LUGOFF, S.C. — As more people call Kershaw County home, more apartments and homes are popping up also.
According to the United States Census Bureau, from April 1st, 2020 to July 1st, 2021, over 700 people moved to the area,
Kershaw County Administrator Danny Templar says, "It seems like a land that can be developed is being developed."
Most of that land the county is the western half of the county. "Growth tends to be in the West Wateree side of Lugoff and primarily Elgin," he says. "If you look at the census data maps and heat maps if you will from 2010 it was really hot you could see the growth and that trend has certainly continued, that trend has continued into 2020."
Residents like Patsy Jackson live near all of the construction. She says she's curious about what's happening, "It started out as homes, then it started turning into townhouses, and I'm not really sure some apartment buildings, and so forth I'm really not really sure what all it is."
The development includes three new subdivisions that will welcome a total of 280 units. "There are some businesses coming in on the main strip but it's more single-family homes," Templar says. "Clearly there is a demand, it's supply and demand, as you can see these homes are built, they're not even finished and there is a sold sticker in the window so that it's a true indicator for the market is and the demand."
Restaurants like Lugoff House of Pizza say this will be good for their dining room too. "We do see more people coming this way here because I think they are building new apartments over here, we're seeing new customers coming this way, of course, it's good," says Hossam Naama, the manager of Lugoff Pizza.
As for how much more growth the area can handle Templar says, "Growth is good, we're not anti-growth, we certainly welcome growth and members in the community, but we have to also be mindful of this is a mostly rural county so we don't quite have the infrastructure in terms of roads and signal you might have in a larger community."