Officials outline plans for 'innovation center'

It's an idle eyesore now, but an old mattress factory in Charleston's East Central neighborhood could be humming in the next year or two with cutting-edge medical research firms and other startup technology businesses.

City and state officials Wednesday unveiled plans to transform the long-vacant factory into an "innovation center" with offices and laboratories at 645 Meeting St.

The idea is provide inexpensive incubator space for fledgling technology entrepreneurs, such as Medical University of South Carolina scientists whose research can be spun off into businesses that in turn will create good-paying jobs.

An estimated $5 million overhaul of the city-owned building is expected to take about a year, said Bill Mahoney, chief executive officer of the S.C. Research Authority, which will finance the improvements and manage the 28,000-square-foot property. Proponents of technology incubators say the facilities are key to cultivating a knowledge-based economy.

Jobless benefits scarce

South Carolina's jobless rate has hit its highest point in 15 years, forcing the state to write so many unemployment insurance checks that the account is about to go broke.

The state's unemployment rate spiked to 7.6 percent in August, according to the S.C. Employment Security Commission. Right now the agency is paying more than $10 million in unemployment insurance benefits every week, about twice as much as in recent years, creating a backlog and delays in processing claims. Ted Halley, the commission's executive director, estimated that at current rates the $130 million fund will go broke in early January.

Market may add shed

The historic City Market one day will stretch almost to the waterfront, and it won't sit mostly empty at night under a proposal unveiled early last week.

Plans are in the works to add a new shed to the heart of the city's business district by extending the city-owned visitor attraction to the block of Market Street between East Bay and Concord streets. A metered parking area now occupies most of the space.

Vuitton downtown

Marking another milestone for the high-end retailing in downtown Charleston, Paris-based merchant Louis Vuitton opened its first South Carolina store on King Street, where it joins the likes of Saks Fifth Avenue and Brooks Brothers. The store is in the Charleston Place hotel and retail complex.