This is bigger than big

An hour after Boeing announced it will build its new Dreamliner aircraft assembly plant in North Charleston, the stores in Tanger Outlet Center were almost deserted.

Traffic in this sleepy outdoor mall near the airport always has been spotty, a symbol of an economy that overbuilt during good times and has struggled in hard times.

Most of the shoppers were tourists, like Brian and Kimberly Ciaccia of Rochester, N.Y., who thought the news might change lives in the Lowcountry, and perhaps even their own.

"I went to school here at MUSC," said Brian, a physical therapist. "I read about this plant last week. I've even thought about moving back here. This is a really big deal."

A really big deal, indeed.

The promise of 3,800 high-paying jobs pumped into our local economy spikes the needle when it comes to big deals. This is bigger than big.

Economic equalizer

If you've been around South Carolina for any length of time you know what a difference BMW made to the economy of the Upstate when it arrived 15 years ago.

This is even bigger.

It is, in fact, the final economic equalizer to the loss we suffered in the early 1990s when we lost the local Navy base and shipyard.

Many people thought that was the end of the world. Turns out it was a wake-up call for a dependent population. Since then we've managed to diversify and actually strengthen our viability.

Not only have we seen a boom in high-tech defense industry jobs, we've become a comfortable place for the computer generation to put down roots and prosper.

What we don't have, however, is a corporate sugar daddy, the kind that gives a community financial support on a high and continuous basis.

This announcement changes that, overnight.

Seattle east

Jeremy Fitts, a visitor from Nashville, Tenn., knows first-hand what it will mean.

"I work for Vought," he said of the aircraft plant Boeing recently bought here. "So this is really big news. I might even be interested in moving down here if Boeing is coming here."

This deal is so huge, in fact, it will impact people in all walks of life.

"This is really going to help getting people in here after we've lost so many jobs in the area," said Jeff Edwards, a physical education teacher at Alston Middle School in Summerville. "It's really going to push our school district to the limits, but maybe it will stimulate the economy on the other end, bringing in more taxes as well."

Many of these new jobs will require sophisticated skills and attract workers from other parts of the country, like maybe Seattle, where Boeing is no doubt being booed for pulling out after a long, contentious fight with the unions.

But here in the Lowcountry, where sleepy outlet malls welcome the good economic news, cheers for Boeing will no doubt echo for years and generations to come.

Reach Ken Burger at kburger@postandcourier.com or 937-5598. Read previous columns by Ken Burger here.