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Technology cluster forming on Daniel Island

Submitted by: John Warner on Jun 27, 2003 at 5:00 am Tagged with: General Archives Source:

Technology cluster forming on Daniel Island
Digital Corridor targets 4,000 software companies
from: The Charleston Regional Business Journal 6/16/2003
By Tiffany Jonas, Contributing Writer

Blackbaud, Cambar Software, CSS, Suncom, Pilot Therapeutics, Modulant.all
technology firms. Daniel Island is becoming downright crowded. The Digital
Corridor's Cainhoy District is falling right into line with the goal of local
business leaders to encourage ever more knowledge-based industry to settle in
the area. The Charleston Digital Corridor's web site trumpets the Cainhoy
District, including parts of Daniel Island, as "Charleston's new frontier,"
attributing the area's attraction to state-of-the-art infrastructure, location,
public services, waterfront access, a master-planned town, and a beautiful
corporate campus on Daniel Island. And the fact that several large technology
companies call the Cainhoy District home can't hurt, either. "We're starting to
see the early formation of a cluster," says Ernest Andrade, director of the
Charleston Digital Corridor. "The corridor attempts to put together the parts
and pieces that can effectively serve clusters. At the end of the day, we
quarterback and collaborate with diverse parties that have mutual interests."

Blackbaud helped pioneer the technology migration to the island. Attracted by a
combination of space, benefits, location, and the interest of the Daniel Island
community itself in recruiting companies, it began building its new
headquarters there and moved in August of 2000. At the time, only Cigna
Healthcare's office and the Charleston Battery's stadium had been built; Bishop
England High School was under construction. Rachel Hutchisson, Blackbaud's
director of corporate communications, remembers working at the company during
the headquarters' construction process. "Employees would get very curious about
wanting to go see it," she says. "They sent out an e-mail asking [employees not
to visit the site] because there were nests of poisonous snakes. This was wild
land." A lot changes in three years. Now companies considering relocation to
the area stop by Blackbaud's offices to seek information. "We always have
people drop in to visit, and we're happy to tell them about our experiences,"
says Hutchisson.

Software support consulting company CSS Inc. became another pioneer when it
moved to the Cainhoy District three years ago. After two years occupying part
of the Evergreen Shipping Co. building, CSS will soon occupy its own corporate
headquarters on River Landing Drive. Betsy Eubanks, CSS's human resources
administrator, has seen rapid development of the area firsthand. "The shopping
center has gone up, the Hampton Inn, the new Suncom building and we watched the
new tennis center going up," she says, noting that CSS originally selected
Daniel Island because of its proximity to the airport and the homes of
employees. An additional draw was Ernest Andrade of the Digital Corridor, she
adds. "Ernest has really become our friend since we've met him-he's that way to
any of the companies that have come to Charleston. He really promotes the city."

In support of recruiting technology companies to the Charleston area, including
the Cainhoy District, the Charleston Digital Corridor just launched a national
marketing campaign, something it has not done since its own kickoff in 2001.
Targeting small to medium-sized software companies in key cities in the
Northeast, Southeast and on the West Coast, the campaign promotes Charleston as
an ideal location for knowledge-based businesses. A press release notes the
campaign should accomplish two goals: branding Charleston nationally as
"fertile ground for knowledge-based enterprise" and recruiting companies
already considering relocation. The first postcard of the three-step mail
campaign, themed "Relocate to Charleston-it's easier than you think," weӪnt out
in late May, with a second postcard to follow mid-June. Each of the three
postcards feature a corridor company highlighting business perspectives
important to them, including the ability to realize the potential of a business
and Charleston's appeal in helping a business recruit and retain quality
employees. The postcards will hit the mailboxes of "4,000 software
manufacturers, development firms, small- to medium-sized software development
firms that we think are compatible with all the companies in the Cainhoy
District and the Digital Corridor in general," says Andrade. "We picked cities
that we think are a good fit."

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