Gaffney-based Brown Packing Co. to invest $10M in expansion

Cherokee County officials are happy to see another longtime local business expand.

Monday night, Cherokee County Council approved an incentives package for the expansion of Brown Packing Co. The 10-year, $10 million investment is the latest in a series of business expansions that have had a significant impact on Cherokee County.

“Everyone gets excited when it’s a new project, but frankly, when you can see Timken expand and Nestle expand and Freightliner expand and Milliken expand over the course of the past three or four years, it’s a good sign for our community,” County Administrator Holland Belue said.

In April, Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. broke ground on a new 200,000-square-foot logistics facility, the centerpiece of the company’s $22.7 million expansion.

Last year, Milliken & Co. announced an investment of at least $2.5 million in three of its Cherokee County plants.

In 2013, Bericap North America expanded its Cherokee County manufacturing facility, investing $29 million with an expected addition of 50 jobs by 2018.

Brown Packing, at 116 Willis St. in Gaffney, was started by Walter Brown in the 1930s, and the company was reorganized after a sale in 1977. The small meat packing company was recognized last year as one of the top 20 beef packers in the United States by Cattle Buyers Weekly, a trade publication.

It was unclear Monday how many new jobs might be created during Brown’s expansion. The incentives, once finalized, would allow the company to pay a flat fee each year rather than the tax rate.

“It’s a continued investment for an existing company. Any time you see a company wanting to continue to invest, that’s a positive sign,” Bellue said. “Any industry that’s not continuing to invest and look to hire people and grow is a stagnant or declining industry. So, it’s encouraging when we see companies like Hamrick’s and Freightliner and companies like Brown Packing continuing to invest. It’s very encouraging.”