Rock Hill moving Knowledge Park effort past idea stage

Knowledge Park has moved from an idea to the marketing stage, city officials and developers said Tuesday.

Skip Tuttle said there has been “substantial” interest from national and international firms in locating offices in the Lowenstein building.

The marketing efforts come as Sidewalks Rock Hill begins to “dive deep into the details” on what it will take to renovate the Lowestein Building, Tuttle said following Tuesday’s Rock Hill Economic Development Corp. meeting.

Sidewalks Rock Hill is a limited liability company formed by Tuttle and Gary Williams of Rock Hill, and Tim Elliott and Rick Banning, a developer and investor from Charleston. Sidewalks Rock Hill is working with Knowledge Park’s master developer, the partnership of Sora-Phelps.

The five-story Lowenstein building is one of the last remaining structures from the Rock Hill Finishing & Printing Co. textile plant – commonly called the Bleachery – which operated from 1929 to 1998. Constructed in 1954, the Lowenstein building has 10-inch concrete floors and 18-foot ceilings and an adjacent one-story structure constructed in 1939.

Development of the Lowenstein building is in phase one of the master development agreement. The details include developing plans to show how the building would look after renovations. Sidewalks Rock Hill also has engineers doing structural analysis and designing utility plans for the building.

The biggest renovation hurdle is finding windows that meet federal historic preservation standards and are energy efficient. The current windows in the Lowenstein building are thin, plastic-like panes. Meeting preservation standards is critical to qualify for historic tax credits.

“The windows are our biggest expense so far,” Tuttle said.

Sidewalks Rock Hill’s work on the Lowenstein project comes as the Knowledge Park Leadership Group looks into the details of a streetcar project that would come through Knowledge Park, linking Winthrop University to downtown Rock Hill.

Andy Shene, chairman of the leadership group of Rock Hill businessmen, said a public meeting will be held Oct. 22 at the new Family Trust Center on East White Street. Shene said he hopes the meeting dispels some of the “rumors, myths and untruths” about Knowledge Park and results in a positive dialogue.

Financial details for a streetcar may not be ready by the meeting, but Shene said the group will talk about how a streetcar supports the vision for Knowledge Park.

Knowledge Park is a two-part city strategy. One is to redevelop the 23-acre Bleachery site. The other part is to leverage technology to create jobs.

This story was originally published October 6, 2015 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Rock Hill moving Knowledge Park effort past idea stage."