Boeing IS Committing to South Carolina! (Columbia, Charleston: short sale, 2009, foreclosure)

[UpstateBooster]

Boeing announced today that a full assembly line for the 787 aircraft will be in N. Charleston - a further commitment to South Carolina, and should be an economic engine for the region. According to what I read, company officials even said that testing and final delivery of these a/c will take place at this new facility to be built in phases. Kudos to the economic development folks in the Charleston area. GO S. CAROLINA!!!

[DJShymansky]

Yep, it's a fantastic move and will do wonders for the area's economy and employment-seeking population. The ripple effect is going to be something almost miraculous to watch. Kudos, indeed!

Here's the most recent article on it from SC Biz News, though I'm sure there's bound to be several in the coming days and weeks.

BREAKING NEWS
OCT. 28, 2009



Boeing locating 787 plant
in North Charleston

By Molly Parker and Mike Fitts
mparker@scbiznews.com
mfitts@scbiznews.com

COLUMBIA - With much fanfare, lawmakers just announced that the Boeing Co. is building its second Dreamliner assembly line in North Charleston.

With this announcement, South Carolina has landed one of the biggest economic development deals in recent history. Several thousand new jobs are on the horizon. The marquee company's decision to put an assembly plant here also bodes well for local attempts to launch a major aerospace manufacturing base.

"What it means to our state we can't even calculate today," said Hugh Leatherman, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

Today, the House and Senate gave final approval to an incentive package that requires for qualification that a company invest at least $750 million and create 3,800 full-time positions over seven years.

The final vote came on the heels of reports out of Seattle that talks had broken down between Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Boeing wanted a no-strike agreement. The union walked off the job for two months last year, costing the company millions and delaying production.

In July, a day after Boeing purchased the local aft fuselage facility, an employee here filed for a decertification election that eventually booted the Machinists union out of Charleston.

Washington officials bemoaned the news.

"What's important moving forward is that we all understand why these two parties could not reach an agreement so that we may play a role in rebuilding this relationship," Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon said in an announcement.

Approximately 55 airlines have ordered about 840 of the 787 airplanes since the program was launched in 2003.

"Establishing a second 787 assembly line in Charleston will expand our production capability to meet the market demand for the airplane," said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "This decision allows us to continue building on the synergies we have established in South Carolina with Boeing Charleston and Global Aeronautica," he said.

Boeing Charleston performs fabrication, assembly and systems installation for the 787 aft fuselage sections. Across the street, Global Aeronautica, which is 50% owned by Boeing, is responsible for the joining and integration of 787 fuselage sections from other structural partners.

[moneill]

Great news!!!!!!!! The cruise ship industry, now this.....big deal for Charleston.

[DJShymansky]

That and Maersk committing to stay until 2014 didn't hurt either.

[UpstateBooster]

Originally Posted by DJShymansky

That and Maersk committing to stay until 2014 didn't hurt either.

Forgot about that! All very good things to see.

[jeromy113]

You think this will bring up the Housing prices? Too low for us to sell right now but in a year or so, things may look better.

[Akhenaton06]

It would have been something to have all of these positive announcements AND still have the Naval base operating.

[UpstateBooster]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

It would have been something to have all of these positive announcements AND still have the Naval base operating.

I agree.

[moneill]

This won't 'raise' house prices. It may stop them from falling further. Heard someone say on the radio that they expect that house prices are near bottom or at bottom but they will not rise anytime soon. This was referring to house prices nationally -- so it may be different in Charleston but with the amount of inventory existing, and if prices did start to rise I would suspect more people would put their houses on the market and then prices would be forced to come down again.

[DJShymansky]

Inventory needs to drop significantly in a number of areas, and we need to see a light at the end of the short sale/foreclosure/lender-owned tunnel before prices will start rebounding. Even then we'll still likely have pockets of decline in areas that are oversaturated with current and upcoming listings. All of the above news though is going to prove beneficial to the underlying economy and that will hopefully help us drive through the necessary changes.