By Dan McCue
Staff Writer

Now it turns out that the firm, Trade Center Development Corp., is joining Condon here. It announced Aug. 24 that it is moving its headquarters from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. to North Charleston.

In a related development, the company also announced the completion of its board membership selection, with the addition of Charlestonian James Gianoukos, president and chairman of ATS Logistics Inc., and Summer Xia, a Chinese-born U.S. citizen who is the founder and chairman of The Segue Group Inc., a California corporation that specializes in business management and international investment.

“Fred Frankel, the chairman and president of our company, decided that the Charleston area, with the incredible growth potential of both the port and the state’s manufacturing base, was a better place to launch our concepts,” said Condon, the corporation’s vice president.

The TCDC, a real estate investment trust, was formed in October 2005 to fund and own selected World Trade Center buildings and affiliated facilities around the world. The company is the developer of the S.C. World Trade Center building currently being planned for land adjacent to the Charleston Area Performing Arts Center.

Through related companies, the TCDC will provide trade-related services to clients including offices, showcases, exhibit programs, import and export marketing and sales and distribution facilities.

“We’re calling this WTC-3G, thinking of our approach as the third generation of World Trade Center design,” Condon said. “In fact, we’ve created an affiliate, WTC-3G Corp., to act as the developer of the appropriate projects.”

Frankel said the South Carolina project will serve as a prototype for the kind of facilities the

company hopes to do elsewhere.

“When World Trade Centers first began to proliferate 35 years ago, the local organizations basically rented office space and provided import and export support services,” he said.

“The second generation of World Trade Centers began to integrate trade show space into the mix. However, after Sept. 11, the world changed significantly and the visas you need to participate in these trade shows became harder and harder to come by.

“That’s why the next generation of World Trade Centers will provide an entirely new level of marketing and enhanced support services, so that even if you can’t get all your people in to promote trade in your country in a timely fashion, you’ll still be able to maintain a meaningful presence at these events.”

Frankel, who developed both commercial and residential properties in Florida, built his first trade-related building in Port Everglades in 1984. “I built it as a foreign trade zone and incorporated exhibit space into the design,” he said. “It laid the foundation for the ambitious plans we have today.”

Those plans include the creation of warehousing, light assembly and business incubation space in Orangeburg, and Frankel said he believes the current conflict between in United States and China may be a real blessing for the site.

“How better to mitigate concerns about the trade imbalance than by locating manufacturing facilities here and providing American workers with high-paying jobs?” he asked.

“Many of these Chinese companies don’t have the ability to simply relocate here themselves and I think our incubator space will provide a perfect opportunity for them. I’m really excited about the possibilities.”

Condon said Gianoukos, whom he’s known for more than a decade, brings to TCDC more than 15 years of experience in transportation management, warehousing and logistics.

“We see him as critical to fulfilling our goal of creating intermodal and inland port facilities,

not just in South Carolina, but across the country,” he said.

Summer Xia, meanwhile, has more than 20 years of experience managing port construction, manufacturing facility integration and business management in China. Condon said Xia’s company, Segue, is completing a new $120 million World Trade Center in Ningbo, China.

That project is currently slated for completion in early 2009.

As for the South Carolina World Trade Center project, Condon said work on the long-discussed endeavor will soon begin.

“We’re currently working on a package to bring before the North Charleston City Council,” Condon. “Frankly, we wanted to get our own ducks in a row before the South Carolina project got under way.”

Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@charlestonbusiness.com.

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