A community’s vision of attracting new and viable businesses was shared by Mount Pleasant Economic Development Officer Matt Brady during his Oct. 9 appearance at the Rotary Club of Mount Pleasant meeting.
In the spirit of targeting specific industry clusters, supporting small businesses and improving quality of life, according to Brady, the Town of Mount Pleasant adopted an economic strategy playbook two-and-a-half years ago with the following goals:
• Attract and retain business with high wage jobs in target clusters
• Ensure clarity and predictability in development patterns
• Remove barriers to development within target clusters
• Expand use of economic development incentives
• Prioritize quality-of-life initiatives to support the local workforce and residents
“When you think of Mount Pleasant, we’re not going to able to build a 1 million square-foot built-up construction concrete manufacturing plant with 1,000 workers. That’s just not going to happen,” reported the one-time Economic Development Director of Goose Creek. “They fit the community profile of folks that could move here and be part of the community.”
Knowledge economy, life sciences and tech firms are a few examples of the types of operations that fit the Town’s business blueprint.
In an effort to spur interest from those entities, said Brady, the Town is actively recruiting lead-generation companies that “beat the bushes” for Mount Pleasant in Europe and other parts of the world.
Locally, Brady is frequently calling companies in town to assess their needs in hopes of helping them expand. Further, the appointed official looks to support innovators and entrepreneurs by partnering with groups, such as Harbor Entrepreneur Center (HEC), which now has its own office headquarters at 11 Ewall St.
“It’s a beautiful really trophy Class A office space, 65,000 square feet, very unique,” he described. “It was built for headquarters, but what makes it so cool is that you now feel like you’re in a West Coast tech campus when you walk in there … and over the last year or so, we’ve announced with expansions, 150 new jobs. So, we think it’s been really successful.”
The 70 companies occupying the HEC edifice include financial tech, agricultural tech, digital animation and wine operations, among other business categories.
Speaking of partnerships, Brady also filled in Rotarians on the Town’s collaboration with Lowcountry Local First (LLF) that helps the economic development leader by organizing workshops for small business owners. Many of these first-time self-employed individuals can gain valuable insight at these sessions, he added, relative to marketing, finance or even navigating a commercial lease.
To that end, the Town has recently launched a new website, MountPleasantMade.com, that provides guidelines for small business owners.
As for present and future quality-of-life improvement projects the Town is involved in, Brady mentioned Rifle Range Road Park, several tennis and pool renovations, as well as an ongoing $4 million remodeling of Alhambra Hall. What’s more, the South Carolina graduate highlighted extensive work happening at Memorial Waterfront Park in the form of new splash pads, more public space and walking trails.
“We’ve got a lot of square footage entitled here in Mount Pleasant — over a million square feet of Class A office and industrial spec [area]. And most people aren’t aware of that, including our partners that need to know that as we actively recruit.”
What’s next for Mount Pleasant consists of looking to assist developers in filling up currently vacant property at the old Regal Cinebarre theater on Houston Northcutt Road. Similarly, the Town is in the process of selling 38 acres on Faison Road for $10 million in the interest of attracting new companies, creating jobs and diversifying the tax base.
Other Town of Mount Pleasant Economic Development Zones are situated at Patriots Point, Long Point Road, Carolina Park, Johnny Dodds Boulevard and Coleman Boulevard “to some extent,” said Brady.
“So, my goal is to find high quality development partners who can share in our vision for what the town should be, and maybe look at properties in a new life.”
The guest speaker was especially proud of the standalone Mount Pleasant Made brand for economic development.
“We have our own website, our own social media presence and we’re kind of bullish on the future,” he stated.
The Rotary Club of Mount Pleasant invites community members to attend their weekly Wednesday meetings at the Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church, starting at noon.