Exclusive: SCANA workers like new digs +pics

When Carley Welsh, an advertising specialist with SCANA Corp. for four years, went on maternity leave last year, she left a downtown high-rise that she said needed some sprucing up.

When she came back to work late last year, she entered a new, brightly lit office on a lush Lexington County campus in a modern, high-rise-friendly series of buildings.

"I felt like I was going to a whole nice new job," she said.

South Carolina's only Fortune 500 company moved more than 900 employees last September out of the downtown office building they had occupied for a quarter of a century and into a new $142 million campus across the river in Cayce.

The state's largest investor-owned utility moved because its 25-year lease in the Palmetto Center on Main Street was ending.

The State got a look this week at the building project that took three years to complete.

While the move left a massive empty spot in an area Columbia leaders are working to revitalize, the project has been a boon for Cayce. Retail development, including a Chinese restaurant and a shopping center, already has sprouted near the campus.

Building on land the utility has owned for 25 years made more sense than trying to upfit a downtown building to meet new federal safety standards, SCANA chief executive Bill Timmerman said.

The new 546,000-square-foot campus, which was paid for through a loan, saves the company between $250,000 and $2 million a year in operating costs.

Timmerman said the project was not funded through recently announced rate increases. That money will be used to comply with new federal environmental regulations and to expand nuclear reactors in Jenkinsville, he said.

Employees say they will miss the convenience of the downtown setting, but they say the move has been a step up.

Zundra Green, an administrative assistant, arrives for work at dawn and often had people approaching her in the downtown parking garage.

The guarded campus and private garage make her feel safer. Still, she misses walking to Chick-Fil-A and the post office.

Both Green, who lives in Northeast Richland, and Welsh, who lives in Chapin, said the office - just off I-77's Exit 2 - is more convenient than driving downtown.

The guarded entrance to the new SCANA campus is off 12th Street. Visitors and employees can park in two surface lots or two parking garages.

They cross foot bridges over a streaming pond that is used for drainage, decoration and safety. It runs the length of the buildings so cars cannot drive up to them.

"It looks nice, but there are purposes for everything," spokeswoman Roxanne Argo said.

Slatted metal awnings cover many of the windows. Coupled with tall, native trees in the front, they block sunlight so less energy is used to cool the buildings.

Bright, wide, curved hallways connect the campus's five buildings with open staircases and few elevators. The design is meant to encourage interaction among employees, said Timmerman, who greeted nearly every employee he passed, most by name.

In the old building, people often had to travel to meet because some departments were housed in different buildings.

Large windows in each building bring in natural light. Three two-story employee buildings are identical and house most of the workers' cubicles. There are a few offices and conference rooms.

The main building has most of the offices the public would need to visit, such as shareholder services. It also houses Timmerman's modest office, which he said is about half the size of his old office.

A pharmacy, auditorium and wellness center make up the bulk of the last building. The savings of an in-house pharmacy allows the utility to fund a wellness program.

Unlike in the Palmetto Building, employees can work out in a gym with weights and exercise machines and have consultations with on-site health care counselors to talk about fitness plans or dealing with a chronic illness.

A much larger cafeteria also gives employees an option for lunch since they now have to drive to eat out. Still workers have been sampling the local fare.

"The best place for all-day breakfast is Brunches," said Welsh, the advertising specialist. She already has several favorites.

Cayce City Manager John Sharpe said some new restaurants already have opened nearby and others are in the works.

Land that has been on the market for years near City Hall has sold. And even SCANA has 200 acres of its land left for development that would be good for such things as medical parks, hotels or even a mall once the economy improves, Sharpe said.

"It's going to be a magnet to bring other things," he said.

This story was originally published January 29, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Exclusive: SCANA workers like new digs +pics."