Horry County planning to offer ‘economic incentives’ to company locating in Loris area

Horry County leaders are preparing to offer “economic incentives” to a yet-unnamed company which could locate in the Loris area.

Many details of the incentive package are not yet available, and county leaders declined this week to reveal what incentives the county is offering to the company, the name of the company, or what economic impact, including the number of new jobs, the company locating here could bring.

But Tuesday night, at the end of the Horry County Council’s regular meeting, council members voted 11-0 to approve an “economic incentive package” for an unnamed company, part of an effort the county is calling “Project Llama.” Such incentive packages offered to private companies by local governments often include tax or fee reductions or deferrals and may sometimes include other pledges to the company by the government, like a promise to build certain infrastructure before a company begins operations.

What is known, though, is that county leaders are willing to offer incentives to a company that plans to operate in Horry County in the near future. Such deals are relatively infrequent in Horry County, and county leaders don’t often vote on such incentive packages.

County Council member Johnny Vaught said Wednesday that the company may occupy the former Accent Stainless Steel manufacturing facility in Loris, though Vaught declined to provide additional details.

Accent Stainless Steel made headlines six years ago when the company promised to build a new 58,000 square-foot manufacturing facility, hire more than 60 people and pay more than $22 per hour to welders who would help make equipment for breweries.

But in November 2018, Accent Stainless Steel closed abruptly after a Canadian company acquired the firm, leaving both local officials and employees confused by the sudden shutdown.

When Accent Stainless Steel located here, Loris waived an impact fee and other infrastructure requirements. If the company had been successful, it would have received job development credits as well. Under that deal, the company would have received $80,000 after it hired 20 employees, and more payments later, though it never reached the 20 employee threshold.

Kelly Moore, a spokesperson for Horry County, referred questions to the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation on Wednesday.

Sandy Davis, the president and CEO of the MBREDC — which is part of Project Llama and the economic incentive deal — declined to release information about the incentive package on Wednesday.

“Right now we are not releasing any information on Project Llama,” she said. “Once we have a signed agreement of what will be the incentives I’ll be happy to release full details.”

The MBREDC has been involved in other efforts to lure manufacturing companies to Horry County. In recent years, the agency’s Ascott Valley industrial park has emerged as a key piece of that effort, and the agency has announced that several companies, including local office cubicle and furniture maker Skutchi Designs, Inc., plan to expand and locate at that site.

Johnny Gardner, the chairman of the Horry County council, said Tuesday night that officials were remaining tight-lipped about the project because they wanted to ensure the deal with the company went through.

“Any time we have businesses trying to come here, there’s different incentives that we use,” he explained to reporters. “If we’re courting a business to come here and we’re negotiating back and forth, that’s something we probably don’t want to get out.”

Alex Clark, a spokesperson for the South Carolina Department of Commerce, also declined to comment on a company potentially accepting an economic incentive package and locating in Horry County, but noted that such a deal wouldn’t need state involvement or approval to go forward. The state Dept. of Commerce regularly negotiates economic incentive packages with companies to lure them to South Carolina and frequently touts its success at doing so.

Davis, who played a significant role in attracting Accent Stainless Steel to Horry County, added on Wednesday that county officials were briefed on Tuesday even though she, the company and others were still finalizing details of the incentive package.

“Right now,” she said, “we don’t have the details ironed out.”

This story was originally published July 14, 2021 at 4:23 PM.