CHAPIN, S.C. — The Town of Chapin is seeing positive impacts as new businesses come to the area and the population grows.
In the past nearly 20 years, Chapin has seen more than a 150 percent population increase.
Recently, more businesses have made their way to the town and have started to open up.
"We're the Chophouse of Chapin. We opened up about a week ago. There's a lot of excitement," said Matthew Boyle, general manager of the Chophouse of Chapin.
They're one of the many businesses setting up shop in the town. The restaurant says they make all of their food in-house. Chophouse of Chapin believes it's important to see Chapin grow.
"There's nothing like us out here. Hall's Chophouse downtown, a lot of people we talked with travel 45 minutes to an hour to go downtown for the same experience and same quality of food," said Boyle. "We wanted to put it right in their backyard."
Nicholle Burroughs, with the town, says having new businesses coming to Chapin has provided a positive economic impact.
The town has a hospitality tax where restaurants contribute 2 percent from prepared foods. That money, in turn, helps with DOT projects around Chapin.
"Any time that you have citizens that are choosing to invest in your community, it's a tremendous benefit and it also supports the local surrounding communities," said Burroughs.
The town is expecting more of a positive impact as Chapin continues to grow.
"The Town of Chapin is really grateful for all of the businesses that choose to invest in the Chapin community, and we are really excited about a lot of the new population growth we've experienced, as well," explained Burroughs. "This increase in population, as well as investment, really makes for a better community and we're excited to see what the future holds."
Road projects in the Chapin community include the one on the interstate as well as the bypass that will go around the town to help with traffic flow.
The town says they're proud to have the small local businesses in the community. They're continuing to look for new things to bring to the area. Right now they're hoping to add a brewery and a hotel.