Novant Health unveils plans for $300M Rock Hill project at former Panthers HQ site
Part of the Rock Hill site once intended for a Carolina Panthers headquarters and practice facility will now become a more than $300 million Novant Health medical campus.
The city finalized a sale of 25 acres Monday to Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Novant Health.
Rock Hill owns more than 200 acres off Exit 81 of Interstate 77 that the city received through bankruptcy when the Panthers deal fell through four years ago. The $2 billion headquarters site was partially built when the team pulled out due to public funding and timing disagreements with the city.
The city has been advertising the property as a prime redevelopment opportunity called Palmetto Research Park. Advanced manufacturing and life sciences have been the top focus. Life sciences are products related to medicine and medical manufacturing related research.
“We’ve targeted life sciences at Palmetto Research Park given the stability, global demand and high-paying jobs the industry brings,” said Mayor John Gettys. “Novant Health’s medical campus aligns well with that vision as we continue to pursue additional recruitment opportunities.”
The not-for-profit company with 19 medical centers and more than 900 locations across the Carolinas has a longstanding history and is known for exceptional care in the area, Gettys said. The project at Palmetto Parkway and Mt. Gallant Road will bring the equivalent of 255 full-time jobs, according to the city.
Monday’s decision authorizes the city’s role in the deal, but the sale still involves a due diligence period by Novant Health prior to closing.
Novant Health already has specialty institutes and physician clinics in the area. The hospital system has invested in Miracle Park, the city’s inclusive playground that’s home to its Miracle League program for baseball players with disabilities.
“This land purchase reflects our continued commitment to expanding access to care in Rock Hill and the surrounding communities,” said Novant Health Charlotte Region President Chris Bowe.
Medical care growing in Rock Hill region
The addition of a Novant Health medical campus continues a run of new medical facilities in the region. Piedmont Medical Center, rebranded just last week as Piedmont Medical Network, opened York County’s second hospital four years ago after operating its only hospital for decades.
The newer Fort Mill site joined the longstanding Rock Hill location.
Piedmont Medical Network opened a standalone emergency room on Gold Hill Road in Fort Mill in 2020, and a similar one in Indian Land last month. There’s another planned for Lake Wylie.
The Medical University of South Carolina has a $300 million hospital and medical office building campus under construction in Indian Land. The medical offices could see patients early next year, with the hospital opening a year later.
Still another provider, Charlotte-based Atrium Health, confirmed $450 million plans in December for a hospital and medical office building in Fort Mill.
The past year also brought changes to York County’s 911 service related to Piedmont and Atrium taking over former volunteer rescue squads.
Novant plan brings medical focus back to Rock Hill site
Novant Health adding a medical campus to the former Panthers headquarters site resurrects a sometimes overlooked element from the failed Panthers plan. Among projections of a concert venue, sports stadium and other attractions alongside the team headquarters, the Panthers intended to add medical facilities.
Panthers owner David Tepper, in a 2019 pep rally in downtown Rock Hill, touted an orthopedic and executive medicine facility that people would fly to from all over the country to access.
“This is going to be a showcase down here,” he said at the time.
With the football piece gone, there’s room for even more medical space at Palmetto Research Park. The entire park is about nine times the size of the property the city is selling to Novant Health.