Rock Hill asks York County for $1M to keep the city’s next big commerce site moving
Rock Hill business leaders asked York County for $1 million to finish a road connecting Aspen Business Park. It’s also a path, officials say, to more than 1,000 jobs.
The county economic development subcommittee recommended the allocation for International Drive after a pitch Thursday from the Rock Hill Economic Development Corporation. York County Council has the final decision, and could make it this month.
The money would come from C-Fund revenue, or the county’s portion of a state gas tax used to improve roads.
“We’re looking at a lot of opportunity for new jobs coming in,” said York County Councilman and subcommittee member Tom Audette. “Especially putting this road in, it’s going to open up a lot of opportunity.”
International Drive goes from Celanese Road into Aspen, a $220 million public-private partnership between Rock Hill Economic Development and Charlotte developer Childress Klein.
The city and private development team wants Industrial Drive extended to Heckle Boulevard. That job, a three-lane road with sidewalks and a traffic signal, would cost about $6.5 million.
Since Rock Hill Economic Development and Childress Klein partnered on Aspen in 2019, the more than 200-acre business park just south of Rock Hill’s airport has been viewed as the city’s next big commerce hub.
Rock Hill has grown in recent decades on the back of planned business or industrial parks, with a dozen of them now open.
What’s planned at Aspen in Rock Hill?
The original site plan showed up to 11 buildings, combining for nearly 2 million square feet.
The first phase had three Childress Klein buildings, for 797,000 total square feet, and two for Rock Hill Economic Development. Those latter two buildings have since been filled.
Then Charlotte-based sign manufacturer SouthWood Corp. announced $6.4 million plans to join Aspen in 2021. SouthWood arrived the following year. The company projected 73 new jobs within five years from its nearly 75,000-square-foot facility.
Military-grade tourniquet maker CAT Resources moved into the other building this year. The company announced $18.6 million plans in February that would keep 200 jobs in Rock Hill. CAT Resources moved from a Tech Park building in the city.
Initial Aspen plans also included a second phase. Three more Childress Klein buildings would add 658,000 square feet. Three more Rock Hill Economic Development sites would bring 313,000 square feet.
All 11 buildings in the initial plan are split almost evenly on the east and west sides of International Drive.
Massive business space possible at Aspen Business Park
Project leaders have drawn up multiple options in recent years for what Aspen could be. One of those options deviates from the initial site plan, and creates a massive site within the project.
In that version, Childress Klein would have three buildings at a combined 523,000 square feet surrounding a 58-acre portion at Heckle and International Drive. It’s shown as a 900,000-square-foot option for a company to build its own site. A single company could take up nearly half of the new construction in Aspen, in that layout.
At 58 acres, that buildable Aspen site would be larger than some entire business parks in Rock Hill.
Buildings or land for new Rock Hill companies?
Rock Hill has been more aggressive than Childress Klein in filling Aspen, city officials said Thursday, due in part to philosophy.
The city has had success building speculative buildings, or constructing spaces before attracting companies to them. But there’s been a trend in recent years to wait and advertise only partially developed property, so companies can come build what they want.
That’s the same approach Rock Hill is taking with its other major commerce site on the market, the former Carolina Panthers headquarters property off Interstate 77.
The city acquired more than 200 acres off the new Exit 81 through bankruptcy, after the Charlotte NFL team quit building in Rock Hill over a dispute with the city on public funding deadlines.
City and county officials didn’t discuss any specific companies on Thursday that may come next at Aspen. They also haven’t given a timeframe for any new announcements.
Instead, they focus on infrastructure, like extending International Drive. All of Aspen has sewer infrastructure. The second phase still needs utilities like water and electricity.
Paying for road work at Aspen
York County contributed about $700,000 in two prior C-Funds requests at Aspen. The county wouldn’t be alone in funding the 1,200-foot extension of International Drive.
Rock Hill Economic Development requested $2 million from a federal air quality grant program. Utility companies like Comporium and AT&T would put more than $1 million combined into the pot, according to a plan shown Thursday.
More than $1 million in city funds and $960,000 from Childress Klein would join a more than $540,000 commitment from the city economic development corporation.
“This is a No. 1 priority for (Rock Hill Economic Development),” board Chairman Matt Dosch said of Aspen. “So we’re literally shaking every money tree we can find.”
At full build-out, economic development officials expect Aspen to generate 1,331 jobs. It would have about $221 million in real estate value and generate $5.7 million in annual county, city and school taxes.
“To me, this is a good investment,” Audette said. “If we knew we got 1,300 jobs every time we dished out $1 million of C-funds, I think that’s a pretty good return.”
Councilman and economic development subcommittee member Watts Huckabee was wary of the Aspen setup when he first saw it two years ago. Childress Klein has about two-thirds of the property and is responsible for a proportionate share of infrastructure and other private costs.
With the road money request in particular, though, Huckabee sees several reasons to support it. Even without adding jobs it would connect two of Rock Hill’s main thoroughfares, in Celanese and Heckle.
“I have a reason to hang my hat on this now,” Huckabee said. “And some of it is just connecting the roads.”
