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Site Consultant / Infrastructure
Lancaster County is an ideal location for your business or industry. From four-lane highways connecting to major interstate systems I-77,
I-85, and I-20, to rail and excess capacities of water and sewer, meeting your infrastructure needs is no problem.
Highways
Lancaster County has excellent four-lane highway access both north to south and east to west. U.S. Highway 521 runs the length of the County connecting Lancaster County to Interstate 485 and Charlotte, NC to the north and to Interstate 20 in Camden to the South. In addition, SC Highway 9 is the County’s major east-west connector, linking with Interstate 77 at Exit 65 in Chester County.
Rail
Lancaster and Chester Railway
Website: www.landcrailroad.com
The Lancaster & Chester Railroad is one the oldest and most successful short line railroads in the nation. The L&C railroad connects to both CSX and Norfolk Southern main lines which can provide your company with the ability to negotiate rail rates. In addition, there are several hundreds of acres of available industrial property on the L&C line including the new Heath Springs Industrial Park, the L&C Springland site just off SC Highway 9 which has more than 580 acres available, and the largest heavy industrial tract in the County – the 1,300-acre Fosters Crossroads site on the Catawba River.
L&C currently has 59 1/2 miles of mainline tracks under operation, with a 30.8-mile branch acquisition from NS running southward to Kershaw in Lancaster County that was added in March, 2001. In addition to the mainline, the railroad maintains 3 miles of secondary tracks and 4 miles of yard tracks.
L&C has mainline connections with Norfolk Southern in both Lancaster County and Chester County. They also have mainline connections with CSX in East Chester. The main interchange point in Chester is with Norfolk Southern’s Piedmont Division, Columbia District "R" Line and East Chester, with CSX’s Hamlet, North Carolina-Atlanta mainline. Having both Class I Carriers interchanging with the L&C allows the shipper an excellent opportunity of choice in the process of ratemaking and service. For further information on these Class I Carriers, please visit the websites www.nscorp.com and www.csx.com.
Seaports
Website: www.port-of-charleston.com
South Carolina's ports serve as valuable resources for many companies and provide excellent market access. One of the busiest container ports on the East Coast and the seventh largest container port in the United States, the Port of Charleston, has been a major global center of commerce and trade for three centuries. More high crane container lifts are done at this port than any other in the Western Hemisphere. The deep harbor and high bridges allow the port to serve ships of 8,000 TEUs, and its close proximity to the open sea saves valuable time. In 2008, the port handled 1.64 million TEUs.
Annually, approximately 2,000 ships and barges, representing some 40 different shipping lines, use the services of the South Carolina ports. Additional port facilities can also be found northeast of Charleston at the Port of Georgetown and southwest of Charleston at the Port of Jasper.
Airports
Business and industry locating in Lancaster County have the benefit of having access to one of the nation’s top international airports just minutes away or the option of a 6,000-foot runway County airport that provides service to private aircraft including corporate jets.
Charlotte Douglas International Airport
Website: www.charmeck.org/Departments/Airport/home.htm
Lancaster County is fast becoming a favorite location for retirees, and for those seeking a vacation or second home. Charlotte Douglas Airport is less than 25 minutes from Sun City Carolina Lakes, 35 minutes from LGI Development’s Riverchase community located on the Catawba River, and is only 45 minutes from the Edgewater community on Fishing Creek Reservoir just southwest of Lancaster.
Serving more than 29 million passengers a year, the Charlotte Douglas International Airport is the 10th busiest airport in the country. Approximately 623 daily departures with direct non-stop service to 127 destinations, including international service to France, Germany, England, Canada, Mexico, and South America, it is often said that Charlotte is at most one plane change away from virtually any major city in the world.
In addition, full air-cargo service is ranked 37rd nationwide delivering more than 170,000 tons of freight and mail a year.
International Service (non-stop flights)
Germany · Munich · Frankfurt
England · London
Canada · Montreal · Toronto |
Mexico · Mexico City · Cancun · Cozumel
20 - Caribbean destinations |
Airline Companies
Lancaster County Airport – McWhirter Field
Website: www.flylkr.com
The airport is also a favorite of retirees and those seeking to purchase vacation and second homes along the Catawba River including the Edgewater development located less than 4 miles from the airport on Fishing Creek Reservoir, Sun City Carolina Lakes, and LGI Development’s Riverchase community which is located on the Catawba just 7 miles from McWhirter Field.
The McWhirter Field terminal building is open and manned from 9am-6pm, 7 days a week. Services include a pilots lounge, conference suite, restrooms and refreshment facilities as well as the ability to buy pilot supplies. A drink machine is available at all times as well as self-serve jet fuel and Avgas available 24/7. Flight training and aircraft maintenance is also available at the airport
The airport staff offers lunch every Saturday for anyone wanting to come out and see the airport. It's free and all are welcome.
Other facilities offered include:
- Parking, hangers
- Tie-downs
- No landing fees
- Towing
- Rental cars
- Wireless internet capability
- Hotel arrangements including local bed and breakfast inns
Electricity
All of Lancaster County’s industrial sites and parks are served with electricity from Duke Energy, Lynches River Electric Cooperative, or York Electric Cooperative. For more information about which company serves the site or building of interest to you, contact the Lancaster County Economic Development Corporation.
Duke Energy
Website: www.duke-energy.com
Duke Energy, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, is one of the largest energy providers in the nation and controls approximately 80% of the electricity market in Lancaster County – from the northern section of the County adjacent to Charlotte south to the City of Lancaster in Central Lancaster County to the extreme southern end of the County in the towns of Kershaw and Heath Springs.
Duke Energy is one of the largest electric power companies in the United States with more than 4 million U.S. customers. Duke has approximately 35,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity in the Midwest and the Carolinas.
Lynches River Electric Cooperative
Website: www.lynchesriver.com
Lynches River Electric Cooperative is a member-owned cooperative headquartered in Pageland, South Carolina. Founded in 1939, the co-op provides service to more than 19,000 residential, commercial and industrial consumers in Chesterfield, Kershaw and Lancaster counties. Lynches River Electric Cooperative provides electricity in the extreme southern end of Lancaster County including portions of Kershaw and Heath Springs including the new 67-acre Class A Heath Springs Industrial Park.
York Electric Cooperative
Website: www.yorkelectric.net
Since 1941, the York Electric Cooperative has provided dependable and affordable electric service that has helped families and businesses in the area continue to grow and prosper. York Coop serves residential and commercial customers in portions of York, Lancaster, Chester, and Cherokee counties. Much of the York Coop territory in Lancaster County is located in Northern Lancaster County near Charlotte, NC York Electric Cooperative serves most of York County, SC, but there are office, commercial, and industrial properties served by York Coop in the northern sections of Lancaster County.
Natural Gas
Lancaster County Natural Gas Authority
Website: www.lcngagas.com
The Lancaster County Natural Gas Authority provides natural gas service to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Lancaster County. Nearly all of the County’s industrial and office sites and parks are served by natural gas.
Water and Sewer
Lancaster County Water and Sewer District
Website: www.lcwasd.org/aboutus.htm
The major provider of water and sewer service in Lancaster County is the Lancaster County Water & Sewer District (LCWSD). The LCWSD serves over 90% of Lancaster County with water services to over 18,000 retail water customers and serving approximately 8,200 retail customers with sewer service. LCWSD also provides wholesale water service to neighboring water providers such as the City of Lancaster, Town of Heath Springs, Town of Kershaw, portions of Chesterfield County, & portions of Carolina Water Service. Sewer treatment is provided to the southern portions of the County by a wholesale treatment agreement with the City of Lancaster and northern portions of the County by LCWSD’s Indian Land Wastewater Treatment Facility.
LCWSD’s employment team consists of over 60 employees who are dedicated to providing dependable water and wastewater service to Lancaster County. All of LCWSD’s water distribution and wastewater collection systems’ infrastructure are on Geographic Information System (GIS) computer mapping system. All distribution system maintenance programs and records are on computer including Hydrant and Valve Maintenance Programs, Cross Connection Program, and Flushing Program.
Communications
Comporium Communications
Website: www.comporium.com
The major provider of residential and business communications systems in Lancaster County is Comporium Communications.
In 2001, Rock Hill Telephone and its affiliates became known as “Comporium,” a word created from “Communications” and “Emporium”—a one-stop shop for a variety of products and services. Comporium adopted the Mission Statement “Making Life Easier” to reinforce its commitment to customer service. The Comporium® group of companies have provided communications services to customers in York and Lancaster counties for more than 100 years.
By working more closely together, Comporium Group makes it easier for their more than 95,000 residential and commercial customers to access a broad range of communication services, including local telephone, long distance, wireless, cable TV, Internet, security, data services and directory publishing. Members of the Comporium Group of companies are: Comporium Communications, Comporium Data Services, Comporium Long Distance, Comporium Publishing, Comporium Security and Comporium Telecom. Under this concept, the Comporium Group is uniquely positioned to offer customers one-stop-shopping for all their communications needs.
Additional Information
The staff at the Lancaster County Economic Development Corporation can assist you with obtaining more specific infrastructure and utility information for the site or building you are looking to lease or purchase in Lancaster County. Please contact us and we’ll be happy to assist you.
