Opinions

Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008

Frustration over corridor

Frustration over the lack of progress in developing Rock Hill's Textile Corridor no doubt is widespread. We hope the pieces soon will be in place for work to begin.

"Everybody's frustrated," said Rock Hill City Councilman John Gettys recently. "The city's frustrated. The property owners out there are frustrated. We all want to see this thing happen."

Add to the list thousands of Rock Hill residents who have eagerly awaited development of the corridor and the economic activity and vibrancy it would bring to the city's historic core.

Five years ago, those hopes were stoked by the announcement of a bold plan to revitalize old buildings and bring shops, restaurants, corporate offices and townhouses to the Textile Corridor. All this, said city officials at the time, could come to pass within a decade.

But five years have passed with little progress. Almost no development of the largest piece of the corridor -- the former Rock Hill Printing & Finishing facility commonly known as the Bleachery -- has occurred.

Chief owner of the 1 million-square-foot property, Lynn Stephenson, said that environmental studies and financial planning have delayed development. She hopes to begin tearing down portions of the Bleachery by December. The city will pay for demolition at an estimated cost of $2 million.

The city, meanwhile, has spent a total of $1.5 million in public money on a dozen studies designed to encourage private investment in the project. As time has passed, the approach has evolved -- from an overall master plan with a master developer to oversee design and construction, to a zoned strategy in which several groups would attack certain portions of the project.

The city also will continue to pursue the idea of establishing a trolley system to serve the corridor and other parts of the city. The first approach was to use existing railroad tracks, but planners now believe that rubber-wheeled tourist trolleys might be more practical.

While most of these plans have yet to get off the ground, some progress has been made. Development of the Cotton Factory at Dave Lyle Boulevard and White Street was an enormous success -- spawned largely by private investment and initiative.

The renovated mill building now serves as headquarters for the Williams & Fudge college loan collection agency, a retail center and the site for a variety of local arts events. It also features one of the city's largest outdoor sculptures and, as a whole, serves as a model for how other industrial space in the corridor could be developed.

Winthrop University also has forged ahead with plans to link its campus to downtown. An estimated $85 million in new campus facilities are finished or under way in the corridor.

The $27 million Lois Rhame West wellness and physical education center opened last year. The DiGiorgio campus center, named after current Winthrop President Anthony DiGiorgio and his wife, Gale, will house the campus bookstore, a 225-seat movie theater, student activity spaces, a food court and other features. Winthrop also hopes the state eventually will come up with the $45 million needed to build a new library on the western side of the campus.

DiGiorgio, who has been the driving force behind campus improvements, hopes development of the rest of the corridor will complement the university's efforts. Both Winthrop and the city certainly could benefit from doing so.

For example, residences geared to senior citizens could be located near the campus. Those residents then could take advantage of the opportunity to take classes at Winthrop at no cost.

We hope that if demolition of parts of the Bleachery property begins in December, that will provide the impetus to bring some of these plans to fruition. Roughly $40 million in tax dollars is available through a special "tax increment finance" district to pay for new infrastructure for the developments.

We think the city is justified in upgrading plans for the corridor and altering them to meet changing conditions. That is money well spent.

But five years have passed since the city introduced its first plan. Soon, we'd like to see some wrecking balls and dust flying in the Textile Corridor.