BUSINESS YEAR IN REVIEW: Success includes downtown development, plant expansions
Article/Picture Credit: Joe Perry, Morning News
Third in a series
FLORENCE, S.C. – In the world of business and industry, the biggest wave was felt late this year when Patheon announced it would take over Roche Carolina Inc.’s Florence facility with plans already in place to expand the 300,000-square-foot site.
As Honda and McCall Farms announced plans for expansions, as the retail sector and hospitality industry saw steady growth and as downtown continued to transform, there was still an outlier to all the positive developments: What would happen to Roche Carolina after company officials announced last fall that its Florence operation and three sister sites in Europe were up for sale?
Joe W. King certainly thinks 2016 was a good year. As the executive director of Florence County Progress, he said he doesn’t want to view one aspect of the always in flux world of economic development – Patheon coming to town – as the “highlight” of the year, though he’s quick to acknowledge “it’s big news.”
“And I think Patheon is a good corporate citizen and will bring international attention to Florence,” he said, “which is a great thing.”
Without Patheon stepping in, it was likely Roche’s plant would have been mothballed, he said.
In his line of work, King is careful to give plenty of attention to existing industry and sees a trio of big announcements on the horizon – one probably by the end of the first quarter and the other two in the second quarter of 2017.
“I think ’16 was good and I think ’17 will be as good,” he said, based on “what we have in the pipeline, the inquiries we’re getting.”
With pent-up demand and a pending change in leadership in our nation’s capital, King thinks conditions are ripe for economic growth.
“You’re going to see things happen,” he said.
Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce President Mike Miller sees the continued expansion of the hospitality industry and views Patheon’s deal with Roche as “more of a comforting thing.”
“It could’ve been bad news,” he said.”
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