Hardeeville, South Carolina

How South Carolina’s Fastest-Growing City Engineered an Economic Miracle

Transforming into South Carolina’s economic powerhouse through strategic planning and billion-dollar infrastructure investments.

Hardeeville’s transformation reads like an economic development textbook case study. In a region where residents once depended on minimum-wage hospitality jobs requiring hour-long commutes to Hilton Head resorts, the city has engineered one of the most dramatic municipal turnarounds in the modern South. The city’s population has exploded from 7,000 to 20,000 residents in just five years, earning it the distinction of South Carolina’s fastest-growing municipality with an 85% growth rate since 2020. 

Located in Jasper County, which has become America’s fastest-growing county, this linear city stretching 20 miles along the I-95 corridor has transformed from a highway rest stop into an economic powerhouse that now ranks second statewide for job creation over the past decade. The city’s median household income has surged 174% since 2000 to reach $78,233, while property values exploded 680% from $69,100 to $538,998.

“We in the city of Hardeeville are very proud of the fact that we have grown so significantly over the past decade,” says Mayor Harry Williams. “We have come here and developed a vision where not only we’re building a very strong public image through our parks and our beautiful new rec center, all the events that we run, but also we’re bringing jobs and a higher quality of life, not only to the city of Hardeeville, but to the entire region.” 

City Manager Josh Gruber emphasizes the scope of change. “From a job growth percentage standpoint, we are now the second largest job growth base in the state of South Carolina over the last 10 years because of all the things that the mayor mentioned.” Major employers like TS Conductor, which will bring 462 jobs averaging $60,000 annually, represent the shift toward higher-paying manufacturing and technology positions that are reshaping the local economy.

Downtown Master Plan and Main Corridor

Hardeeville’s downtown revival centers on transforming what Mayor Williams calls “the smile of Hardeeville” along Hardeeville Boulevard, the former main thoroughfare that thrived in the 1950s and 1960s before Interstate 95 redirected traffic flows. The city adopted a comprehensive master plan in 2019 after hiring consultants to reimagine the entire corridor as a walkable, mixed-use district that captures both new residential wealth in the north and industrial growth in the south.

“I had this saying that Hardeeville Boulevard was the smile of Hardeeville, but it needed some dental work,” Mayor Williams explains. “The master plan was intended to revitalize that entire corridor. Over the years, what was in the 1950s and sixties a thriving corridor because that was the main route that people took north and south has been replaced by I-95.” The strategic location between growing industrial zones and affluent residential developments positions the downtown for significant commercial revival.

The city has partnered with River Development Equities, led by principal Warren Waters from New Jersey, to execute the downtown transformation. This partnership emerged from a competitive selection process that evaluated the firm’s 40-year track record in contaminated site redevelopment and mixed-use projects across the Eastern Seaboard. “We have publicly announced it and passed the resolution by council, so the name’s out there,” Mayor Williams confirms. “We’ve seen some of his previous work. He’s had successes.”

The revitalization strategy preserves established businesses while upgrading their physical presence. Los Cuates, a Mexican restaurant owned by immigrants who arrived 25 years ago, exemplifies the community anchors that will benefit from infrastructure improvements. “They have all the bones, they just need a new face to attract the new people who are coming into town,” Mayor Williams notes.

Three Zones of Linear Development

Hardeeville’s unique geography enables a sophisticated zoning strategy that Mayor Williams describes as fundamental to managing explosive growth. “We are very unique and lucky in a way that we are somewhat linear,” Mayor Williams explains. “We’re 58 square miles, but being linear, going south to northeast, it’s about a 20-mile ride to get through the entire length of the city. So we were able to create in the southern end, that’s where our industry is booming.” The southern zone anchors around TS Conductor’s $134 million manufacturing facility.The southern zone anchors around Clarius Park Hardeeville, a 220-acre master-planned industrial park strategically located just 9.5 miles from Georgia Port Authority’s Garden City Terminal. 

Developed by Clarius Partners in partnership with Peakline Partners, the park can support nearly 2.7 million square feet of Class A industrial facilities with up to 90 MW of power capacity from an on-site substation. The first phase now houses TS Conductor’s $134 million, 301,275-square-foot manufacturing facility, which will produce advanced electrical conductors using carbon-core technology that triples transmission capacity compared to traditional aluminum cables, alongside Aster Graphics’ 59,252-square-foot operation.

TS Conductor is the epicenter of a shift from hospitality-dependent employment to high-tech manufacturing, with the facility expected to begin production by late 2025. “The jobs that are coming here, they said the initial group would have an average wage of $60,000,” Mayor Williams notes. “Now think about how this whole area originally had survived in just the hospitality industry. They had to drive a long way or bus to Hilton Head and make minimum wage or slightly above. Now all of a sudden right down the road from a large vast area, they’re going to have $60,000 jobs that they can go to.”

The central zone will feature Buc-ee’s massive travel center at Exit 8, spanning 46.2 acres and representing only the second such facility in South Carolina following the successful Florence location. The development will create approximately 200 jobs with competitive wages ranging from $16 hourly to over $100,000 for management positions. Northern areas accommodate affluent residential developments that provide the tax base supporting municipal services and attracting quality retailers to the revitalized downtown corridor.

Building the Foundation for Critical Infrastructure 

Hardeeville faces the complex challenge of expanding utilities and transportation networks fast enough to support a population that has nearly tripled in five years. The city works closely with the Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority, which recently completed a $350,000 waterline upgrade and expanded the local water reclamation facility to handle 2.7 million gallons daily, with capacity to reach 4.0 million gallons as growth continues.

“The infrastructure is certainly one of our biggest challenges,” Mayor Williams acknowledges. “Water sewer, our projected growth will outgrow the current water sewer. Beaufort-Jasper Water Sewer Authority is working to meet our future demands. We’re not there yet, but that’s a big infrastructure need.” The authority has operated as a bi-county utility serving both Beaufort and Jasper counties since 1954, providing regional coordination for major infrastructure investments.

Power grid improvements involve multiple partners, including Dominion Energy’s new transmission lines and a state energy bill passed recently to increase electrical capacity statewide. TS Conductor’s advanced technology offers additional benefits beyond job creation. “When TS Conductor came in, they worked very closely with Palmetto Electric, the electric cooperative in this part of the state,” Mayor Williams explains. “If everything coordinates properly, one of the advantages besides jobs of TS Conductor, their technology is such that it should deliver not only faster power generation, but cheaper.”

The $470 million road infrastructure bond, approved by Jasper County voters, will fund $376 million in critical road improvements. The coordination extends to the $825 million I-95 widening project from the Georgia border to Exit 8, expanding from four to six lanes with 14 new bridges, directly addressing daily traffic bottlenecks that currently affect local businesses. Mayor Williams emphasizes the coordination required: “We were fortunate, we spent a lot of time educating our community to pass a $470 million infrastructure bill for roads.”

Innovation in Housing Solutions

Hardeeville has pioneered creative approaches to workforce housing through public-private partnerships that address affordability challenges in a market where median home prices have reached $445,000 and new homes sell in an average of just 9 days. The city’s strategic land acquisition fund, generated from developing a new industrial park for over $5M in profits, enables targeted property purchases for housing development in the historic downtown area.

“With the land acquisition fund, one of the strategic uses of that is to purchase in our historic downtown parcels where we can develop workforce housing,” Mayor Williams explains. “Our most recent one that is first of its kind anywhere in the country is a 10-unit collaboration with Habitat for Humanity and a local builder, the city providing the land, the builder working at basically cost and Habitat for Humanity.”

The project broke new ground for Habitat for Humanity’s operational model. “This was the first time they collaborated with a builder as opposed to volunteers building the home,” Mayor Williams notes. “And it’s probably the first time that 10 units were opened at the same time.” The partnership secured additional funding to reduce purchase prices further for qualifying families.

Building Collaborative Governance

Mayor Williams has established Hardeeville as a regional leader through sustained inter-municipal cooperation that addresses challenges no single jurisdiction can solve alone. Recently recognized with the 2025 First Tee Community Leadership Award for “Exemplary Judgment and Dedication to Public Service,” he has served as the continuous chair of the Southern Low Country Advisory Board for eight years, fostering unprecedented collaboration among mayors, county chairs, and administrators across the rapidly growing region.

“A couple of us, including Josh, formed a committee called the Southern Low Country Advisory Board in 2017,” Mayor Williams explains. “August will be our eighth anniversary. And that board consists of all the mayors in the area, both counties and their chairs. The administrators all meet once a month, every month for eight years. And we talk about regional problems.” The consistent monthly meetings have created institutional knowledge and personal relationships that enable rapid response to shared challenges like housing shortages, transportation bottlenecks, and workforce development needs.

The board’s most successful initiative created the Beaufort-Jasper Housing Trust, which pools resources from eight jurisdictions to fund affordable housing projects across county lines. Hardeeville’s Harvey Place housing development received funding from this regional trust, showing how collaborative governance can leverage limited municipal resources for greater impact. The trust operates independently of individual city budgets while maintaining accountability to all participating jurisdictions.

Mayor Williams takes singular pride in the board’s longevity and effectiveness. “I’m the only chair of that committee in eight years, we are working as a region collaboratively with the rest of the jurisdictions, constantly searching for solutions to this problem and other problems that face us as a region.” This regional approach has become essential as Hardeeville’s growth creates spillover effects requiring coordinated planning with neighboring communities experiencing similar development pressures.

Managing Explosive Growth

Hardeeville’s development pipeline reveals the scale of transformation ahead as the city prepares for continued rapid expansion. Gruber quantifies the housing boom: “If you look at what the city’s population was five years ago, the 2020 census said that we had about 7,000 residents. Today, five years later, our population numbers are projected at 20,000. We’re adding between 1,200 to 1,500 new single-family homes every year.” The city has permitted over 10 million square feet of industrial and warehousing development alongside thousands of multifamily units, creating a comprehensive growth strategy.

Infrastructure planning requires years of advance preparation to avoid bottlenecks that could constrain economic development. “One of the top priorities is we have to get the infrastructure needs started in place, whether it be a road, a power line, whatever,” Mayor Williams explains. “These things take time. And the first thing you have to start with is getting the design and engineering in each one of these projects.” The mayor participates directly in committees allocating the $470 million road infrastructure funding to ensure projects align with anticipated development patterns.

Education system improvements are another critical component of long-term success. Mayor Williams was asked to participate in the search for a new school superintendent, recognizing that workforce development begins with quality local schools. “We need an educational system that will prepare our students for all the things that we’ve talked about, these jobs,” he says. “We need nurses, we need doctors, we need lawyers, we need tradesmen, electricians, we need every type.”

Hardeeville’s transformation to South Carolina’s fastest-growing municipality is an example of how strategic planning, regional cooperation, and sustained leadership can create unprecedented economic opportunity. With major infrastructure investments underway and continued population growth projected, the city has positioned itself as a model for managing rapid development while preserving community character and ensuring broad-based prosperity.

AT A GLANCE

Name: City of Hardeeville

What: South Carolina’s fastest-growing municipality with 85% population growth since 2020, transforming from rural poverty to economic hub through strategic industrial development, infrastructure investment, and regional collaboration

Where: Jasper County, South Carolina

Website: https://hardeevillesc.gov/