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Reaping benefits in the long run


Companies willing to take a chance on building retail centers in fast-growing "hot spots" can reap benefits in the long run, according to William H. "Bill" Harrison, Jr., a real estate developer who is also a lecturer in finance at the Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina.

"If you do a good job, you will control (the market) when the growth meets you," Harrison told the Charleston Post and Courier in an article published Oct. 10, 2007, about a new community under development in the Berkeley County town of Moncks Corner.  But Harrison also pointed out that retailers must be financially prepared to weather a period of losses "until the rooftops show up."

Thousands of new homes are planned for the Foxbank Towne Center, a master-planned community at U.S. Highway 52 and Cypress Gardens Road near Charleston that will contain more than 2,400 homes,  a new elementary and middle school, a grocery stores and other shops once the area is complete.  But many of the planned homes haven't been built yet - hence Harrison's comments about retailers potentially reaping benefits, but only in the long run.