Kuntai (North Charleston) Limited Corporation an automotive parts manufacturer, announced plans to establish operations in Orangeburg County.

The company’s $1.5 million investment will create 41 jobs.

Kuntai specializes in car floor mats and is a supplier for high-end original equipment manufacturers. 

Located at 152 Regional Parkway, Building F, in Orangeburg, Kuntai’s new facility will allow the company to produce floor mats and will be used as a base to further expand its business in the North American market.

Operations are expected to be online by October 2022. Individuals interested in joining the Kuntai team should email resumes to the company.

“Kuntai (North Charleston) Limited Corporation is excited to open its new floor mats factory in Orangeburg, South Carolina,” said Kuntai General Manager Vincent Zhang.

“We chose South Carolina as our new facility location because of the business-friendly environment, its skilled workforce and proximity to our customers. We look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship and will definitely consider South Carolina for all future projects.” 

After years of planning, Greenville Enterprise Park is up and running in South Greenville with its first industrial spec development project, SunCap’s Enterprise 85.

Colliers’ Garrett Scott, John Montgomery, Brockton Hall and Dillon Swayngim have been selected to handle leasing for the project.

In partnership with the Real Estate business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, SunCap Property Group purchased the 140-acre site just south of I-185 and downtown Greenville at 7755 Augusta Road (US Highway 25) and has broken ground on a ±1,006,880-square-foot Phase 1 building.

The park is designed for flexibility, offering tenants the option to expand the initial Phase 1 building up to 1.5 million square feet under one roof or to divide the site into two stand-alone buildings, ±1-million-square-foot Phase 1 and ±567,000-square-foot Phase 2.

This will be SunCap’s eighth development project in the Upstate and the largest speculative building constructed in Greenville County to date.

“With tenant demand expanding both in number and size, the construction of new Class A industrial space that can accommodate 1 million square feet and above continues to be in high demand in the Upstate market,” says Colliers Managing Director Garrett Scott.

“SunCap has their finger on the pulse in the GSP market and has identified Greenville Enterprise Park as an excellent opportunity and location to meet growing big-box demands. They will be ready when tenants need to occupy quickly in market.”

Vermeer was the first industrial user to secure a location at Greenville Enterprise Park with the purchase of 44 acres of land for a build-to-suit facility in 2019. The industrial and agricultural machinery manufacturer has subsequently purchased the adjacent 25-acre lot to accommodate future expansion at this location.

Greenville Enterprise Park was zoned as a “Business and Technology” park in 2018, a unique designation designed to bring clean, modern and advanced industries such as office, laboratories, data centers, warehousing and clean manufacturing investments to Greenville County.

 Southern First Bank has invested $1 million in CommunityWorks to support their statewide small business and affordable housing lending.

CommunityWorks serves small businesses and affordable housing developers through a variety of lending and coaching programs.

As of 2021, 70.3 percent of CommunityWorks clients are female, approximately 80 percent of CommunityWorks’ small business coaching and lending clients are minorities, and in total, 70 percent of CommunityWorks’ clients are African American.

CommunityWorks plans to increase access to financial products for minority businesses and developers throughout South Carolina with the help of Southern First’s five-year investment.

The tailored loan products CommunityWorks offers range between $900 and $250,000 to support businesses and loans of up $1 million for affordable housing development.

Though headquartered in the Upstate, CommunityWorks serves all of South Carolina and is particularly focused on expanding its reach throughout the state in the upcoming years.

Similarly, Southern First is headquartered in Greenville but has locations throughout South Carolina and the greater Southeast.

“Southern First is an amazing community partner. We are honored to have the opportunity to work with them through this investment to support capital opportunities for small businesses and affordable housing projects across South Carolina,” said Tammie Hoy Hawkins, CEO of CommunityWorks.

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of country singer Trisha Yearwood's animal fund, Dottie’s Yard, Yearwood is hosting a live virtual event with TalkShopLive on Wednesday, July 27, at 7 p.m. to benefit Empty the Shelters and help animal shelters across the country, including in South Carolina.

Fans and animal lovers can participate in the live event at TalkShopLive. Yearwood's mission is to help every dog find their forever home.

As shelters never have enough essential supplies to accommodate over 6.5 million surrenders and strays surrendered annually at shelters, they always need support.

"There are so many shelters across the country, a lot of them are volunteer, a lot of them rely on people to donate money, or to foster or to adopt or to give supplies and we just want to shine a light on rescue and the need and to be able to help as many animals as we possibly can." says Yearwood.

For the first time, the Trisha Yearwood Paw Hoodie will be available for purchase exclusively for 24 hours with all proceeds going directly to Dottie's Yard.

Fans may also donate directly to Dottie's Yard. Donations over $25 will receive a special Dottie's Yard magnet.

All donations and proceeds from the special hoodie during TalkShopLive will go to 27 participating Empty the Shelters in 27 different states.

In addition, each shelter will receive 27 leashes and 27 collars from the Trisha Yearwood Pet Collection. Also, all shelters will each receive 27 bags of Trisha Yearwood Dog Food.