Area Development
The first steel beam was placed yesterday for a new Boeing plant in Charleston, South Carolina. The 1.2 million-square-foot facility will bring 4,000 jobs to the area. Boeing has invested $750 million in the project, according to The Charleston Post and Courier.

The company was attracted to South Carolina to take advantage of financial incentives, as well as its non-union work force.

The new plant will manufacture the Boeing 787 model known as the Dreamliner. The manufacturing facility can fit two of the airplanes side by side, and will be buttressed by two, 75-foot office towers. Boeing has spent more than 90 percent of the project budget on South Carolina construction companies. Despite an unusually rainy winter, officials say the project is on schedule to be completed by July 2011.