Famous Craft breaks ground in S.C.

ANDERSON, S.C. – Famous Craft Inc. broke ground on a $10 million manufacturing facility in Anderson, S.C., yesterday, as it begins the process of relocating its boat building operations from Sarasota, Fla., the Anderson Independent-Mail reported in a story Thursday.

Residents in the area are welcoming the boat builder with open arms already, and by 6:30 a.m. yesterday were already arriving at the future site of Famous Craft in search of job applications, company president Tim Costello told the newspaper.

Costello said he distributed about a dozen before the groundbreaking ceremony Thursday morning. The new plant is expected to create about 35 jobs in the first five years, according to the story.

About 50 people, including state and local officials, came to the groundbreaking, where the company displayed three of its boats.

Costello and the company’s owner, Lea Rinker, started searching for a new site last year and looked in Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee.

The deciding factor was not economic, but how nice everyone in South Carolina Costello told the newspaper.

“We just feel part of the community already,” he said.

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