The Post and Courier
Celebrities have the People's Choice Awards. Smokestack chasers have the annual Economic Development Deal of the Year Awards, as chosen each year by Business Facilities magazine.
And as it turns out, Joe Taylor and his staff over at the S.C. Department of Commerce rose to the top for 2009 on the wings of none other than Boeing Co.
Agencies from 15 states nominated what the trade publication call 19 "big-ticket projects" for consideration by a panel of judges who evaluated economic impact statistics, job-creation estimates and project narratives.
The commerce department snared the "Gold Award" for Boeing's decision to pick North Charleston as the site of its new 787 Dreamliner assembly plant, the magazine noted.
With completion set for mid-2011, the $750 million investment "vaults the Palmetto State into a leadership position in aerospace manufacturing," according to the Tinton Falls, N.J.-based publication.
"The choice of North Charleston as a manufacturing site for Boeing's best-selling commercial jet will have a seismic impact on South Carolina's economic development," said editor-in-chief Jack Rogers.
Several mega-projects -- with a projected overall economic impact of more than $1 trillion -- were nominated for the top award. The runners-up were Tennessee's Department of Economic & Community Development for luring a Hemlock Semiconductor plant; and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership for its role in landing the Northrup Grumman Shipbuilding-led AREVA/Newport News partnership.
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