Year of Development in Seneca

This has been a year of development for the City of Seneca.  Three major projects were announced in 2012 by the city.  The largest being the announcement that Seneca would become the first all-electric fare free public transit system in the country.  Seneca Mayor Dan Alexander gives details. “With the CAT bus to be able to make that happen was pretty amazing.  Greg Dietterick and Ed Halbig are to be commended, they worker very hard on that.  We will be the first all-electric public transit.  We are looking at March or April for that to come together.  We were able to get two major federal grants to make that happen.  It was a $4 million grant and a $1.8 million grant.  We are very fortunate to have the partnership with Clemson Area Transit and the City of Clemson, they have opened up a lot doors for Seneca and we look forward to where the future goes with the transit system and what may happen here in this community.” Another major development was the purchase of the Propex property by the city and county, explains Mayor Alexander. “The Propex property is another major thing that Seneca made happen this year.  Our goal there is to create jobs and we have been able to get two tenants in that property right now.  The county partnership there was great.” A new high-end hotel also announced it would be building in Seneca in 2012.  Mayor Alexander says the new Hampton Inn and Suites was collaboration between the city and county as well. “The hotel is another major partnership between us, the developer and the county.  That is about a $14 million investment.  It is 100 plus room high-end hotel that is going to be on the east end of the city.  It is going to be completed by football season.” The new Hampton Inn and Suites project took a couple of years to put together and will spur economic development on the east side of Seneca, which is an area that has not seen much development in recent years.