BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) - A public-private nonprofit group wants to secure funding from the South Carolina Department of Commerce to ensure the area is ready for business when a new Jasper County shipping terminal opens.

The Beaufort Gazette reports Friday that the Lowcountry Economic Alliance wants the $500,000 to be used to market the area around the deep-water terminal for business development.

The South Carolina State Ports Authority agreed in July to purchase more than 1,500 acres of land to build the $500 million shipping terminal. The agency's counterpart in Georgia also agreed to buy the land on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River, just downstream from Savannah.

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