A study
was released this past week by Miley & Associates (Columbia, SC)
that detailed the forecasted economic impact of Boeing's new DreamLiner
plant in the Charleston region. It is going to be huge for Charleston
and the region. In summary, the report concludes:
Initial construction of the facility – a direct capital investment of
$827 million, creating 5,725 construction/design jobs with a labor cost
of $247 million. Indirect investment of $252 million and $91 million
labor cost (1,883 jobs). Induced investment of $242 million and $76
million of labor (2,277 jobs).
On-Going Operations – direct output of $4.5 billion (that’s a “B”) .
Indirect impact will be $709 million and create another 4,788 jobs.
Induced economic impact will be another $712 million per year and create
another 6,691 jobs. The state (outside the 7-county study area) is
expected to realize another $186 million in economic impact. That
aggregates to $6.14 BILLION annual economic impact including $1.23
billion in labor costs and 15,278 on-going jobs.
Using BMW’s growth in the Upstate as a barometer for Boeing, the
report suggests Boeing will employ 9,500 in the region by 2027.
Boeing cited the following reasons for choosing Charleston:
workforce, business climate (I think that might be code for non-union),
reliable and abundant power (that could also be said for the workforce –
see non-union), near the ports, airport and interstate highway system,
proximity to Vought (the company that supplies parts of the Dreamliner
and Boeing bought earlier – and employs another 2,200 by the way), plus
state/local leadership and past relationships with the state.
So, Boeing will employ 6,000 with annual compensation of nearly a
quarter billion dollars soon. It will be amazing – and we suspect the
employment figures are light and they might directly employ
10,000-15,000 in the Charleston region by 2020. (As a benchmark, Boeing
employs about 75,000 in Washington state). The impact on the
commercial real estate market, office, industrial, and retail, and the
residential market will be substantial to say the least. Stay tuned…