INDIAN LAND - The view was good in Indian Land on Thursday as a business opened its new headquarters.

Sharonview Federal Credit Union, with 55,000 members and $740 million in assets, held its grand opening Thursday at 521 Corporate Park.

Its largest customer is Wellman Industries.

Wellman has invested about $9 million in Lancaster County and has transferred 84 executive jobs from Charlotte to Indian Land.

Wellman is a Fortune 500 company and leading producer of polyester fibers and polyethylene-terephthalate resins. Wellman is now open and operating at 521 Corporate Park.

Sharonview Federal Credit Union President and CEO John Carlson said 2005 marked the credit union's 50th anniversary, and that Thursday's opening was the "capstone on 50 very successful years."

The 50,000-square-foot building will fill Sharonview's space needs for the next 10 to 15 years, Carlson said.

The credit union provides a full line of products and services, including loans and savings, to members from more than 150 sponsor-companies across South Carolina, North Carolina and New Jersey. The credit union was founded in 1955 with $11,000 in assets.

The average salary of employees working at the Indian Land headquarters is $40,000.

Sharonview's move to Lancaster County was prompted by rapid business expansion. The credit union experienced more than 100 percent growth in the last five years.

Carlson said the growth not only made the new facility necessary, but will also create new jobs in the Indian Land area.

"If we continue to grow at the current pace, we feel pretty confident that we will hire close to 135 employees to satisfy our expanding membership's needs," Carlson said.

Lancaster County Council Chairman Alston DeVenny said he's pleased to welcome the credit union to the county. He said he hopes employees that will be transferring from North Carolina to work at Sharonview's new headquarters would think about living here.

He said he also hopes Sharonview Credit Union will stay here, even after it outgrows its building in years to come.

"We look forward to helping you find another place in 10 to 15 years to carry on the tradition," DeVenny said.

Hack McGill of the S.C. Department of Commerce said companies consider moving to Lancaster County because of its labor force and infrastructure already in place.

"These are high-paying professional jobs," McGill said. "Economic development in South Carolina is alive and kicking and it takes a team to do this."

He praised county officials and state and local government for assisting in the credit union's move.

Carlson said the corporate park's infrastructure and a reasonable land price for 6.5 acres made the decision to move to Indian Land easy. Fifty-percent of the credit union's employees also live in South Carolina, he said.

"It was just a big fit all the way around," he said.