By Dan McCue
Staff Writer

An investment group with ties to both the People’s Republic of China and the Lowcountry has revealed its plans to create an “international city” of commerce and industry on 4,500 acres in Orangeburg.

The World Trade City Orangeburg LLC currently has about 1,200 acres fronting Interstate 26 in Orangeburg under contract and holds letters of intent to purchase the remaining 3,300 acres, according to Summer Xia, who is president of the investment group and president of the World Trade Center Ningbo.

Development of the first 1,200 acres into a $100 million mixed-used logistics center combining office and exhibition space with warehousing and distribution facilities is expected to begin in the next six months and, depending on the needs of potential tenants, could begin earlier.

The first of four phases of development is expected to create about 1,000 jobs, Xia said. At full buildout, which is expected to take 10 to 15 years, the development is expected to bring about $1 billion of investment to the state.

Local founding partners in the investment group include Mark Condon, former executive director of the S.C. World Trade Center and now chief operating officer of World Trade City Orangeburg LLC, Jimmie Gianoukos, president and CEO of ATS Logistics and CEO of the new LLC, and Dean Allen, a long time commercial and industrial real estate broker who is broker in charge of World Trade Realty LLC and chief development officer of the group. Richard Weiser, president and CEO of the Weiser Companies, the company behind the Center Pointe development in North Charleston, has since also signed on as a partner.

“What we want to do is turn ‘Made in China’ back into ‘Made in America’ by inviting Chinese manufacturers to establish facilities in Orangeburg,” said Xia, who spent a decade working for various trade-related government agencies in China before moving to the United States and becoming a U.S. citizen. “But we won't only serve Chinese companies — India, Japan and even tiny Singapore are all looking for ways to get into and better serve the U.S. market, and we’re also reaching out to European companies as well.”

The investment group is developing farmland currently owned by Jim Rocquemore, the president of Super Sod of Orangeburg who last year sold more than 1,300 acres to Dubai-based Jafza International, and Hugh Weathers, South Carolina's Secretary of Agriculture, Gianoukos said.

As envisioned by the investment group, the total development will consist of four zones: the initial mixed-use phase, a second zone more squarely focused on distribution and logistics, a third zone dedicated specifically to manufacturing and assembly and a fourth zone dedicated to what the group described as "high-end" residential development.

Xia said the development in Orangeburg could alleviate long-held fears that America’s huge trade imbalance with China has resulted in jobs going overseas.

“We'll be creating jobs in South Carolina and creating goods here, taking a bite out of the trade imbalance,” he said. “That will make the American government happy and give the Chinese government a better face here. China's investment in America is a good thing."

Gianoukos and Condon said that the project is being entirely funded by private investment. Some sovereign funds might ultimately come from the Chinese government but only through its ownership of companies that choose to locate in Orangeburg.

"We didn't want to complicate matters by having the Chinese government invest in the project at this time," Xia said. "Getting governments involved sometimes only serves to complicate things."