4/2/2025
A Tennessee-based general partnership that is spearheading a project that could help bring new industries to Aiken County received support from Aiken County Council on April 1.
The panel unanimously approved the third and final reading of an ordinance that will provide a fee in lieu of property tax incentive and “certain infrastructure credits” to Hollingsworth GP, which is associated with The Hollingsworth Companies.
Hollingsworth GP’s plan is to construct speculative industrial buildings on several pieces of property in Sage Mill Industrial Park, which is in the Graniteville/Vaucluse area.
The Hollingsworth Companies “develop industrial buildings for tenants that they have strong relationships with,” said Will Williams, president and CEO of the Western SC Economic Development Partnership. “Hollingsworth maintains these buildings and they hold on to them. They are not in the business of building a building, getting someone [to lease it] and then selling it.”
The Hollingsworth Companies “serve numerous industrial clients with over 18 million square feet of industrial space,” according to hollingsworthcos.com.
To begin with, Hollingsworth GP will construct two buildings in Sage Mill, according to the ordinance.
“They have a plan that they will build eventually nine buildings,” Williams said.
Those structures, he added, will be “great assets for the community” because “we’re developable site rich, but existing building poor.”
That situation makes it more difficult to attract new industries in Williams’ opinion.
“When you build a new building from scratch, you’re looking at 18 months,” he said. “But in today’s marketplace, companies make decisions quickly and they want to be able to start up pretty quickly.”
Williams mentioned, as an example, Generac Power Systems Inc., which purchased an existing 421,000-square-foot building in Edgefield County in February 2021 to use as a manufacturing, assembly and distribution facility. Operations began there in July of the same year.
Generac makes backup power generation products for the residential, commercial and industrial markets.
All nine members of County Council were present at the panel’s April 1 meeting, which was held at the Aiken County Government Center.
In other action, County Council unanimously approved the second reading of an ordinance that would change the zoning designation for 16 tax parcels in the Beech Island area from Rural Development to Industrial Development.
In all, there are approximately 965 acres involved.
Kimberly-Clark Corporation is seeking the zoning change.
Operations began at the company’s plant in Beech Island in 1968. Products made there include Huggies diapers, Kleenex facial tissues and Cottonelle toilet paper.
The plant has more than 2,000 employees.
An expansion of operations is possible, but nothing has been finalized, Beech Island Plant Manager Jeff Hutter told County Council in February.
The “potential new investment is still being evaluated by our [company’s] CEO and board of directors,” he said. “I’m not able to divulge full details as far as what the future plans may be. However, once the project is approved for our site, I will be sure to touch base back with the county.”
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