A New Charleston Home for 2016?
A leap of faith… with a heap of fact
Major travel publications have had a big crush on Charleston for years. Makes sense. She is beautiful and fun and kind and witty. The popularity contest she’s been winning has certainly rewarded her with exceptionally robust tourism. But now another media outlet is bringing flowers to her door, and it appears to consider her a longer-term commitment than a visit or vaca.
The latest attention comes from a caller that looks beyond the sunsets over her steepled skyline that follow a day of shopping, exploring, and rooftop cocktails. It is her ever-expanding viability as a place to not just holiday, but hunker down.
Not to take all the romance out of it, but the tourist-turned-resident trend is one with sound economic footing. Charleston has witnessed a tremendous tech boom in the past decade, ushered in by the establishment of the Charleston Digital Corridor and evidenced by the local presence – and subsequent local expansions – of such industry behemoths as Google, Blackbaud, and Benefitfocus. Manufacturing, too, is having its (perpetual) day in the tri-county area, bringing hundreds of thousands of jobs by way of Daimler and Boeing and, by 2018, Volvo.
And, as it happens, The Wall Street Journal has taken notice. As a publication that won’t be wooed by a pretty face, the WSJ apparently recognized that the Holy City has the data to back it up: An economic impact of $3.9 billion from corporate expansion or relocation announcements made in 2014-2015. A civilian labor force that is growing five times faster than the nation’s average. The addition of 43 new residents each day.
Read the article here (Charleston Charms Home Buyers ), and let your heart go pitter-pat over a city that admittedly ignites a traveler’s puppy love, but also offers that traveler an extraordinarily healthy and happy home. (Bonus: she actually gets better with age.)
