2019 Rock Hill economic development was unprecedented. Here’s what to expect in 2020.
Even for folks accustomed to talking deals in the multi-millions and jobs to keep an entire community in the black, 2019 was remarkable. Now, Rock Hill economic development leaders have to figure out how to keep that momentum going through 2020.
The Rock Hill Economic Development Corporation board met multiple times last week, including once with Rock Hill City Council, to set a vision for what the group hopes to accomplish in the new year. The good news for economic leaders is, 2020 comes right after an unprecedented 2019, with its news of the Carolina Panthers headquarters move and more than half a billion of investment in and around Knowledge Park.
“This year, the year 2020, I think we’re going to get to really see a lot of the fruit of what’s been going on for quite some time,” said Mayor John Gettys.
Gettys said he believes ongoing work with the county and school district boards to bring the Panthers deal and downtown redevelopment could lead to decisions soon.
“Our hope is we’ll see these things on our joint agendas beginning in the month of January, and we’ll see dirt moving out at the Panthers site in March or April,” Gettys said.
Stephen Turner, economic and urban development director for the city, expects a continuation of several recent projects like Legacy Park East where, in addition to the recent announcement that DIRTT Environmental Solutions is coming there, is a now completed 650,000-square-foot building ready for market.
“We’re going to be seeing announcements during 2020 of lots of new investment coming into Rock Hill or York County because of decisions that were made in 2019 or 2018,” Turner said.
Another likely highlight of 2020 will be Aspen Business Park. The project near the Rock Hill airport could bring 2,000 new jobs.
“We have brought Aspen Business Park to the starting point,” Turner said at the Jan. 9 joint meeting of the economic development corporation and city council. “Within two weeks we will let the engineering contracts.”
Like other major projects, Aspen is an involved mix of several bodies. At Aspen there are both public and private property owners, plus taxing bodies involved in the plan.
“We’ve been talking about Aspen Business Park for three or four years now,” Turner said. “And it’s taken us this long to get to the point where we’re ready to start moving dirt.”
Which, he said, is how major deals keep happening in Rock Hill.
Recent announcements from Knowledge Park additions to details on the Panthers site came from the newly opened sports and event center, just beside the newly redeveloped Lowenstein Building downtown. A decade ago, Turner said, there were fires and blighted properties where now commerce thrives.
Projects that happen in a given year, 2020 or otherwise, stand on decades of work acquiring and preparing business sites, promoting them and putting public infrastructure in place to support them.
“Somebody coming here from the outside might think, oh look what’s happening overnight in Rock Hill,” Turner said. “None of this has happened overnight. It’s all been part of a long, committed effort.”
Goals for 2020 include a mix of attracting more large business, and growing smaller companies. Here are some of the goals economic development pros expect to realize this year in Rock Hill:
▪ Create a development and marketing agreement for Aspen, and begin first phase construction.
▪ Enter a sale contract by the end of September for the second Waterford spec building.
▪ Continue development at Legacy Park East and Legacy Park West, including the sale of a Legacy Park East site by the end of November.
▪ Complete the sale of the former Good Motor Co. site, planned as The Exchange, by June 30. Plans are for a $45 million mixed-use project with apartments, retail and public areas.
▪ Finish with the sale of the former Herald site, set to become a senior living site built by Blue Wall Development, and work with the city to get a development agreement in place by the end of September.
▪ Enter a contract to sell the Annex site by the end of June.
▪ Enter purchase and clean-up contracts for properties at Constitution Boulevard and Lee Street, and at White Street between Wilson Street and Dave Lyle Boulevard.
▪ Complete knowledgeparkworks.com by mid-year as a community-wide platform for sharing training and career paths.
▪ Renew the Talent Pipeline internship program, place at least 10 college students into career-related internships with local businesses and partner with Apprentice Carolina to promote the apprenticeship model for area businesses.
▪ Expand the Venture Mentoring Service, doubling participating entrepreneurs and adding business mentors.
▪ Plan for growth of BELL and the XPrize program by the end of April, and assist at least six participants from the 2019 BELL X-Prize effort to grow minority-owned businesses downtown.
▪ Pick two smaller — less than $5,000 — placemaking projects for art additions downtown. Also, select one major project with help from Project for Public Spaces, complete a large outdoor mural in Knowledge Park by mid-year and pick an artist for the Bleachery Heritage Project.
