Highly-trained workforce helped Lancaster County land CompuCom

Bob Bundy remembers when Indian Land was an intersection and a school. Now he is seeing growth.

“It was one small school and an intersection on your way to Charlotte and that’s what it was,” the Lancaster County Council Chairman said.

CompuCom, a Texas-based information technology company, announced earlier this week that it would build a new corporate headquarters in that unincorporated area of northern Lancaster County. It is bringing 100 jobs from its Charlotte office and creating 1,400 new positions.

“We’re really excited about it,” Bundy said.

CompuCom started the moving process in late 2015 with 42 sites under consideration in the Carolinas, said Jonathan James, chief marketing officer. The company decided on Lancaster County earlier this year and hopes to occupy the building by the end of 2017.

Location and a pool of employees who can start work at a high level were key reasons for CompuCom’s move, James said.

“The South Carolina location offered us the ability to truly shape our physical office space, and it provides greater and more diverse access to IT talent,” he said.

A high quality workforce is a plus to Lancaster County, Bundy said.

“Our whole region has a very good record of having high level employees,” he said.

While the new business will expand the county’s tax base, the new jobs will expand the population, and possibilities for retail growth, Bundy said.

“It’s not increasing the tax base that’s as important as providing jobs for individuals,” he said. “If you have a productive population, you’ve got a rich community.”

Jeremy Cauthen, communications manager for the South Carolina Department of Commerce, said that is the state’s goal.

“Our whole mission here is to create opportunities for people of our state so they can stay in the state and have career opportunities to choose from and provide for their families,” he said. “This project is certainly a step in that direction and a major announcement for Lancaster County and the entire state.”

The jobs also will help spur growth to York, Chester and other counties, Bundy said.

“We realize we can’t supply all of those workers, but we are thankful our region can,” he said.

Lancaster County employees can live and work in their hometown, he said.

“That’s a real benefit for CompuCom’s employees,” Bundy said.

South Carolina also provided job development credits and a $1 million grant from South Carolina’s Rural Infrastructure Fund as incentives for the company’s move, Cauthen said.

“We greatly appreciate the state and their corporation and work on that,” Bundy said. “We’ve got a real strong commerce department. That’s a huge benefit.”

Strategic growth

CompuCom’s new office is going up in Bailes Ridge Business Center corporate park, where growth is encouraged to spread from Indian Land, Bundy said.

“That’s exactly what we want to see,” he said.

While traffic is always a concern, Bundy said road improvements such as the widening of S.C. 160 will help offset the company’s impact.

“With every amount of growth, you have positives and there are some negatives,” he said. “This is a huge opportunity. People are just excited to see progress happening.”

This story was originally published December 9, 2016 at 6:51 PM with the headline "Highly-trained workforce helped Lancaster County land CompuCom."