Managed IT Servicesin Charleston, SC

A South Carolina town is “booming” with jobs — and people interested in moving there, a new report finds.

So much so, the town now ranks as the nation’s No. 1 hottest suburb. Summerville, near Charleston, topped a list of places where job growth and desirability are “well above national averages,” according to a Nov. 19 news release.

But Summerville wasn’t the only place in the Palmetto State to earn a high spot in the rankings. Conway landed at No. 2, and Bluffton was No. 6.

“The coastal South reigns supreme for its suburbs where people want to move in, and where far fewer residents considering a move-out,” the website moveBuddha wrote in its report, adding that all the top 10 places are within about a two-hour drive from beaches.

To create the list, the moving resource website studied more than 500 cities across the country. It narrowed the places to suburbs, defined as “any city in each metropolitan region that was not the single, primary (first) city listed in a ‘metro’ name,” a spokesperson told McClatchy News via email.

Using search data from its website and figures from the U.S. government, moveBuddha discovered that 43 suburbs met the criteria of having year-over-year job growth “better than the national average” and a high ratio of people interested in moving in compared with those wanting to leave. Each of those suburbs also was evaluated for home values based on Zillow real estate data, results show.

Summerville, a roughly 25-mile drive northwest from Charleston, is home to about 50,000 people. It reigned supreme after it was found to be the most attractive suburb, with a ratio of “3.76 people searching to move in for every resident looking to leave.”

“Summerville’s popularity among prospective movers may be due to the incredibly strong job growth in the metro area — 4.2% between August 2023 and 2024,” moveBuddha wrote. “Known for its red-brick historic district, farmer’s market, and community events like the Flowertown Festival, Summerville is also one of just three suburbs in the top ten with an average home value under $400K.”

Two other South Carolina towns ranked among the nation’s “booming” suburbs, putting the Palmetto State in a tie with Florida for having the most cities in the top 10. Also joining Summerville on the list were Conway — in the Myrtle Beach area — and Bluffton, near Hilton Head Island.

“The Charleston area’s popularity boom is benefiting the local economy,” moveBuddha wrote. “Between May 2023 and 2024, South Carolina added over 5,500 construction jobs to manage the growth. But the 80K+ jobs added in total point to an economy that’s fueled by more than just construction, helping establish South Carolina as a prime destination for new residents.”

After Summerville and Conway took the top spots in the rankings, here are the nation’s other top five “job-magnet” suburbs:

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The Medical University of South Carolina will open a brand-new innovation center Thursday.

The Blue Sky Labs innovation center is a 3,000-square-foot space on Calhoun Street that will be dedicated to research and development. The new center will provide researchers with the opportunity to look deeper into early-stage science discoveries like treatments for cancer and fibrosis.

While they are already looking for cures for those types of diseases and illnesses in the labs at MUSC, moving toward actual treatments requires a different type of structure and setup. Leaders at MUSC recognized a need for a space like this about two years ago as they saw a rise in the number of early-stage science companies both at MUSC and across the state.

Blue Sky labs will feature eight wet lab spaces that will be available for leasing to researchers, startup companies, entrepreneur programming and networking opportunities. The center will be the new, permanent home for MUSC’s Office of Innovation. It will serve as a way to foster innovation and entrepreneurship not just within MUSC, but with the surrounding community as well.

In addition to leasing space to the science companies, MUSC leaders plan to host community and education events and allow MUSC students to work with the companies in the lab spaces.

Jesse Goodwin, the Chief Innovation Officer at MUSC, shared her hopes for the future of this center.

“I hope it grows and starts to expand out. I mean I think in a year’s time having it be fully occupied with a wide assortment of companies with the downstairs area that is community-focused for educational programming just being sort of a place where you can come in and you can see people working and lectures going on and community events being hosted and really making it a really vibrant ecosystem of support is my sort-of short-term goal,” Goodwin said.

As for long-term goals, Goodwin said she hopes that the center is so successful and fully occupied that they will need even more space to grow to next.

For Goodwin, this project means a lot as many of the companies who will lease space at the center filed their first patents 10 years ago. She says it is gratifying to see the progress they have made together and now, they will have a permanent home to find the next generation of treatments and therapeutic options for people suffering from conditions and diseases.

“To get to a point where I am being able to offer this type of space on behalf of the institution to people that I have known for this long is really exciting. And so, to me, this is a really great milestone and a culmination of really a decadelong sort of growth of innovation as a culture here. Not just at MUSC, but I think as a state as a whole, we are really leaning into life sciences and saying this is something that we should continue to grow,” Goodwin said.

Goodwin said that this space was possible by not only leveraging existing space, but through a collaboration between MUSC, SCbio, the Charleston Regional Development Alliance and the Department of Commerce at the state-level.

MUSC will be hosting their grand opening of the Blue Sky Labs innovation center at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Parents of students at Charleston Catholic School are asking for answers and transparency after the school’s longtime principal was unexpectedly removed.

Fred McKay had served the school for 18 years before being let go on Nov. 5 with concerned parents saying the news was shocking.

At a school with less than 200 students, over 500 parents signed an online petition asking the school for a specific reason behind why McKay was let go in the middle of the school year.

“Why was he dismissed in such a harsh manner, you know, we love Fred,” David Moore, parent to two Charleston Catholic School students, said. “We want to know what happened. The welfare of our kids is what’s most important to us; it doesn’t feel like that’s the message coming from the school.”

Moore said his daughter first told him the news before an email was sent to caregivers.

“I was just shocked,” Moore said. “It was immediate; no warning, no nothing.”

A letter from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston was sent to parents on Nov. 7 and reads in part “Please know that Fred has not been accused of any misconduct or impropriety, and he leaves with our respect and genuine gratitude for his devotion and dedication.”

Following that letter, McKay sent a letter to families on Nov. 9 that read in part, “Endings are rarely easy and smooth, and certainly the timing of my departure has not been ideal.”

Parents are extremely upset and shocked that McKay was dismissed in such a harsh manner and Moore said communication from the school has been very sporadic and not aligned following the decision.

“We want transparency; we want to know exactly what happened. We want an investigation into any other misconduct, that may or may not have happened,” Moore said. “The letter from the diocese says that Fred is loved, cherished and he’s not been accused of any wrongdoing, which we appreciate, but on the other side we want to know.”

McKay was hired at the Charleston Catholic School in 2006 and some parents said they enrolled their children in the school solely because of McKay’s leadership and reputation.

“The reason that most people were at that school was because of Frederick McKay; that’s the reason why my kids are there.”

With students of the Charleston Catholic School being from preschool to eighth grade, Moore asked how do you even explain the confusing situation to children.

“The other issue that I have, personally, is that I now have to have conversations with my kids about why things aren’t transparent and how you know what they believe is true? They have to make up their own mind,” Moore said. “We shouldn’t have to explain something that you don’t even know what happened.”

When Live 5 reached out to McKay to get his side of the story, he said that he signed an NDA when leaving the school.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston released the following statement in response:

“Fred McKay served Charleston Catholic School well for 18 years, and we are grateful for his service. But in the past year, the school experienced financial challenges from a sharp decline in enrollment, so in August new priests were appointed to lead the school. After a careful review of the situation, the school administrator determined that the time had come to bring in new leadership, and so a nationwide search is currently underway to find the next principal who will strengthen the school’s identity and mission. During this transition the diocesan Catholic Schools Office is working closely with the interim principal to provide support to the entire CCS community.”

Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.