around $250 million from the driver’s license and vehicle registration impact fees over the next ten years.

Senate Bill 208 passed through the Finance Committee on Tuesday and is now heading to the Senate Floor.