Greenville Business Magazine is out with its annual 50 Most Influential Leaders this year. It offers a good mix of leadership from business, real estate, health care, banking, education, public activism etc.
Gas stoves are under attack. It’s no longer limited to multi-family developments in certain states that can’t use gas stoves, but now the Biden Administration is looking to outlaw their use across the country. I’m not sure exactly how this will be implemented. Perhaps they will come up with a plan whereby a homeowner would register his/her gas stove with the government and the government would then have a crew come out and install a new electric stove. It’s not clear how many gas stoves are in operation but it could easily be 15-20 million. If the average new electric stove costs $1,000 then the U.S. government might get this done for a mere $20 billion or so. That does not include the cost to take away and destroy 20,000,000 stoves. It also doesn’t take into account if electrical upgrades need to be made to accomodate the new electric stoves in U.S. homes. I’m not sure what that might cost so maybe that’s another $5 billion? Perhaps the U.S. could do this for $25 billion? Just a drop in the bucket. Maybe they can get the manufacturers onboard if they convince them that there will be $15-$20 billion in sales staring them in the face. But that said, the supply chain and manufacturing capacity would never allow this. So, if they do this, it most likely will be a slow conversion that would take place over the next 20 years or so.
One of the real legends and heroes of the Upstate has passed away this weekend. The founder of the much beloved Happy Cow Creamery passed away on September 3rd according to this article in the Greenville Journal.
Happy Cow Creamery is a local dairy farm that many in the area rely on for their supply of milk. We happen to personally be big fans of the Happy Cow milk. It’s not cheap but it is the best tasting milk I have ever tasted! We prefer the whole milk đ We get ours at the Mauldin Open Air Market which is another fabulous spot here in Greenville. It’s located kaddy corner from Mauldin High School and is run by some of the hardest working senior ladies I have ever met!
Here is the obituary for Thomas, “Farmer Tom” Trantham. No doubt his family will carry on the incredible work being done at the farm. Rest in Peace, Farmer Tom! You ran the good race!
The new 25,000 square foot state-of-the-art multi-tenant data center is now officially open in Greenville. DC BLOX has announced that it’s new facility is open for business.
âWe are excited to announce that our new Greenville data center is ready and open for business. As promised, this first Tier III-designed data center in this market was built specifically to accelerate the deployment of critical infrastructure and interconnected cloud services throughout South Carolina. We have seen robust pre-leasing activity as the Upstate is thriving, and we are thrilled to be able to contribute to the regionâs future growth,â comments Jeff Uphues, CEO of DC BLOX.”
“DC BLOXâs purpose-built data center facility is located in Greenvilleâs Global Business Park off of Interstate 85 and will have a capacity of 54,000 square feet of white space and 18MW of power at full build-out. The multi-tenant data center was designed to meet the need for local, reliable, world-class colocation to enable the regionâs future growth. Previously, companies in the region looking for this class of facility were forced to house their IT infrastructure in Charlotte or Atlanta.”
The way I read this is that this opens the door to South Carolina and specifically the Upstate area to start to see more IT-related companies start to develop footprints in the area. It’s just another sign of the continued growth of South Carolina.
BMW Spartanburg manufacturing plant had three of its models recognized by J.D. Power in 2021. The X4, X6, and X7 all received this prestigious recognition.
I have not yet taken a tour of the BMW plant but it is on my list of things to do. I have driven in to the employee parking lot as well as driven around the back of it on SC-101 which is on the north side of the facility. The plant is MASSIVE. It was amazing to drive past it and I can’t wait to check it out some day. BMW has played a critical part in the overall growth and success of the Upstate. Here’s the link for the tours at BMW Spartanburg.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage through the planet, it’s effects are certainly hitting home. BMW has shut down and just announced that it will extend the shut down until April 30, 2020 at this point.
BMW is an enormous employer here in the Upstate employing more than 11,000 people. They are a huge driver to economic development, growth and prosperity to the area. According to the Upstate Business Journal article about BMW, they quote BMW as stating, âwe continue to be concerned about the health and safety of the entire BMW workforce. During this time, additional cleaning and disinfecting will be performed at work stations throughout the plant.â Thank you BMW for all that you do for our community and for working hard to keep your employees safe especially at this time.
Let’s hope we can all get back to work safely and soon!