THREE YEARS LATER, SEPT. 11 IMPACT VARIES

TERRORIST ATTACKS STILL CAUSING SUBTLE CHANGES FOR BUSINESSES
By Richard Breen
BUSINESS EDITOR

In Greenville bank lobbies, security concerns are focused more on robberies than terrorist attacks. “That’s been pretty much standard or steady within the banking industry for years,” says John Windley, regional president with South Carolina Bank and Trust.

Behind the scenes, however, it’s a different story.

“More and more information is being exchanged electronically,” says Windley, who oversees SCB&T branches in downtown Greenville and on Pelham Road. “On the electronic side, with the threat of terrorism, there’s been a need for additional backup systems.

“We’ve got somebody monitoring our systems 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

With the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks now three years past, there is a continuing trend of subtle but permanent shifts in how business is done.

“National tenants are asking us for more and more stringent security measures,” says Bogue Wallin, who is in charge of the Liberty Property Trust’s holdings in South Carolina.

In bigger cities with taller buildings, that means restricted access to upper floors and tighter security at entrances. Those trends are making their way to Greenville, according to Wallin.

Pennsylvania-based Liberty Property Trust manages the two-building Liberty Square development in downtown Greenville, as well as numerous suburban real estate holdings such as Southchase Industrial Park.

“Downtown is a manned security post, 24-7,” Wallin says. “In the suburban buildings, you have more of a security system.”

Demand for more elaborate security systems has made the phone ring at companies such as Goddard Technology Corp.

“We’ve seen a lot of increased business from our airport clients,” says Bill Donohue, company president and chief executive.

Greenville based Goddard develops custom software for the security industry and has 11 employees. It recently launched a security application at several airports around the country that makes it easier to check employees against the federal government’s “no-fly” list of suspicious individuals.

“The environment’s changing,” Donohue says. “You see it at the airport. You see it at your workplace, at the hospital or in a university environment.”

Many of the high-tech security features associated with science fiction and spy movies were in development prior to 9/11. Those include fingerprint and hand geometry scanners, according to Donohue.

“Even the iris scanner, retinal scanners – they’ve existed for a number of years,” he says. “People recognized the tragedy that took place at the World Trade Center and they said, ‘We want that security.’ “

It comes at a price, however. Most of the low-cost, procedural-type changes have already taken place, according to Wallin.

“The next changes are going to require more expenditure on behalf of us and the customer,” he says.

That makes for tough business decisions in what has been a buyer’s market for commercial real estate.

“Downtown has been flat-to-zero in job growth for the past three years – and that’s been hard on everyone,” Wallin says.

Some local businesses were already operating at a high security level prior to 9/11.

“We’ve always had the requirements of a secured base,” says David Posek, president of the Greenville-based Lockheed Martin Aircraft and Logistics Centers business unit of Lockheed Martin Corp.

Lockheed has an aircraft repair/refurbishment facility at Donaldson Center Industrial Air Park, where technicians work on military aircraft from around the world.

On the day of the attacks, security at Lockheed’s hangars was “tighter than a drum,” in the words of one official at the former Air Force base.

“It wasn’t significant in terms of a new set of requirements,” Posek says of the post-9/11 fallout. “Nine-11 just heightened our awareness.”

Security is being impacted not just by 9/11, but also by the ensuing war on terrorism.

“The other thing is the Patriot Act,” Windley says. Asking regular customers to show proof of identification is one example. “There are some additional documentation requirements.”

There also are changes being made to protect against other security issues, such as robberies. Many local banks went to a policy this year that asks customers to remove hats and sunglasses prior to entering the lobby.

“That is not terrorism-related,” Windley says. “That is to create a safer work environment for our employees.”

At Goddard, the impact of the attacks was felt immediately.

“The World Trade Center itself was our single largest client,” Donohue says. “We had roughly 50 systems in there.”