What this county south of Charlotte is doing to get a shot at a huge auto plant

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A South Carolina county just to the south of the Charlotte region is prepping to attract an auto assembly plant or some other 2,000-job employer to an industrial site along Interstate 77.

Fairfield County has bought about 1,000 acres and wants to pitch it to a single user that would establish a manufacturing operation to draw workers from a 45-minute commute radius. An auto plant is No. 1 on its wish list.

It’s called the I-77 International Megasite, and it’s located to the north of Exit 34 or about 70 miles south of Charlotte.

Jeannette Goldsmith, vice president of site selection consultant Strategic Development Group of Columbia, South Carolina, said during the S.C. I-77 Alliance’s Annual Economic Development Summit Thursday in Richburg, South Carolina, that the site may just be on target.

“We think the site has a good potential for drawing a large employer” such as an auto plant, she told the approximately 105 attendees at the event. She particularly likes that the available workforce within that 45-minute commute to the megasite is approaching 600,000.

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