Boeing breaks ground on plant

Work on Boeing Co.'s massive 787 Dreamliner plant got under way in formal fashion with a groundbreaking ceremony attended by a who's who of elected officials and hundreds of Boeing employees.

Jim Albaugh, CEO of the company's commercial airplane business, praised the local work force and said the aerospace giant's decision to expand in North Charleston "is going to be good for our competitiveness, it's going to be good for our company, it's going to be good for the country and I think it will create jobs not just here in South Carolina but in Washington state."

The massive plant is being built near Boeing's existing factory at Charleston International.

The aircraft assembly plant is scheduled to open in 2011 and employ 3,800 workers over time.

As you were

Work was allowed to continue on a new wharf being built in the Cooper River after a federal judge nixed a request to halt construction on the State Ports Authority's shipping terminal on the former Navy base.

Judge C. Weston Houck denied the Coastal Conservation League's motion for an injunction.

He said he took into consideration the status of the project and the length of time the group waited to file its request.

Industrial play

An investment group has purchased for $10 million the remainder of Berkeley County's oldest large-scale industrial site in a deal that could lure more manufacturing businesses to the property. Cooper River Partners purchased the roughly 1,600 acres known as Bushy Park from Lanxess Corp. Much of the acreage is marshland. The new owner plans to begin marketing for commercial use roughly 400 acres of developable land.

Miscellaneous

A feeder carrier for American Airlines launched daily 50-seat nonstop jet service between Charleston and Miami. American Eagle also said it will add a second flight on that route April 6. ... The State Ports Authority picked NAI Avant of Columbia to market 400 acres the agency owns on the Cooper River side of Daniel Island for a price yet to be determined. The property had been the site of the Global Gateway Terminal, which the SPA eventually scrapped.