MELINDA WALDROP PROFILE

Tissue and pulp manufacturer Georgia-Pacific is investing $40 million in an expansion of its Clarendon County operations. Founded in 1927, Georgia-Pacific is a global manufacturer and marketers of consumer tissue and tableware product... Read More

The South Carolina State Fair is seeking temporary workers for the 12-day annual event, set for Oct. 12-23 at the S.C. State Fairgrounds. Available positions include cookie kitchen attendants, guest services, home and craft attend... Read More

State agribusinesses have until Sept. 30 to apply for tax credits intended to reward companies for buying S.C.-grown products. Income tax credits or withholding tax credits are available to qualified agribusinesses or agricultural pac... Read More

South Carolina’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.2% in June, down from May’s estimate of 3.3%, with the state’s economy adding 76,100 jobs in the last 12 months. The S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce’s... Read More

A 14,100-square-foot medical office building in downtown Columbia has sold for $3.3 million. Bruce Harper, managing partner of Trinity Partners, represented the seller of the property, located at 1520 Taylor St. and home to Hawtho... Read More

Columbia urban farm and agribusiness City Roots is investing $4.4 million in an expansion expected to create 60 jobs in the next five years. Established in 2009, City Roots is a sustainable farm that produces fresh, organic vegeta... Read More

Hotel Trundle, a downtown boutique hotel, is expanding with a new wing expected to open next spring. The hotel, which transformed three vacant retail buildings at the corner of Taylor and Sumter streets when it opened in April 201... Read More

An Aiken-headquartered manufacturer and supplier of high-performance glass fiber materials has named a new president and CEO. Al Ridilla will assume day-to-day leadership of AGY Holding Corp. and join the company’s board of dire... Read More

A Blythewood-based investment company is one of two startups accepted as new South Carolina Research Authority member companies. Borealis Global Advisory LLC provides global equity products and services to individuals, advisors and or... Read More

Palmetto Place Children’s Center today received a donation of fresh produce from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s Community Demonstration Garden. DHEC broke ground on the garden, designed by the ag... Read More

The tight industrial real estate market in the Columbia area will soon have a new addition. A 43,750-square-foot speculative building is planned for Saxe Gotha Industrial Park, site of Nephron Pharmaceuticals and an Amazon distributio... Read More

Leadership Columbia is requesting proposals from area nonprofits for its 2023 class project. Each year, the flagship leadership program of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce works on a selected project that creates a positive effect in ... Read More

SC Biz News has named 119 companies ranging from contractors to credit unions to its 2022 list of Best Places to Work in South Carolina.   The companies were chosen in partnership with the publishers of SC Biz News and ... Read More

An Atlanta-based real estate investment firm has acquired three flex properties totaling 107,268 square feet in Columbia. Greenleaf Capital purchased the properties for $6.27 million in a transaction facilitated by Wilson Kib... Read More

Claflin University is launching The Institute of Teaching and Nursing on Tuesday. The institute is part is of South Carolina’s Institutes of Innovation and Information, a nonprofit which provides resources and support for the st... Read More

A former partner at Nexsen Pruet is the new chief of staff at the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce. William H. Floyd III, a certified labor and employment law specialist, was a partner in Nexsen Pruet’s Labor and Empl... Read More

Nine agribusiness entrepreneurs have been awarded a share of $150,000 in the latest round of the S.C. Department of Agriculture’s Agribusiness Center for Research and Entrepreneurship funding. The businesses range from an oyster... Read More

Preserving South Carolina’s architectural heritage is one mission of the South Carolina Architectural Foundation and the state chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and a new showplace designed to highlight that ongoing ... Read More

The Ritedose Corp., a Columbia-headquartered pharmaceutical company, is giving its 450-plus employees a $100-a-month “fuel subsidy” in their paychecks. Jody Chastain, Ritedose president and CEO, estimated that the subsidy ... Read More

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comment from Dezzutti. Pixie Paula Dezzutti, owner of Charleston’s Striped Pig Distillery, is the new CEO of a Columbia-based bio pharmaceutical company. Sycamore BioPharma... Read More

A year shy of its 20th anniversary, Pyramid Contracting is celebrating a new home for its business. Company executives joined state representatives and city officials to cut the ribbon on Pyramid’s new corporate headquarters... Read More

Claflin University has received a $500,000 grant to support its Center for Social Justice and its Pathways From Prison education program. The investment from Bank of America will help fund Claflin’s partnership with the S.C. Dep... Read More

South Carolina’s May unemployment rate remained unchanged from April at 3.3%, with the leisure and hospitality industry adding 4,000 jobs and manufacturing adding 2,200. While the overall rate remained the same, unemployment ros... Read More

Irmo-headquartered Great Southern Homes is joining forces with one of Florida’s largest mortgage providers to form a new broker of home mortgage loans.  Homeowners Mortgage LLC aims to make new home ownership an attainable ... Read More

Local and federal data found that eight of 10 South Carolina metropolitan statistical areas have seen wage increases in the last two years. The S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce’s examination of labor market informatio... Read More

Benedict College will use a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service to continue rehabilitation efforts at Morgan Hall. The African American Civil Rights grant will be used to implement the second phase of a preservation proj... Read More

Potential homeowners can learn about available loan programs and other information during June’s All Access Columbia session. The quarterly sessions held by the city’s Community Development department aim to strengthen nei... Read More

Drama students at White Knoll High School have a brand-new Performing Arts Center in which to showcase their talents. The center, constructed as part of $26.2 million in improvements to the Lexington high school’s campus mad... Read More

The Saluda County School District has been allocated $38 million to renovate and replace outdated facilities. The funding is part of the $100 million appropriated to the South Carolina Department of Education as part of the Gener... Read More

A pair of downtown Columbia hotels have sold to an institutional buyer for an undisclosed price. Hilton Garden Inn and Home2 Suites on Pickens Street have sold in a transaction facilitated by Mayank Patel, senior vice president of Hun... Read More

A former Orangeburg School District employee has been sentenced to almost three years in federal prison for defrauding the district of more than $550,000. David Cortez Marshall was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Mary G. L... Read More

An international decor printing company is investing $21 million to expand its Lexington County operations in a move expected to create 23 jobs during the next five years. Schattdecor, a family-owned company headquartered in Germany a... Read More

A Richland County businessman has been charged with six counts of tax evasion. S.C. Department of Revenue agents arrested Ronnie L. Dozier today, according to a news release from the department.   Dozier, 53, of Hopkins, opera... Read More

An industrial building in West Columbia has sold for $6.375 million. Trinity Partners’ Nick Stomski and Jake Nidiffer represented the seller of the 180,000-square-foot building at 107 McQueen St. The agents generated multipl... Read More

Two new businesses are set to open in Columbia in the next two weeks. On Friday, North Main will welcome its newest resident, Good Vibes Paint & Sip. The venue, which will offer the chance to create paintings with an emphasis on m... Read More

South Carolinians will see the final increase in gas taxes of a phased, six-year plan starting July 1. The Motor Fuel User Fee increase will raise gas prices by two cents per gallon for the final time as part of the South Carolin... Read More

The Columbia Chamber of Commerce honored nine local businesses and individuals, ranging from a hotel to an exterminating company, with its 2022 Impact Awards. The awards, presented by Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A., were announced virt... Read More

An Orangeburg County man has been arrested and charged with three counts of tax evasion. David Cortez Marshall Jr., 31, of Orangeburg failed to report sales for his company, Level 8 Communications LLC, totaling $1.1 million from 2019 ... Read More

In the five years since opening its first U.S. home appliance manufacturing facility in 2017, Samsung has invested nearly $500 million in the Newberry County plant. That total exceeds the $380 million planned investment, according... Read More

Aficionados of a Southern delicacy have a new way to consume pimento cheese. Experience Columbia SC is celebrating National Cheese Day on June 4 by reintroducing its Pimento Cheese Passport. The downloadable passport features 17 d... Read More

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions and Denmark Technical College have created a paid internship program to train Savannah River Site nuclear operators. The apprenticeships, open to area residents and students from local colleges and uni... Read More

An exercise equipment company which purchased a Lexington facility in March is expanding operations. Sorinex Exercise Equipment Inc. is investing $7 million in an expansion of its 120 Glassmaster Road facility expected to create 35 jo... Read More

Beginning next week, Midlands residents will have a new way to get a taste of Columbia. Food Truck Fridays will showcase area cuisine the next three weeks at designated locations, starting with three downtown dining opportunities on J... Read More

The International African American Museum will welcome its first visitors on Jan. 21, 2023. The museum is located at the site of Gadsden’s Wharf in downtown Charleston, where many slaves disembarked from Africa. Its focus will b... Read More

Three York County hotels have been sold to a Charlotte-headquartered, privately held real estate investment, development and management company. Hunter Hotel Advisors facilitated the sale of the Hampton Inn & Suites in Fort Mi... Read More

Wilmington, Del.-headquartered DuPont has opened a new manufacturing facility at its Berkeley County plant that will have a global reach. The Liveo Healthcare facility, located at DuPont’s Cooper River plant, will increase t... Read More

Milliken & Co. Charitable Foundation is donating $2,000 scholarships to five historically Black colleges and universities in South Carolina. The grant will provide one scholarship per institution beginning this fall to science, te... Read More

The International African American Museum has received a $250,000 grant from TD Bank to sponsor onsite and online programming. The TD Bank Program Series will feature nine major community events and programs from 2022 to 2024 aime... Read More

Twelve defendants from seven construction-related companies have been sentenced for employment tax fraud felonies and crimes related to hiring unauthorized workers in a scheme that saw at least $15 million in bogus checks cashed. The ... Read More

An industrial flex building in Columbia has been purchased for $1.5 million. The 14,420-square-foot building at 700 Gracern Road was not publicly marketed, according to a news release from Trinity Partners. Trinity’s Roger W... Read More

McMillan Pazdan Smith, an architecture firm with locations in Columbia and throughout the state, has named a new COO. Mark Gettig previously served as the president of LifeMade, a division of Greer-based manufacturer Jadex I... Read More

Five Points’ newest business features a familiar face. Dance supply shop The Turning Pointe relocated from the Forest Drive location it had called home for 38 years to 1030 Harden Street after owner Coleen Strasburger receiv... Read More

A Connecticut-based startup has launched a community gift card program that includes 148 cards specific to S.C. towns. The cards, offered by Giverrang, can be redeemed at local, independent businesses throughout the state. A portion o... Read More

Fifty-three high school students have received scholarships through the South Carolina State Fair’s Ride of Your Life program. The $6,000 scholarships are awarded at an annual rate of $1,500 to students planning to pursue th... Read More

The Midlands’ tight industrial real estate market will get a boost with a planned 350,000-square-foot speculative building at Pineview Industrial Park in Richland County. Summit Real Estate Group is investing $28.6 million towar... Read More

Photos from Family Connection’s LOOK! 2021 exhibit will be on display at Columbiana Centre Mall beginning Saturday. Family Connection serves S.C. families who have children with a disability or chronic health condition. A r... Read More

South Carolina’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.3% in April from 3.4% in March, with the financial activities and leisure and hospitality industries seeing the largest employment gains. The S.C. Department of Employment and Work... Read More

Fourteen years ago, the biofuel world looked a bit different. When Beth and Joe Renwick founded what was then called Midlands Biofuels in 2008, restaurants paid to dispose of used cooking oil, which often went to landfills. Now, t... Read More

The city of Columbia and Richland County will participate in a national study aimed at understanding and reducing heat-related health risks. The urban head island mapping initiative will provide localized detail which can be used to i... Read More

Lou Kennedy admitted to a few flashbacks as she stood in the bright sunlight filling an interior courtyard at Seven Oaks Elementary School on Thursday morning. “This is where I stayed in trouble, in that corner,” Kennedy, ... Read More

Benedict College has become the first in the nation to agree to participate in the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs’ Veteran Health Administration Health Care Talent Academy. Benedict undergraduates interested in health care c... Read More

Metal fabrication and machine shop LaserForm & Machine Inc. is investing $5 million to expand its Richland County operations in a move expected to create 51 jobs. LaserForm & Machine is adding 20,000 square feet to its manufac... Read More

David Lockwood, COO and executive vice president of Colliers | South Carolina, has been elected to serve a one-year term as president of the global board of directors of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors. Lockwood’s ... Read More

A 7,600-square-foot luxury Camden estate is under contract for $1.4 million after a May 2 online auction. More than 70 prospective buyers and brokers previewed Cedar Knoll Estate, which also features a two-bedroom guest house. Six reg... Read More

After a whirlwind production schedule that brought a $400 million, 1.3 million-square-foot state-of-the-art production facility online in a year, the stakeholders in Mark Anthony Brewing’s Shop Road operations took a moment to ... Read More

The Standard, a 17-story, 441,980-square-foot housing tower in downtown Columbia, has taken a major step toward completion. Chicago-based real estate development and construction engineering firm Clayco recently celebrated the top... Read More

A Greenwood-based startup specializing in automatic fire suppression systems has been accepted as a South Carolina Research Authority member company, while two Midlands businesses joined another Upstate member company in receiving new gr... Read More

Midlands Technical College has become first in South Carolina to introduce a new SCBIO Life Sciences Pharmaceutical Manufacturing certificate program. The inaugural class completed the 48-hour curriculum, developed in conjunction ... Read More

Five Points consignment shop Revente Luxury Resale is celebrating its 30th anniversary this weekend. The shop, located at 737 Saluda Ave., plans an anniversary gathering this afternoon featuring Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann, r... Read More

An Orangeburg native has been named the first Black male S.C. Teacher of the Year. Deion Jamison, an English teacher at Legacy Early College in Greenville, is also the first public school charter teacher to earn the annual award. S... Read More

Isabella Casillas Guzman learned firsthand what makes a successful small business growing up in California, where her father owned a chain of veterinary practices. “What I admired most about my father was his relationship in the... Read More

A Columbia tax preparer has been arrested and charged with 19 counts of willfully making or assisting in false or fraudulent returns. S.C. Department of Revenue agents arrested Shervonne Simmons, 49, of Columbia today. From 2017 to 20... Read More

The first apartments on the 1800 block of Main Street are expected to be ready for move-in this fall. Twenty-eight market rate apartments being developed by Cason Development Group and Cohn Corp. at 1813 Main St. in downtown Colum... Read More

Editor's note: County Council gave initial approval Tuesday to an ordinance restarting the mapping process. Richland County Council will consider a vote to restart the mapping process for its rewritten Land Development Code at its... Read More

A new garden designed to demonstrate the benefits of healthy food is underway at the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. DHEC broke ground on its Community Demonstration Garden project on Friday. The garden aims t... Read More

Columbia’s first riverfront brewery is expected to open in the fourth quarter of this year. Bierkeller Brewing Co., which has brewed traditional German beer out of Swamp Cabbage Brewery since 2015 and has regularly... Read More

Collett Industrial, a Charlotte-headquartered commercial real estate firm, has broken ground on a speculative building it is developing in the Carolina Pines Industrial Park in Blythewood. The 210,600-square-foot, Class A building... Read More

Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corp. has renewed its partnership with the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science & Mathematics with a $10,000 donation to fund research internships. Every student at the Hartsville school parti... Read More

The Nickelodeon has named a new executive director, and she’s no stranger to the theater community. Sumner Bender has been Spring Hill High School’s theater teacher for six years and is responsible for theater educators&rs... Read More

A Camden estate featuring a 7,600-square-foot main house, a large formal garden and a two-bedroom guest house will be auctioned online May 2. Tours of the four-acre Cedar Knoll Estate at 602 Greene St. are available by appointment... Read More

The Arnold Companies’ newest addition to the downtown Columbia skyline celebrated its grand opening in style last month. The Palms, an 83-unit luxury apartment building at the corner of Lady and Assembly streets, opened its ... Read More

The small concrete slab that will serve as a basketball court may not seem like much, but Craig Currey has been coveting it for a decade. The recently poured concrete is part of the improvements made to Transitions Homeless Center by ... Read More

Colliers Capital Markets has arranged the $66.9 million acquisition and repositioning financing for a six-property, 933-unit multifamily property across Columbia and Memphis, Tenn. Colliers secured the loan from Ready Capital Corp. on... Read More

PurePower Technologies, which supplies diesel fuel injection systems for Ford Motor Co. and other diesel engine manufacturers, is expanding its Richland County operations. The company will invest $5.4 million in machinery and other eq... Read More

Richland Library will play host to a virtual lunch-and-learn session aimed at helping entrepreneurs prioritize self-care on Thursday. The session, to be held online from noon until 1:30 p.m., will be led by Beth Ruffin, Richland Libra... Read More

An Indianapolis-based, privately owned real estate development and investment company has purchased 80 acres on Two Notch Road in Lexington for $4.48 million. Scannell Properties plans to build a 350,000-square-foot FedEx Ground f... Read More

Applications are now being accepted for the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce’s 2022-2023 Cybersecurity Internship Program. The paid, 12-month program provides on-the-job cybersecurity training while participants work ... Read More

Another Broken Egg Cafe will become the first tenant at 4West, a mixed-use development that is part of the final phase of the four-building Brookland Project in West Columbia. The cafe will join the chain’s Devine Street loc... Read More

Rural area in the Midlands may soon see more mobile urgent care options. Prisma Health received a one-year $200,000 grant from the South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare to activate its Midlands mobile clinic and exten... Read More

ECPI University will award more than $55,000 in scholarships across its 14 campuses with nursing programs in celebration of National Nurses Week, which begins May 6. Each scholarship is worth $2,000, and each campus in South Carolina,... Read More