Economic development officials and legislators long knew Orangeburg County had its own field of dreams.

The issue was finding it.

It would have to be somewhere near the county's main highway arteries of Interstate 95 and Interstate 26 to take advantage of the high traffic volume on the interstate.

With increasing congestion at the state's Port of Charleston and little room for expansion on a heavily congested coastline, the county's proximity to the port is called an ideal site to relieve pressure on the coast.

The challenge was finding an Orangeburg County landowner with the ability and desire to invest a large portion of land for future development.

Stepping to the plate

The challenge was be met by Orangeburg County businessman Jim Roquemore, chief executive officer of Patten Seed Co., a land-holding firm and the parent of turf company SuperSod. Roquemore is a partner in the company with President Ben Copeland.

The two men would eventually sell about 800 of the 1,322 total acres Oct. 2 to Dubai-based Jafza International for the development of a $600-700 million logistics megahub expected to create 8,000 to 10,000 jobs through direct and indirect employment.

Roquemore said plans for the property went back even further.

He recalled being approached by Sen. John Matthews and Sen. Brad Hutto in late December of 2000 about their vision for the property.

"They said there was a nice piece of land in Santee. It was a big block and they thought it had the potential to be an industrial park, commercial site," Roquemore said during an interview at his SuperSod office on U.S. 301 North.

He recalled them referring to land at U.S. 301 and Interstate 95 as "a great site" and saying, "'We don't have anything in mind but we are concerned about it being broken up into smaller pieces or someone purchasing it and putting such an exorbitant price on it that no one would purchase it."'

Roquemore said he was asked to consider purchasing the property to farm and sod the area, with the potential for a future "friendly owner" to assume development of the land.

Matthews said his and Hutto's vision for the area go back about 10 years, with a goal to create "five class A industrial parks in the eastern part of the county."

Matthews said money from the tobacco settlement (of which South Carolina was to receive $7.3 million) were to be used to purchase property in key locations for future use, but the money was not enough.

Matthews said after he talked to individuals in the eastern portion of the county, the Santee land was cited as the best location because it has one mile of rail access, interstate frontage, proximity to I-95 and the Lake Marion Regional Water System soon to come on line.

"Sen Hutto and I started talking to folks because we could not get resources from the state," Matthews said. "We wanted somebody who would look at it from the long term."

In addition to having rail, the site already had water and sewer funded by the tobacco grant.

Roquemore said negotiations began with land owners Pat Williams and farmer Walter Dantzler, the former owners.

After receiving approval from the Patten Seed Co. board to pursue the purchase, Roquemore signed the transaction to purchase 682 acres on Jan. 24, 2001.

"There were some issues," Roquemore said, recalling his explanation to board members of the pluses and minuses on the property.

"The pluses are that it was ideally situated on I-95 and had rail through it. ... The negatives are for us it has a lot of woods on it, so we can't farm part of it and did not have any center pivots (an irrigation system) on it," Roquemore said. "So we were going to have to spend some fair amount of money putting in center pivots and clearing the land."

Roquemore also recalled the land was expensive -- double what most farmland sold for at the time.

"You could buy good farmland in 2000-2001 for between $1,000 and $1,300 an acre," he said. "This was ... closer to $3,000 an acre. This was a big hurdle for the board. It was also speculative in that it might take five years or 25 years to build on the site and buy this site from us."

Over the next three years, Roquemore and Copeland purchased four additional parcels totaling 120 acres, bringing the total amount of land owned by the men to about 800 acres.

Roquemore would later enter into a partnership called Term LLC. The partnership, consisting of about four individuals, purchased about 130 acres.

CaroLinks' interest

And so Patten Seed planted the initial seed that would eventually spark interest in the form of Charleston-based Carolina Linkages, an industrial real estate and intermodal development company. It was CaroLinks that eventually sold all its options and interest on the property to Jafza.

Roquemore said he was first approached by CaroLinks about the property in August 2005. The company shared with him its plans and on Oct. 14, 2005, Roquemore optioned the land to the company. CaroLinks had plans to invest $10-15 million in the development of an industrial park and distribution facility over five years.

For more than a year, a series of extensions on options to purchase the property were granted.

Roquemore said his relationship with CaroLinks was smooth, with the company meeting all deadlines and agreements.

"I was determined to stay in the project until it hit a dead end," Roquemore said, noting such a development takes a long time. He was not concerned about the delays.

Despite recent investigations into CaroLinks CEO Lucy Duncan-Scheman by the South Carolina Attorney General's Office on securities fraud, which company officials have adamantly contested, Roquemore defended the company's interests in the area.

"CaroLinks had as much of a vision and dream on their side," he said, adding that if CaroLinks had not become involved in the project, "We would not be where we are today."

"Lucy is the one that got the ball rolling," Roquemore said.

Jafza buys land

The proverbial ball really got rolling in about April of this year, Roquemore said.

It was during that month that Roquemore said he was first introduced to Jafza Managing Director Chuck Heath, "a real personable guy," as well as other company officials.

He said officials looked at the site and discussions revolved around the local economy, real estate market and opportunities available -- and then they left.

Roquemore said it was not until July and August that talks began to pick up. The company settled on the land in September and officially purchased it in October. On Oct.2, Jafza purchased a total of 1,322 acres for about $10 million.

Roquemore said Patten Seed sold the land under a tax-free exchange with money received being reinvested in land.

"We are going to reinvest in other land in the Southeast," he said, noting that Patten Seed is both a turf and a land-holding company. "We have already ide.jpgied a few parcels which has really nothing to do with Jafza. They are lands which we just farm. We will continue to evaluate and purchase property as our financial resources allow it."

Roquemore said the company paid about $3,000 an acre for the property and held it in 2007 with a 20 percent increase in the land value annually. Much of the money from the land already has been reinvested.

"I have heard it said that several people have criticized us and say we made a lot of money and have taken the money and run," he said, noting that he has invested in the Ballards Pointe project, an upscale Santee waterfront condominium development, and the 66-acre North Shore Villas and Marina at Exit 102 across the lake in North Santee in Clarendon County. "We have brought more people to Santee than anybody else, I would guess."

For the next three months -- June, July, August -- other landowners near the contiguous tracts were approached by Jafza.

Gene Ball, pastor of Santee Bible Church and Orangeburg County Fire System coordinator, sold about 58 acres of his land purchased in December 1992 to Jafza.

Ball said he was approached by Jafza in July and really had no idea the property would be purchased.

Ball, a Santee resident, said the town needs a project that will "bring positive growth" to the area.

Ball acknowledged there are people in Santee not favorable to the project, but he said a large majority of the land is situated on the west side of the railroad tracts.

Ball said there is only one house on the 1,322 acres.

"It tells you that is land that nobody has been developing and that the land probably would not get developed," Ball said, noting the property is far removed from Highway 6.

He says the town's recreational assets will not be negatively impacted. "In fact, I think it will bring more resort areas on the lake in the near future."

Ball said Santee is in a "strategic location for development" and not to tap into its location would be a shame.

"Santee is an area where you are going to see traffic. People have the idea to keep it little and keep it tight and not to go beyond the border."

Ball, who was outspoken against a Catawba Indian bingo establishment coming into the area, said Jafza will bring positive growth in the form of job opportunities and spin-offs. He says that is unlike bingo, which preys on the poor. "It (bingo) would tend to attract the kind of element that will be conducive to violence and poverty."

Another longtime property owner in the area, Motley Rice attorney Miles Loadholt, said he had been in talks with representatives of Jafza International for three to four months before he and business partner Robert O. Collins sold 196.53 acres.

'Dreams and vision'

"I feel like this whole project goes on two things and that is on dreams and vision ... and what can happen on that part of the county even though nothing substantially particularly along industrial and commercial lines have happened in Santee ever," Roquemore said.

With the Jebel Ali Free Zone in the emirate of Dubai, which Jafza has said would be similar to plans in Orangeburg, the company created an epic logistics and distribution center on 35,000 barren desert acres.

That center of trade and commerce has since spun off nearly a dozen mini-cities on the vast empty land around it, cities dedicated to specific industries ranging from aeronautics to high tech, from textiles to maritime.

When asked if he thought the land purchase will be enough to meet Jafza's needs, Roquemore said he thinks "bigger and better things" could come.

"My guess is that they have the connections and size and the reputation to bring in substantially more groups if they receive the support form the state and the county," he said. "I would surprised if that was not just the tip of the iceberg. If the economy holds out I think they will bring many with them or many other companies like them will come into the area. I believe success breeds success."

Company officials, in particular Heath, have said the company wants to increase the foreign investments in the state through the development of an economy.

Currently, about 6,500 international companies are operating in the Jebel Ali Free Zone.

Jafza International's decision to embrace Orangeburg came after seven months of analysis of several sites in the Southeast, Heath said, looking at demographic trends to the available work force to how business friendly a state was to the number of multinational companies who were relocating or making new investments in the area.

Heath said he expects Jafza International's activities in Orangeburg to not only help draw new industries and investment to South Carolina but also to touch off a boom in housing and commercial construction in the upper Lowcountry and the center of the state.

Heath also stressed the company's intent to work with local and state officials to ensure any growth occurs is controlled and sustainable as well as ensuring the quality of life of individuals in the area is sustained.

Roquemore: Project good for Santee

Roquemore, an avid outdoorsman whose office wall is decorated with hunting pictures, said his interests are also in Santee. He said he would not work with a company that could not balance the area's needs and benefit the quality of life.

"Three of my children have bought a place on the lake," he said. "The Roquemores are there. Patten Seed Co. has invested several million more dollars in real estate in the Santee area. We want to be a long-term player. We are all about doing things that are better for the community in terms of quality of growth."

Roquemore said he believes in balancing recreation and job use and understands some of the local concerns that the "Oasis of Recreation" will be negatively impacted.

He said the entire marketing campaign of the recent Santee projects has focused on the recreational assets of Santee. He would be inconsistent in promoting recreation if he thought it would be harmed by the project.

Roquemore said the Jafza land is removed from heavily populated areas such as the Santee Cooper Resort and a number of natural wooded buffers and green space will reduce any impact.

He said the concerns of people about noise pollution and congestion are "fair and reasonable," but encouraged those individuals to be patient and promised their concerns will be addressed.

"They will have a seat at the table," he said.

Jafza officials have said they will continue to engage public officials and negotiate a set of mutual commitments between the company and county, state and federal bodies.

Once these and other preliminary hurdles are passed, Jafza engineers are expected to work with local consultants to produce the project's definitive budget, time line and a business plan.

Focus on I-95 corridor

Orangeburg County Development Commission Executive Director Gregg Robinson declined any comment on how the department first engaged Carolina Linkages or Jafza International, citing protocol against revealing proprietary business operations.

"We have been working on this for years," Robinson said in reference to the general development of what county officials have trademarked the Global Logistics Triangle (a triangle formed by Interstate 95/Interstate 26 and U.S. 301.) "It has been a vision of (Congressman James) Clyburn, (Sen. Lindsey) Graham and our leadership in council for well over five to 10 years."

He said the Santee land is ideal in that 1,322 acres (1,000 acres is considered a megasite) are secured and that the needed infrastructure -- water, sewer, rail, gas and electricity -- are all on site.

He said there may be capacity issues to contend with but the Lake Marion Regional Water system should help.

With Orangeburg County being pro growth and pro business as well as having an available work force, Robinson said the county is positioned for success.

As for Roquemore, he is just tickled that a company with the reputation and experience of Jafza has Orangeburg County on its radar.

And with the continued support from the federal state and local levels, the future is bright, he says.

"As long as there is a team of support that says we want you, chances are good they will partner with us."

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com and 803-533-5551.

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