Smaller scale than Baxter or Kingsley? This York County site might have elements of both
When Game On didn’t happen, it left an uncertain future and a huge chunk of property. And that opened up an opportunity for Tega Cay and developers to create something the city hadn’t had.
The proposed Game On sports facility required annexation of property between Stonecrest Boulevard and Dam Road. The proposed $40-$50 million development with pools, a theater, hotel, parking garage, fitness center, basketball courts, tennis and sports fields would combine for about 78 acres.
By late 2020 conversations between the city and Game On Development of Mooresville, N.C., made it clear the sports project wouldn’t happen. Some townhomes, envisioned in Game On plans, already had been built.
The Game On project dates back half a dozen years. Yet it was the man elected mayor last fall who brought a new idea for what the former Game On site could be. It’s a vision Tega Cay City Council can set in motion Monday night if they finalize new development standards for the property.
Main Street, Baxter style plan
City manager Charlie Funderburk said the original developers worked with the city once the sports plan failed. A new development group led by Kinger Homes and Charlotte Living Realty approached the city, and were connected with the initial developers.
Meanwhile, Mayor Chris Gray developed his own idea for what Tega Cay needed.
“What I envisioned for Tega Cay was a Main Street,” Gray said. “We do not have a Main Street in Tega Cay.”
Tega Cay formed as, and grew from, a lakefront community. Unlike other area cities and towns that popped up generations ago as railroad stops and started with a Main Street, Tega Cay became a city in 1982. The gated community on Lake Wylie that first formed Tega Cay dates back to 1970.
Tega Cay Drive runs the spine of the main peninsula in Tega Cay, but it’s mostly a collector road to serve homes, parks, golf and other sites.
The city proposed something new with the incoming development group -- with a new road connecting Dam and Stonecrest to combine residences and businesses.
“They jumped on that idea,” Funderburk said. “Loved it. So now you’ve got instead of things being centered around a private recreation facility, it’s now centered around more of a Main Street feel.”
Tega Cay City Council will vote Monday night whether to finalize new development plans. If approved, construction could begin in early 2023.
Plans now put that new, unnamed road near the athletic bus entrance at Gold Hill Middle School. Apartments, which Gray said council wouldn’t push for but were approved in prior agreements, would be on top of commercial space. The former Game On property would have at least 100,000 square feet of commercial space, and could have up to seven times that amount.
“Personally, I think it’s going to be the best thing in Tega Cay in a long time,” Gray said.
Gray and Funderburk say the scale is different, but they agree on comparisons for what Tega Cay would get.
“To a certain extent you’re going to get that Baxter, Market Street feel on parts of it,” Funderburk said. “You’re going to get some Kingsley feel from it. Just not maybe that large of a scale.”
Previous Game On plans allowed 250 apartments. New plans reduce that number to 225 live-work units, above commercial and retail space. Overall, the number of new residences increases from up to 410 with Game On to 524 in the new plan. Up to 80 single-family homes would be allowed, something Game On didn’t have. The number of townhomes allowed also is increased.
The thinking behind the additional residences is, they should better fit with a project that connects polar parts of the city and puts the residential areas near businesses.
“It’s walkable residential to support that commercial,” Funderburk said.
The new plan would have a three- to five-year buildout. All three phases would include commercial parts, so homes couldn’t be built and the project left without businesses. The anticipated overall economic impact is $219 million, Funderburk said.
“It brings much, much needed commercial space and tax base to the city,” he said.
A new sports site will open
Even without Game On, Tega Cay intends to open a sports site unlike any before in the city.
The idea for Catawba Park dates back to 2005. The reality of it will open this fall.
“Catawba Park is going to be a regional destination,” Gray said.
More than 60 acres on the banks of the Catawba River will have baseball or softball fields, multipurpose fields, an amphitheater, playgrounds and a large gathering space for community events. The park will serve city recreation programs and attract outside teams for tournaments.
“We see it as being a catalyst just like Cherry Park was, just like Manchester (Meadows) was,” Funderburk said. “Two phenomenal facilities that Rock Hill has put together.”
Catawba Park has been a massive, ongoing effort that’s spanned several mayors and councils in Tega Cay. The success of other regional sites has been helpful in maintaining momentum.
“I grew up in Rock Hill,” Funderburk said. “I know what Cherry Road looked like before Cherry Park. I remember the battles that people waged over whether that park should be built or not. But it definitely spurred economic growth in Rock Hill. Manchester completely changed Dave Lyle Boulevard. We see Catawba Park as being a huge catalyst for us.”
Gray sees Catawba Park as part of a larger city vision to live, buy, play and stay in the same community. A hotel and restaurants that would support weekend tournament guests also could serve family members who visit city residents. The Main Street concept and Catawba Park should complement one another, Gray said.
”We’ve got a lot to offer in Tega Cay,” he said, “and we just want to showcase that.”
Did leaders make the right move?
Former Mayor George Sheppard said he’s heard talk around the city but hasn’t seen the latest development plans. He isn’t plugged into the political scene, so he doesn’t have much to say on whether the new plan is an improvement or downgrade from the original Game On proposal.
“I left,” said Sheppard, who was mayor when Game On first approached the city. “I served my eight years.
”Ultimately history will tell us what was the right thing and what was the wrong thing.”
Commercial development for years has been a stated goal in Tega Cay. There are more residences allowed in the new plan, but also commercial pieces that could grow. Former Mayor David O’Neal remains steadfast in decisions that were made related to Game On.
“The city council felt that we didn’t have to give away the city to get commercial development we desired,” O’Neal said. “I’m glad we stuck with that.”
O’Neal hopes that focus will continue.
“I hope the city remains dedicated to commercial development over residential,” he said.
Gray expects an influx of local businesses. Because residences are on top of businesses and it’s written in development documents that commercial and residential construction will come in tandem, Gray isn’t concerned a developer will build only houses and then leave.
“If they didn’t build the commercial, they couldn’t have the apartments,” Gray said.
Dam Road will be widened, and the new street — Main Street in feel, but not necessarily in name — will join parts of the city that now require a longer drive in heavy traffic. Much in the way the opening of Hubert Graham Way did.
“We don’t want to have to go outside of Tega Cay to get to the other side of Tega Cay,” Gray said.
The biggest public concern to date, as it is with many area development projects, is traffic.
“Dam Road isn’t going to be a little country road anymore,” Funderburk said.
Funderburk came to Tega Cay in 2001 from Rock Hill, at a time when two-lane roads in the area didn’t have a bank or places to eat. A career in city management and conversations with developers from all over drive home the same point. Incoming businesses must have the homes.
“They put a pin on the map and they draw a circle, and if there’s not enough rooftops within that circle, they don’t come,” Funderburk said. “It’s just that simple.”
Funderburk understands people hate sitting in traffic. What Tega Cay may get, even if it isn’t the redefining sports site once promised, is a new community worth the wait.
This story was originally published May 16, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
