Electric Cooperative Hopes To Energize S.C. Economy

Compiled ByTonya Vinas Pee Dee Electric Cooperative Inc., a Touchstone Energy cooperative, has broken ground on a $750 million commercial industrial complex on 714 acres in Florence, S.C. Pee Dee Touchstone Energy Commerce City was dedicated Oct. 26 and has been dubbed an incubator for economic and job growth. It has the potential to generate 2,000 jobs from tenant companies, and profits from the complex will be reinvested. Two tenants have signed up for the park: City of Florence Water Treatment Plant and Crenlo Inc., a construction company equipment manufacturer. According to Brant Skogrand, a spokesman for the project, Pee Dee president and CEO Robert W. Williams Jr. created the project in response to growing unemployment in the region and the relocation of the local textiles industry to Mexico. Darlington, S.C.-based Pee Dee, which is owned by its users, was the sole investor in the park, Skogrand says.