VOLUME 26 NUMBER 1 ■ GSABUSINESS.COM
Part of the
Economist: Expect ‘inevitable’ recession by 2024
Textile growth
Milliken continues to buck industry trend with $27.4 million expansion. Page 4
A look ahead
Economist Stephen Slifer sees a recession around the corner. Page 11
By Andy Owens
B United Community Bank relocated its headquarters from Georgia to Greenville last year and has a new $50 million headquarters building under construction near Falls Park. (Rendering/ Harper General Contractors)
The story behind this bank’s $50M Greenville HQ relocation By Krys Merryman
Focus
Staffing expert talks about how COVID permanently changed the workplace. Page 14
Towering proposal
Proposed building in Greenville would change the skyline with a new tallest structure. Page 6
INSIDE
Leading Off .......................... 2 SC Biz News Briefs ................ 3 In Focus: Workforce and Staffing .............................. 14 LIST: Professional Staffing Agencies............................ 17 LIST: HR & Payroll .............. 19 At Work ............................. 20 People in the News .............. 21 Viewpoint ...........................23
JANUARY 2023 ■ $2.25
network
kmerryman@scbiznews.com
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hen United Community Bank chairman and CEO Lynn Harton and his wife moved to Greenville in 2007, they both quickly fell in love with the city. So much so that Harton decided to relocate the company’s headquarters to Greenville. Its welcoming vibe, great amenities that make it feel small enough to get to know people, while being close to the mountains and maintaining a vibrant culture, were all catalysts for Harton to make the move. And the company chose a prime location. The new headquarters is under construction on Camperdown Way in downtown Greenville next to the Grand Bohemian Lodge. “It really happened over several years,” said Harton. “When I joined the bank, I didn’t want to leave Greenville, and I was the first UCB employee in South Carolina at that time. I had this great opportunity with a company that is known for outstanding customer service and culture, we took two years to fix processes to make it scalable and started acquiring companies in higher growth markets.”
And it’s easy to attract talent to Greenville, he said, for all the same reasons he was attracted to it. “Banks are a reflection and continue to be an amplifier of economic growth wherever they are,” said Harton. “If the community does well, the bank will do well, especially with the right leadership. We project we will grow a $120 million in net new growth in Greenville alone and all that lending activity is helping people meet their hopes and dreams. Any time you can have a strong financial institution embedded in any given market they will both do well.” The publicly traded multibank holding company, which is worth more than $23 billion as of September, announced it would move its headquarters in February 2021 from Blairsville, Ga., to Greenville. UCB is also the largest bank headquartered in South Carolina. The legal move of the headquarters took place in July 2021. The executive team has been working out of the ONE building since 2016 while the new building is under construction. The new building will serve as the physical headquarters upon completion. “United Community Bank’s relocation of their headquarters to downtown Greenville See UNITED COMMUNITY BANK, Page 18
Home Pitch
After four seasons of growing an enthusiastic fan base, the Triumph has a new place for home games. Page 7
Contributing Writer
usiness owners should expect a recession to hit the U.S. economy in the first half of 2024, a Daniel Island economist said during an annual economic forecast in December. Stephen Slifer, a former chief economist for Lehman Brothers and former senior economist for the Federal Reserve, told hundreds of business owners, professionals and government officials in Charleston that the national economy continues to remain strong even with rising inflation fears and a looming recession. “The stock market has gotten whacked pretty good this year,” he said. “Yet, the economy keeps hanging in there.” If a recession does come in 2024, businesses could experience a recovery during the second half of that year, he said. Slifer, who writes a column for SC Biz publications and operates a data analytics firm in Charleston, said several indicators that economists watch are predicting a recession. “When are we expecting some sort of a recession?” Slifer said. “I don’t want to oversimplify this, but there’s a couple of things that I’m looking at. There’s all sorts of leading indicators.” Slifer said the real funds rate and the yield curve, along with specific federal policy changes, give economists a reason to think a recession will occur in 2024. The real funds rate is essentially the real interest rate with a subtraction for inflation, which indicates the actual cost of borrowing money and what a lender might expect as a return for lending money. Along with the real funds rate, Slifer said economists also look for an inverted yield curve. “It’s just the difference between long rates and short rates,” Slifer said. “Usually, long rates are higher than short rates, so the thing slopes upward. But then the Fed comes along and they start raising rates up, See ECONOMIST, Page 9