LaFrance emerges from bankruptcy

Cue the flashing lights and sirens: Emergency-vehicle maker American LaFrance LLC has put its bankruptcy behind it in relatively short order.

The Summerville-based company's owner, Patriarch Partners, said the 175-year-old manufacturer of fire, rescue and vocational vehicles "emerged successfully" last week from its six-month reorganization.

The restructuring was not without some pain. American LaFrance recently announced it is shifting its fire-truck business out of its main plant off Jedburg Road and eliminating 35 local jobs to improve its profitability.

The fire-body production unit is being moved to factories in Ephrata, Pa., and Hamburg, N.Y., partly to open up room for prospective new manufacturing ventures at its nearly year-old headquarters off Jedburg Road.

As of this spring, American LaFrance had about 500 employees at its Summerville headquarters, which will remain open. It also was planning an undisclosed number of temporary work furloughs as it transfers the fire-truck unit to its New York and Pennsylvania plants.

"Summerville will remain the center of excellence for commercial cab and chassis models including chassis manufactured for the fire, refuse and construction markets (street sweepers, refuse haulers, concrete pumpers etc.)," New York City-based Patriarch said Friday.

As previously reported by The Post and Courier, the company said it is chasing undisclosed new business ventures for its local operation and is "currently completing documentation" as part of that process.

"These initiatives are instrumental to the decision to rationalize facilities and processes for the anticipated ramp-up of new lines of production," Lynn Tilton, chief executive of Patriarch, said in a statement Friday. "The company also plans to significantly broaden its focus beyond domestic borders into the global market."

She did not elaborate, but it's a fair bet that one of them is her investment firm's buyout bid for another financially troubled enterprise. Patriarch recently offered to pay $5 million for the assets of North Charleston-based Protected Vehicles Inc. , a bankrupt maker of heavy-duty military trucks, according to a document filed this month with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Canal collaboration

The State Ports Authority has reaffirmed a strategic alliance with one of the shipping world's most strategic seagoing shortcuts.

The Panama Canal and the SPA formally renewed their memorandum of understanding for three more years, it was announced last week. The agreement, designed to increase cooperation, began in 2003 and includes information exchange, joint marketing, expansion plans, market studies, training and technology.

The Port of Charleston is preparing for larger ships that will come through the Panama Canal when it is expanded, officials said. Products currently transported to and from Charleston via the canal include furniture and machinery.

Year of the yacht

Charleston Harbor's newest big boat is open for business and here to stay year-round.

The Carolina Girl, a 100-foot luxury yacht docked at the Ripley Light Yacht Club, seats 150 guests on its three decks: an open air top deck, a cushy "Key West Room" down below and a formal dining room in the middle.

Capt. Bob Murray, who worked as an economics professor in New York and a local stockbroker before heading to the open sea full-time, bought the boat in Maine after realizing Charleston's long-standing need for a year-round yacht. Rates vary depending on services provided, but dockside parties start at $3,500, Murray said.

Workshop with tools

For the past decade, the residential side of Daniel Island has expanded steadily, like clockwork.

But that growth has not guaranteed success for the cluster of service-oriented businesses in the master-planned community's commercial center, which measures slightly more than 1 million square feet.

In the past few months, several restaurants have closed their doors. Arlaana's Restaurant and Vincent's Pizza stopped doing business completely, while the owners of McCaffrey's Irish Pub haven't reopened the restaurant after closing "temporarily" this spring.

Another 1 million square feet of commercial space is planned for the island's build-out in 10 years, according to the Daniel Island Co.

With the island's long-term economic viability in mind, city of Charleston officials are stepping in. The city's Department of Planning, Preservation and Economic Innovation is sponsoring a workshop for current business owners and prospective commercial tenants who hope to open up operations in Daniel Island's town center.

The goal of the session is to "offer to existing and proposed businesses some of the tools they may need for a successful business," said Mayor Joe Riley in a statement. It's designed to help business owners plan for their business, manage sales expectations, design target marketing strategies and budget, the city said.

The workshop could reiterate what commercial real estate brokers who lease space on Daniel Island have stressed about that market — that small business owners can't rely simply on the island's well-heeled residents for revenue and profits.

The workshop runs from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursday at the Berkeley County Library's Daniel Island branch, 2301 Daniel Island Drive.