Boeing placed the final steel beam atop its new 787 Dreamliner assembly building in North Charleston on Oct. 30, marking a construction milestone less than a year after breaking ground on the $1 billion expansion.

The planemaker posted a video of the "topping off" on X, the Post and Courier reported.

The new building measures 1,037 by 614 feet. It required 6,000 concrete trucks and 75,000 pieces of steel, according to the company.

Boeing broke ground on the project on Nov. 7, 2025. The expansion is expected to add 1,000 workers to the company's South Carolina payroll by 2030, according to the Post and Courier.

At the groundbreaking, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster called the project "a tremendous vote of confidence in our state's people and business climate," according to a Boeing press release. The construction effort is employing more than 2,500 people through a joint venture of HITT Contracting and BE&K Building Group, Boeing said in the release.

Charleston became the sole production location for the 787 Dreamliner in 2021, when Boeing consolidated the program's full production cycle in South Carolina, according to Hotel-Online.

Boeing finance chief Jay Malave told investors in October that the company expects "the majority of the capability to come online late next year," the Post and Courier reported.

Production and backlog

The North Charleston 787 program is producing eight widebody jets a month, with plans to reach 10 in 2027 and 12 in 2029. Once the second assembly plant is running, Boeing aims to build 14 or more Dreamliners a month.

A shortage of engines from GE Aerospace has constrained production this year, the Post and Courier reported. Hoodline reported that one supply-chain outlet put the plant's current output at seven jets a month, a discrepancy with Boeing's stated figure of eight that has not been resolved.

The 787 backlog is approaching 1,200 planes, according to the Post and Courier. Boeing delivered 62 Dreamliners through September and expects to hand over 90 to 100 by the end of 2026, though Malave told analysts Oct. 26 the final count would likely land closer to the lower end, Hoodline reported.

At the November 2025 groundbreaking, Boeing said it employed more than 8,200 people across its North Charleston and Orangeburg campuses, according to the press release.

Three fast-food properties change hands

McDonald's purchased its longstanding restaurant building at 5950 Rivers Ave. for $1.9 million, according to county land records cited by the Post and Courier.

The property had been part of the 230,000-square-foot North Charleston Center, an El Molino-anchored shopping center near Aviation Avenue. Washington, D.C.-based landlord Granite Canyon Partners bought the shopping center in mid-2024 for $19.35 million. The firm agreed to carve out the 1.05-acre McDonald's outparcel as a standalone tract on July 29 before closing the sale with McDonald's USA LLC on Oct. 28, the Post and Courier reported.

Separately, Point Dorchester LLC paid a combined $5 million for two side-by-side retail buildings housing a Starbucks and a Chipotle at 8601 and 8611 Dorchester Road near Neatherby Lane, according to public land records cited by the Post and Courier. The deals closed in August and early November.

The seller was an affiliate of Greenville-based developer Broadstreet Partners, which had bought the real estate the prior year for $1.8 million under the name Dorchester Investment Partners LLC. The new owner is associated with The Prather Co. of Martinez, Ga.

Boeing expects to open the new assembly building in late 2027.