Five-Year Municipal Property Tax Abatement
In addition to the County property tax abatement, companies may apply for a five-year exemption from City property taxes for the following:
- New research and development facilities and additions costing $50,000 or more
- New corporate office facility and additions costing $50,000 or more and where at least 75 full-time jobs are created
- New manufacturing facilities and all additions costing $50,000 or more
- Additionally, to qualify for City property tax abatement, a company must have a minimum of 10 employees and offer these employees a comprehensive benefits package.
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Reduced Business License Fees
Companies located in the Charleston Digital Corridor offering computer programming services and prepackaged software services (SIC code 7371 and 7372) benefit from dramatically reduced business license fees. The fee schedule follows:
Amount of Income Fee Calculation
0 - $2,000 $10.00
$2,000 - $1 million $0.50 per thousand over $2,000
$1 million - $2 million $0.10 per thousand
$2 million - $10 million $0.05 per thousand
Over $10 million $0.025 per thousand
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Streamlined Permitting
Recognizing the importance of timely development approvals and effective communication with the various regulatory agencies, companies located in the corridor or desiring to relocate into the corridor receive one-on-one assistance by the Corridor?s project manager, Ernest Andrade.
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Parking
Due to the high density of development on the Charleston peninsula portion of the Digital Corridor, the availability of parking associated with some office buildings is limited. There are however, an abundance of public parking facilities located throughout peninsular Charleston. The Charleston Digital Corridor will facilitate securing parking for qualified technology intense companies at prevailing parking rates or at discounted rates at limited public parking facilities. Occasionally, the Corridor will provide companies with a small parking subsidy.
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Development fee waivers
Qualified companies locating in a "Digital Corridor" building that may require renovation are exempt from City regulatory, building permit and building inspection fees.
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Assistance with Infrastructure Providers
A critical component for technology intensive industry is the availability of reliable communications infrastructure. With multiple service providers, experience has shown that effective communication between the service provider and a company is the issue. Let us utilize our relationships with key infrastructure providers to assist your company with identifying options and securing timely connections.
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Charleston Local Development Corporation
The Charleston Local Development Corporation's (LDC) mission is to create jobs and foster economic growth. The LDC offers start-up and small technology oriented businesses financial assistance through a host of loan programs. Loan options include the Small Business Incentive Loan, SBA Microloan, LDC Revolving Loan Fund, and SBA 504 Loan Program. In addition to providing financial assistance, the LDC also offers technical assistance for business planning and development. Corridor companies may be able to combine funds available from the Charleston Local Development Corporation with monies available from the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Government?s Revolving Loan Fund.
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