Everyday conveniences are coming to Camp Hall for Volvo workers and others

Ridgeville, SC (WCSC) - Big change is coming to the Camp Hall industrial park in Ridgeville.

“Camp Hall is a 6,800 acre piece of property that was acquired to accommodate Volvo. It was acquired with Santee Cooper at the request of the Department of Commerce in 2015, and as a result of that, Volvo selected South Carolina for their North American manufacturing plant,” said Dan Camp, vice president of real estate for Santee Cooper.

When the 1,300 people who work at the Volvo plant in Ridgeville want the conveniences of life, they have to drive 15 miles back to Summerville. But that’s about to change.

“A place that someone could get a sandwich, something to eat, childcare is a big need,” Camp said.

Come 2021, workers at Volvo will have access to all those conveniences and more thanks to the Village Center at Camp Hall.

There will also be a bank, gas station and dry cleaning. Once this project gets off the ground, everything at Camp Hall will be available to people here in the Lowcountry and beyond to come out and enjoy.

That includes more than 20 miles of walking and biking trails, wetlands and soccer and football fields.

“And these are the initial first phase of fields that are being created, and that’s what you see the guys out there building right now. Those first sets of fields,” Camp said.

The first walking trail which is about five miles long opens to the public sometime this spring.

As more industries locate to Camp Hall, the commerce park anticipates between 10 to 15 thousand people will work there.

That’s the size of a small town. And towns need services.

“Facilitating and working with Berkeley County for an emergency services facility to include a fire station, EMS, as well as sheriff substation, working closely with them on that,” Camp said.

And soon it will be easier to get to Volvo and Camp Hall.

This construction project will be the new exit 189 off Interstate 26. When it opens this summer, this is what it will look like. It’ll be called Volvo Car Drive. And it’ll shave a few miles off the trip for those traveling from the Charleston area.

That convenience lines up perfectly with the goal of Camp Hall to put people and their daily needs first.

Several day care centers have already expressed interest in locating to Camp Hall, and amenities will also feature spaces for gatherings and celebrations.

Copyright 2019 WCSC. All rights reserved.