Clemson plan for N. Chas. faltering; Budget board doubts viability of materials restoration campus

BYLINE: BRIAN HICKS, The Post and Courier

Clemson's plan to build a North Charleston campus and restore the H.L. Hunley is close to becoming another lost cause.

Gov. Mark Sanford and other members of the state Budget and Control Board, which has final approval on the plan, say there is no clear cost benefit to the university's proposal for an 80-acre research park, restoration institute and materials science campus on the old Navy Base.

Earlier this month, the Budget and Control Board held off approving $10.3 million in bonds to start the campus, most members wanting more concrete information on the campus's purpose and its long-term benefits and economic impact on the state.

Even with that information, Sanford says he cannot support more "higher education sprawl" in South Carolina.

"I just don't think it's prudent to invest in a new campus without quantifying what you expect to get out of it," Sanford said Tuesday. "Nobody's quite sure what the payoff is. We're talking about $10 million for a campus that might have 100 kids and it's a long way from the northwest corner of the state."

The idea for a restoration institute surfaced more than a year ago. Clemson agreed to finish conservation of the Confederate submarine Hunley in exchange for the Warren Lasch Conservation Center and its surrounding lab. The Hunley lab is considered a state-of-the-art restoration center, and school officials say it would be a perfect setting for their materials science program.

Soon, North Charleston got involved with the deal, pledging a total of 82 acres of land along with the land for the promise of a campus much like the International Center for Automotive Research in Greenville, another Clemson project. Clemson said over 30 years, the campus could employ as many as 5,000 people and have a $500 million economic impact on the Lowcountry.

But some state officials don't see it. Sanford says the difference between the restoration institute and the ICAR campus is corporate involvement in Greenville. And Comptroller Richard Eckstrom, another voting member of the Budget and Control Board, says he is not opposed to the idea, but worries about spending money without some assurances that Clemson can make it work.

"I'd like to see the numbers to show clearly that this is good for South Carolina, a cost-benefit analysis" Eckstrom said. "I'm certainly supportive of projects that are economically appealing."

But members of the Budget and Control Board say that so far they have not seen the light, or the encouraging statistics. Even state Treasurer Grady Patterson, privately considered a friendly vote on the board, said he could not support any project based on the information he's seen so far.

"Until we get all the facts, we can't do anything," Patterson said.

Clemson professors have been working with Hunley scientists for years, partially with an eye toward developing new technologies to preserve rusted metal. With $1.6 trillion in infrastructure needs nationwide, Clemson could see a huge financial windfall from techniques that would make metal stronger and more durable.

But that's a big if. Sanford said if taxpayers want to pay for conserving the Hunley - the only identified big-ticket project of the new campus - they should do that, but "that doesn't mean you have to build a campus."

Budget and Control Board members - which also include Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Cooper - say they will wait to see what North Charleston does first. The City Council has approved the deal, but has to give it another approval after some contractual amendments between the Hunley Commission and Clemson to ensure the submarine is conserved.

That approval is expected before the next Budget and Control Board meeting on Dec. 12 - the last before Patterson is replaced by incoming Treasurer Thomas Ravenel, a man who has said he wants to support Sanford on the board.

Critics have said the Hunley project needs the Clemson deal to survive, but Hunley Commission chairman Sen. Glenn McConnell says that's not the case. This year, all but $92,546 of the Hunley's nearly $1.2 million budget has come from private fund-raising. McConnell said the restoration institute would be an economic win for the Lowcountry, but Clemson's woes aren't the Hunley's.

"We can finish this project without them," McConnell said.

It is increasingly looking as if they will have to.

Reach Brian Hicks at 937-5561 or bhicks@postandcourier.com