{"id":8126,"date":"2026-02-20T18:09:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T18:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/20\/sc-state-university-research-facility-coming-to-cayce\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T18:09:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T18:09:45","slug":"sc-state-university-research-facility-coming-to-cayce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/20\/sc-state-university-research-facility-coming-to-cayce\/","title":{"rendered":"SC State University Research Facility Coming to Cayce"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"100\" data-end=\"501\">The City of Cayce has announced that <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">South Carolina State University<\/span><\/span> is expanding its footprint in the Midlands with the development of a new 42,000-square-foot Research &amp; Extension campus at <strong data-start=\"298\" data-end=\"325\">1801 Charleston Highway<\/strong> in <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Cayce<\/span><\/span>. The facility will serve as the university&rsquo;s largest Research &amp; Extension location in the state and is expected to open in early 2027.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"503\" data-end=\"529\">The new campus will house:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"531\" data-end=\"775\">\n<li data-start=\"531\" data-end=\"598\">\n<p data-start=\"533\" data-end=\"598\">The headquarters for SC State&rsquo;s Center for Food Safety &amp; Health<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"599\" data-end=\"625\">\n<p data-start=\"601\" data-end=\"625\">Modern classroom space<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"626\" data-end=\"662\">\n<p data-start=\"628\" data-end=\"662\">A 150&ndash;200 seat conference center<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"663\" data-end=\"720\">\n<p data-start=\"665\" data-end=\"720\">A professional television and radio production studio<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"721\" data-end=\"775\">\n<p data-start=\"723\" data-end=\"775\">Residential accommodations for visiting scientists<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"777\" data-end=\"935\"><span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">USDA Rural Development<\/span><\/span> will also operate from the site, creating a collaborative hub focused on research, rural innovation, and public service.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"937\" data-end=\"1333\">&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t just about a building,&rdquo; said Dr. Louis Whitesides, Vice President for Public Service &amp; Agriculture and Executive Director of 1890 Research &amp; Extension at SC State. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s about building capacity for research, workforce development, and the communities we serve. When legislators and community members see this facility in operation, they&rsquo;ll see public investment at work in real time.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1335\" data-end=\"1666\">Strategically positioned near the State House with strong visibility and accessibility, the Cayce campus strengthens SC State&rsquo;s regional presence across Lexington, Richland, Fairfield, Newberry, and Aiken counties. The project also advances the university&rsquo;s goal of maintaining a presence in all 46 South Carolina counties by 2030.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1668\" data-end=\"1883\">Designed as a shared civic space, the facility will offer meeting rooms and gathering areas accessible to community organizations, reinforcing SC State&rsquo;s mission of research that directly benefits South Carolinians.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1885\" data-end=\"1935\">The economic impact is expected to be significant:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"1937\" data-end=\"2328\">\n<li data-start=\"1937\" data-end=\"2006\">\n<p data-start=\"1939\" data-end=\"2006\">More than 100 workers will participate in the construction phase.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2007\" data-end=\"2124\">\n<p data-start=\"2009\" data-end=\"2124\">Once operational, the campus will support between 50 and 70 full-time positions shared between SC State and USDA.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"2125\" data-end=\"2328\">\n<p data-start=\"2127\" data-end=\"2328\">The addition of scientists, staff, and visiting researchers is projected to generate millions of dollars annually in local economic activity through housing, retail, dining, and related expenditures.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"2330\" data-end=\"2740\">&ldquo;The City of Cayce is very excited to see such an amazing project by South Carolina State University in the works,&rdquo; said Luke Godbold, Director of Development Services for the City of Cayce. &ldquo;Not only does it bring highly specialized jobs, it delivers a much-welcomed boost of revitalization. We look forward to the grand opening and future collaboration opportunities. The City of Cayce is open for business.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2742\" data-end=\"3042\">Construction is expected to be completed in late 2026, with full operations beginning in January 2027. The Cayce campus represents more than an expansion &mdash; it establishes a long-term anchor for economic growth, innovation, and community partnership in one of South Carolina&rsquo;s fastest-growing regions.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"3044\" data-end=\"3131\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">For more information about development opportunities in Cayce, visit choosecaycesc.gov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The City of Cayce has announced that South Carolina State University is expanding its footprint in the Midlands with the development of a new 42,000-square-foot Research &amp; Extension campus at 1801 Charleston Highway in Cayce. The facility will serve as the university&rsquo;s largest Research &amp; Extension location in the state<span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/20\/sc-state-university-research-facility-coming-to-cayce\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,36],"tags":[776],"class_list":["entry","author-john-griggs","post-8126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","category-government","tag-cayce"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gpstrianglenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SC-STATE-Cayce-Research-facility_2026_630x350.jpg?fit=627%2C350&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}