By Dan McCue

NORTH CHARLESTON -- Mark Condon, former director of the S.C. World Trade Center, promised the local importing and exporting community that it wouldn’t be losing him when he accepted a new position with a development firm last year.

Now it turns out that firm, the Trade Center Development Corp., is joining Condon here, announcing Aug. 24 it is moving its headquarters from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to North Charleston.

Also the company announced the solidification of its board of directors, with the addition of Charlestonian James Gianoukos, president and chairman ATS Logistics Inc., and Summer Xia, a Chinese-born U.S. citizen who is the founder and chairman of The Segue Group Inc., a California corporation that specializes in business management and international investment.

“Basically, Fred Frankel, the chairman and president of our company, decided that relocating to the Charleston area, what with the incredible growth potential of both the port and the state’s manufacturing base, was a better place to launch our concepts,” said  Condon, TCDC’s vice president.

The TCDC, a real estate investment trust, was formed in October 2005 to fund and own selected World Trade Center buildings and affiliated facilities around the world. The company is the developer of the S.C. World Trade Center building currently being planned for land adjacent to the North Charleston Performing Arts Center.

Through related companies, the TCDC will provide a full range of trade-related services to clients including offices, showcases, exhibit program, import/export marketing, sales and distribution facilities.

“We’re calling this, WTC-3G, thinking of our approach as the third generation of World Trade Center design,” Condon said. “In fact, we’ve created an affiliate, WTC-3G Corp., to act as the developer of the appropriate projects.”
Frankel said the South Carolina project will serve as a prototype for the kind of facilities the company hopes to do elsewhere.

"When World Trade Centers first began to proliferate 35 years ago, the local organizations basically rented office space and provided import and export support services," he said. "The second generation of World Trade Centers began to integrate trade show space into the mix. However, after 9/11, the world changed significantly and the visas you need to participate in these trade shows became harder and harder to come by.

"That's why the next generation of World Trade Centers will provide an entirely new level of marketing and enhanced support services, so that even if you can't get all your people in to promote trade in your country in a timely fashion, you'll still be able to maintain a meaningful presence at these events."

Frankel, who developed both commercial and residential properties in Florida, built his first trade-related building in Port Everglades in 1984.

"I built it as a foreign trade zone and incorporated exhibit space into the design," he said. "It laid the foundation for the ambitious plans we have today."