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was in the 1950s and sixties a thriving corridor because that was the main route that people took north and south has been replaced by I-95.”The strategic location between growing industrial zones and affluent residential developments positions the downtown for significant commercial revival.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 mixed225 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 06, ISSUE 09 HARDEEVILLE, SC
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