Did you miss York County’s biggest development news of 2019? Here’s our Top 10 list.
Growth and development in 2019 promises to reshape York, Lancaster and Chester counties for decades to come -- from the Panthers’ practice facility to medical sites, manufacturing to public facilities.
Picking a top 10 has not been easy. There’s a mix of massive projects and issues facing planners throughout the tri-county region. Here’s The Herald’s Top 10 list:
Outside looking in
Let’s start with honorable mention, they go from No. 10 to No. 1.
The honorable mention list itself is long. There were legal debates on the fate of Heritage Tower in Fort Mill. White Horse opened in Rock Hill, while Five & Dine closed. Pathways Community Center brought resources together. The Sylvia Theater in York went up for sale.
Places to go were big, from York County working through when and where to allow event venues to the social house redevelopment on Cherry Road. Some issues, like the gold mine expansion in Lancaster County, are ongoing. Others are huge, like the Aspen business park in Rock Hill, but early enough to where they promise a much bigger impact in 2020.
No. 10
Expansion
In late December 2018 the South Carolina Department of Commerce announced mortgage company ServiceMac would bring a $24 million investment and 1,000 jobs to Lancaster County. Momentum rolled straight into the new year.
The state commerce department worked with county counterparts to announce five major additions or expansions in the tri-county area for 2019. York County added DIRTT Environmental Solutions and Eclipse Automation. Chester County had Faddis Concrete Products and Boise Cascade. Lancaster County had Adornus Cabinetry.
Combined those projects bring more than $57 million in new investment, and 460 jobs.
The announcements came after county and state level negotiation of tax incentives. York County held discussions throughout the year of what types of business should get incentives. Discussion late in 2019 centered on public funding for infrastructure.
The state announcements tell only part of the story. County level work continues on past announcements, like the 2018 sale of the former Bowater plant in Catawba to New-Indy Containerboard. The same November night York County Council finalized an agreement with New-Indy on a $400 million investment there, the county agreed to an incentive for National Machinery & Fabrication on a $4.2 million, 40-job expansion.
No. 9
Public Spaces
This year saw a new police department built in Tega Cay, a new fire station start construction in Fort Mill and talk of a new fire boat for Lake Wylie.
York County spent the the entire year with at least a couple of large projects ongoing. The second phase of Moss Justice Center improvements wrapped up this spring. There is new office space and a parking deck. Just in December furniture started moving in on the final phase at Moss Justice, where upgrades have been in process for more than three years. The county family court is set to open in early 2020 too, which will let the county focus more attention on upgrades at its Heckle Boulevard complex.
In February York County services and staff began their move into a new 80,000-square-foot government complex. A month later the county agricultural building, built in 1955, was demolished to make way for parking at the government center.
That York County work wraps up the project list from an $89 million bond referendum in 2015.
No. 8
Recreation
Not all development this year was fun and games, but an awful lot of it was.
In May, YMCA and Lancaster County officials celebrated groundbreaking on a new facility at the CrossRidge Center. The new YMCA is on 16 acres and will join a hotel, commercial space, apartments and more at CrossRidge. YMCA officials projected more than 15,000 members in the Indian Land area within two years, and a facility to rival any in the region with pools and new training equipment.
Fort Mill submitted plans in August for an amphitheater, restrooms and parking at Elisha Park. Later that same month, the town moved forward with an $11 million plan for the 25-acre Banks Athletic Park. The plan is for baseball/softball fields there. The town also voted to change the name of the Banks Street Gym to the Fort Mill Community Center, reflecting future usage of the former school site.
In October work began on the All Play Together site in Tega Cay. It’s been years in the making, with Fort Mill-area parents of children with special needs advocating for a park where people of varying abilities can play. Initial plans were to partner with Fort Mill, but work shifted to putting the $450,000 park at Trailhead Park in Tega Cay.
The Fort Mill School District, along with the town and Upper Palmetto YMCA, opened the Fort Mill Aquatic Center in October. The 29,000-square-foot structure is attached to the town-owned recreation complex now operated by the YMCA. The aquatic center opening came right at two years after the town took ownership of the gym.
Work continues on a variety of recreation improvements in Lancaster County from a recent bond vote, including soccer complexes. Work also continues on a new sports park in Lake Wylie, and on improvements at Ebenezer Park in Rock Hill.
In December, city and state officials gathered in Rock Hill for the groundbreaking at Miracle Park. Baseball and multipurpose fields, along with a playground, are designed for people of all abilities similar to the All Play Together site in Tega Cay. The $8 million, 15-acre site could open its first phase by late summer 2020.
The final touches are happening even now at what promises to be an economic driver in the area, using recreation. The Rock Hill Sports and Event Center promises basketball, volleyball and other events filling weekends well into the foreseeable future.
No. 7
Impact Fees
A court case impacting Fort Mill schools, but also public bodies statewide, continued its way through York County courtrooms.
In fall 2018 state and county homebuilder groups sued York County and the State of South Carolina after the county increased impact fees for new homes in the Fort Mill School District from $2,500 to more than $18,000 for homes, $12,000 for apartments. The homebuilders argued not only that specific increase puts them at hardship, but that there are flaws in the state rule allowing impact fees at all.
Fort Mill, Rock Hill, Tega Cay and others have various impact fees. York, Lancaster and Chester counties all have studied or are studying them.
As the case continues, Clover looks to join in on the school impact fee. This summer the Clover district came up with a fee of about $15,000 per home. That plan, like others statewide, hinges on the Fort Mill district suit.
In January defendant attorneys motioned to have the case dismissed. In March attorneys on both sides of the case argued in a York courtroom on whether the case had merit. Two weeks later a judge determined it should continue.
On Dec. 9 a judge in York County heard arguments from the homebuilders, county and state. Homebuilders said they bought land assuming the prior fee amount, and couldn’t build the same homes with the higher amount. A county attorney said municipalities are within their rights to set fees that impact the cost of development.
As of mid-December, the judge hadn’t yet ruled in the case.
No. 6
Moratorium
It’s a word that’s come up with some frequency in past years. Some elected officials from Lake Wylie and Fort Mill called for it. Moratorium took center stage in 2019 with limits on various construction uses either implemented or alleged.
Most moratorium discussion involved residential building. York County passed one for Lake Wylie in December. Rezoning applications won’t be taken through March of 2021, and non-single-family home residential building that isn’t already happening, won’t be allowed. Clover passed a moratorium Nov. 11 on new homes and apartments.
In the ongoing Fort Mill School District impact fee case, builders suing York County and the State of South Carolina over their allowance of fee increases for new home construction allege those fees were a pretext for an all-out moratorium.
In fall 2018 Rock Hill passed a moratorium on self-storage units after a swell of requests for them, at the former KMart site and others in the city. The city set that pause at 180 days.
Municipalities say the moratoria give them time to look at infrastructure needs to support whatever construction, typically homes, are involved in the temporary ban.
No. 5
Fort Mill Hospital
In February the S.C. Supreme Court denied an appeal from Atrium Health of a prior decision allowing Piedmont Medical Center to build a Fort Mill hospital. The hospitals, plus another, contested various court decisions on which group would get to build a Fort Mill hospital dating back to 2006.
The February decision set off a celebration from Piedmont in downtown Fort Mill. Company CEO Mark Nosacka said work would begin, and updates explored, on what Piedmont earlier submitted as a 100-bed hospital. Hospital and town leaders talked about the hospital size, given population doubled since 2006.
The anticipated and at times contentious hospital decision in Fort Mill highlighted other healthcare additions. Piedmont held a groundbreaking in February for a standalone emergency department on Gold Hill Road. In October the Medical University of South Carolina board decided to relocate 100 beds from MUSC Health Lancaster Medical Center to a new hospital in Indian Land.
In March, MUSC announced its acquisition of the former Springs Memorial Hospital in Lancaster and Chester Regional Medical Center in Chester.
No. 4
Fort Mill Parkway
In the spring parents of Doby’s Bridge Elementary School students started protesting in force after news of a 7-Eleven gas station coming right beside the school, on Fort Mill Parkway. Parents and children protested at town planning commission and town council meetings. They protested during morning drop off at the school. Multiple protesters ran for council seats in the fall, including one who ran for mayor and filed an ongoing legal appeal of a town decision to allow the 7-Eleven.
The gas station got its approval because the use is allowed by right with the zoning on the property. Yet it was only one of several major construction projects along the parkway.
Catawba Ridge High School opened in August. River Trail Elementary School and Forest Creek Middle School are under construction just beside it. A new Fort Mill fire station broke ground in May. New home communities also have houses going up along the bypass.
In November, Harris Teeter applied with the town to build a long-awaited grocery store along the same stretch. Plans show several commercial or retail buildings going up in the area. One retail building is nearing completion.
While the schools and fire station and retail will have a lasting impact, the story of 2019 on the parkway remains one of parents upset by a gas station near a school.
No. 3
Knowledge Park
Redevelopment of Rock Hill’s downtown didn’t start in 2019. It did pick up serious momentum. There’s now more than half a billion dollars of recent or planned improvement in and around Knowledge Park. Much of it set for construction by early 2020.
Stirring much of the activity are federal opportunity zones, designed to create tax incentives for building in some redeveloping areas. Downtown Rock Hill is a recognized opportunity zone. Investors and developers told city leaders in October they want to build quickly to take advantage of opportunity zone deadlines through early next year.
Ongoing redevelopment plans include the soon-to-open Rock Hill Sports and Event Center, a Cambria hotel and more in the $258 million University Center area. The former site of the city power plant will become a $20 million office space with apartments and storefronts. The former Rock Hill Printing and Finishing Company site will become The Thread, the former Good Motor Company will become The Exchange at Old Town Depot, the former Herald site will be Engage at Knowledge Park and Dave Lyle Boulevard at Main and White streets will become The Link and Storyline park.
Those projects will bring apartments, stores, and parking decks. At year’s end city leaders are working feverishly ahead of opportunity zone deadlines with county and school officials on a plan to borrow money against future tax revenue from the redevelopment, to pay for public infrastructure from parking to sidewalks.
No. 2
Project Destiny
In a typical year, it’s hard to imagine a 1,900-acre public land deal for a new riverfront greenway landing outside the top spot. York County closed on the $21 million property on the Rock Hill side of the Catawba River in mid-December of 2018. The county spent most of 2019 master planning the site for eventual public access.
In October York County Council held a workshop on the site off Neely Store Road. The county brought in local and national greenway planners. The county intends to put a conservation easement on the land, initially dubbed Project Destiny, and use many of the existing trails from its time as Bowater and Newland Communities property. The intent is to develop a riverfront, York County version of the Anne Springs Close Greenway in Fort Mill.
The site will need roads, trailheads, parking. It has nine miles of trail but could have up to 30. Several agricultural or unusual buildings on site likely will remain. The county lists the project now as Riverbend Park. About 250 of the 1,900 acres could be cut out from the property, as it doesn’t fit along the river the way the rest of the site does. Experts and county leaders say business or other development could spring up around the site. Agritourism supporters also have an eye on the site for the possible use.
Anne Close, namesake of the private Fort Mill site that used some of the same landscape architects the county brought on for Riverbend, weighed in. She and other county leaders tried years ago to purchase and preserve the Riverbend site. Close supported the county plan, and architects who worked at both sites say they’ll take lessons learned in Fort Mill to heart as they develop Riverbend.
Project Destiny is the largest of several major efforts to allow public access to the Catawba River or Lake Wylie. Duke Energy has a Chester County swim beach and Rock Hill riverfront park in its plans, while Tega Cay has sports and recreation in mind at Catawba Park.
In mid-December, an even larger potential greenway site near York got county approval for survey work. Property owners there are setting aside 2,800 acres of what will be more than 3,700 acres of green space. Much of it could allow public access once it’s under easement.
No.1
Panthers Headquarters
County, state, team and tourism leaders say it’s unlike anything ever built in this area. Rumors of a Carolina Panthers practice facility in York County date back to late 2018. In March 2019 state legislators began work on law changes that give incentives to pro sports teams, and elected officials confirmed Rock Hill as a possible location. That same month Mayor John Gettys confirmed what is now the planned site on I-77.
By June there was a downtown pep rally with team owner David Tepper, Gov. Henry McMaster, Gettys and others celebrating the Panthers’ practice facility coming to Rock Hill. At year’s end, work continues on a development agreement for the estimated $2 billion project. Team officials say it will open in 2022. There’s been talk of so large a project, it could bring a light rail connection between Rock Hill and Charlotte. The team has plans to buy Waterford Golf Club.
In September the Herald reported the more than 200-acre property along the interstate, between the Cherry Road and Dave Lyle Boulevard interchanges, was under contract. The team plans to close on the property in February. The team submitted plans in October to the city through a development agreement. Possibilities for the site include not just practice facilities and team headquarters, but an entertainment venue and skyscrapers, apartments, offices, hotels, restaurants.
The team and city continue work on the development agreement that focuses, among other items, on the possibilities of gambling sites, cigar bars, tattoo parlors and bars serving alcohol past 2 a.m.
This story was originally published December 31, 2019 at 12:39 PM.
