BEHKO Expands Into Columbia SC Market

BEHKO Construction, a Charleston-based design-build firm, is entering the Columbia industrial market. Magnus Development Partners has selected the company to lead construction and provide structural and MEP design for a new 57,750-square-foot warehouse in Lexington County, the firm's first project in the Midlands and the latest step in a run of growth that has taken BEHKO from a two-city firm into a three-market operation in under a year. 

The project sits on the final speculative site inside Lexington County Industrial Park, a park set to total more than 2 million square feet once fully built out. Magnus is managing the architectural design, sitework, and utilities, while BEHKO leads construction of the building from the foundation and handles structural and MEP design, coordinating closely with Magnus, the project architect, and other partners throughout. Sitework is already underway, with building construction set to begin next month. 

"Magnus needed a partner who could bring engineering and construction together and keep the project moving," said Jordan Behringer, P.E., one of BEHKO's two managing owners. "That's at the core of how we work. Our design and construction teams collaborate from the beginning, with constructability, cost, and schedule considered as the design develops. We're excited to bring that approach to the Columbia market and to do it alongside a partner like Magnus." 

Caroline Fawcett of Magnus Development Partners said the firm's in-house design capability was a deciding factor. "It gave us confidence in the schedule and the quality of the work," she said. "We're excited to continue bringing much-needed Class A product to the Columbia industrial market, as well as working with a new partner who shares our values and passion for delivering high-quality projects." 

A Fast-Growing Portfolio 

The Lexington County project extends a run that has been building since BEHKO rebranded under its current name in November 2025 and began leading every pitch with what it calls its Build-Ready Process: pushing engineering, constructability review, and value engineering ahead of the contract instead of letting them surface as change orders once work is underway. In the seven months since, the firm's committed project value has continued to climb, and it's added six high-profile clients along the way. 

The results show up across a string of recent projects. In North Charleston, SunCap Property Group hired BEHKO to build Ingleside Commerce, a 119,600-square-foot Class A tilt-up warehouse in Palmetto Commerce Park; the developer, which has completed more than $8.1 billion in projects nationally, has called it the first of what it expects to be several jobs with BEHKO. On Johns Island, the firm worked with Obelisk Real Estate Partners to convert a former tomato-packing plant into Vine Works Trade Park, a 190,000-square-foot redevelopment that drew a $250,000 county grant. Across the state line, BEHKO built the Central Port Logistics Center outside Savannah for Capital Development Partners, a project that led CDP to steer BEHKO toward a build-out for Whirlpool inside a 1.1-million-square-foot warehouse, a job BEHKO won in a multi-round bid run by CBRE. In Pooler, the firm completed HTWO Energy Savannah, billed as the country's first high-volume hydrogen production and fueling site for Class-8 trucks. 

"Winning a competitive process with a client like Whirlpool doesn't happen by accident," Behringer said of that job, a comment that applies just as well to the Magnus project down the road in Lexington County. 

Behind the recent growth is a longer track record. BEHKO has built for Nucor on and off for more than two decades, held multi-year contracts with flavor and fragrance manufacturer Symrise, and completed projects for Frontier Logistics, Continental Tire, SC Ports, MUSC, Boeing, and Hyundai, several of which have hired the firm on repeat engagements. Behringer's fellow managing owner, Razvan "Raz" Cojocaru, P.E., a West Point graduate with a master's in structural engineering from Virginia Tech, has described the firm's approach as solving problems early rather than managing them for the life of a project. 

Growth Without Chasing Every Bid 

BEHKO says its growth has come without chasing every available bid. The firm has leaned on referrals and repeat clients rather than competing purely on price, and it continues to add work in its existing markets alongside the Columbia expansion. 

With the Magnus project, BEHKO now has active work in Charleston, Savannah, and Columbia. The firm remains headquartered in Charleston and says it plans to build out a local team in the Midlands as its project base in the Columbia market grows.