Charleston Offers Incentives to Lure High-Tech Downtown

"We have the ability to take the second floors of some of these beautiful historic buildings located in an area of unprecedented urban quality and make them available on attractive terms to high-tech businesses that could choose to locate anywhere," Ernest Andrade, the city's assistant economic development director, tells GlobeSt.com.

One example is the former Kress building, a 30,000-sf structure that has 16,000 sf available on the second floor. Rates there are $21 per sf, less than one of Downtown's most expensive buildings, the Gateway Center.

Its first phase of 80,000 sf has a Downtown location overlooking the waterfront and the city's new aquarium. Rates are from $25 per sf to $28 per sf, Andrade tells GlobeSt.com.

"It's substantially leased and it's got everything from law offices to Web portal companies," he says. A second phase is in the planning stages.

Part of the attraction of Charleston is its lifestyle. It is sometimes called the San Francisco of the East Coast. The city has developed incentives both for all businesses as well as for high-tech companies.

Incentives include a fast-track permitting process and waived city fees for renovations, preferred parking in city garages, property tax exemptions and reduced business licenses.

The city has also come up with such innovative ideas as group health insurance plans that will let eligible businesses receive lower rates by buying in bulk.

Office space already available ranges from 500 sf to 2,500 sf, Andrade says. Prices are comparable to the suburban market. "You could be in the heart of this world-class city for the same rent you paid in any location in the greater Charleston area," Andrade tells GlobeSt.com. He estimates there are possibly a dozen high-tech businesses already located Downtown.

Charleston, the second largest city in South Carolina, is an educational and medical hub that in the past has been better known for tourism and horse-drawn carriages than it has for high-tech.