Editor's Notes

By Bob Bouyea

There is a lot going on throughout the Lowcountry, with many deals in the works. And with that comes many questions.

Here are some of the questions generated from my mailbag.

Dear Bob: What’s up with American LaFrance? The company’s president is sending out letters saying there is nothing to fear once the sale of the company is complete and that the company will continue to operate once the new owners take over.

~ Alvin in Awendaw

Dear Alvin, The company president is about half right. That is, the company will pretty much continue to operate, at least for about half of its current workforce. For the other half, it’s not going to be business as usual.

What the president was trying to do with the release of the letter was put people at ease by telling them the new owners aren’t going to come in and shut down the plant or sell it off piecemeal. What he didn’t say is where the plant will operate.

Will it be in the same Ladson-area facility that they are using today? Don’t know. But I do know that one of the reasons that Freightliner gave for selling the company was that the 460,000-square-foot facility was too large in which to operate the custom fire engine manufacturing company. Freightliner also said that the building will remain the property of its parent company, DaimlerChrysler.

While there are still questions, it’s too early to sound the alarm.

Dear Bob, I’m just wild about wild shrimp and was glad to see the Southern Shrimp Alliance make its home in Charleston. What is the benefit to Charleston?

~ Fay in Folly Beach

Dear Fay, What it seems to mean is more air passengers will be leaving from the Charleston Regional Airport. Since it costs more to fly into Charleston, it’s likely the association will hold its conferences and meetings in locations other than Charleston. That will be especially true if we lose low-fare airline Independence Air.

Hopefully, the airport authority will go trolling and cast its nets for other low-fare carriers regardless of what happens with Independence Air.

Dear Bob, Throughout the tri-county area we are seeing proposals for mega-housing developments, like The Parks of Berkeley along Sheep Island Road and Watson Hill along Ashley River Road. How is the area preparing for these developments and the people they will attract?

~ Sue in Summerville

Dear Sue, Have you taken a look at your tax bill lately? As part of South Carolina’s plan, counties must reassess property every five years. While many taxing bodies are boasting they are not raising the tax rate, that doesn’t mean our tax bills are going to be less. The fact is the tax rate could go down, and we’d be paying higher taxes due to the increased assessment of our property. The argument for the reassessment is to help pay for additional services.

Plus, both Dorchester and Charleston counties have implemented a sales tax increase to help pay for needed road construction. Also, there are impact fees that the developer must pay to develop the property, and these fees get passed along to the homebuyer.

I know, it’s a taxing problem.

Dear Bob, The Holiday Inn on Folly Beach was going to become a condo hotel. Then it wasn’t. Now the wanna-be buyers are suing the don’t-wanna-be sellers. What’s the attraction of that property to the buyers?

~ Hank in Harleyville

Dear Hank, There are six reasons for this. Location, location, location and money, money, money. Local beachfront hotels have discovered that they can sell each room for around $285,000. That is a fairly minimum investment for beachfront property.

And the investor can spend up to 30 days a year in the room. For the hotel, it is a large chunk of change that it can use to reinvest in the property while still operating as a hotel.

So you can see how for a $20 million investment from the buyer, they will reap approximately $33 million from investors, if they receive an average of $250,000 per room.

The seller backed out of the deal after realizing there was a clause in the mortgage that would not allow him to pay off the loan early, the owner’s attorney said.

Or, maybe he did the math.

Dear Bob, Early on you wrote about the lack of street signs and not knowing where you are going. Are you still having problems finding your way around the Charleston area?

~ Chuck in Charleston

Dear Chuck, Thanks for asking. No, I seem to have figured out how to get to the few places I really need to go. However, I haven’t seen my wife since April. I think she is still looking for the second street following the blue house with the green Chevy parked out front.

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