Plans for Knights Stadium site include homes, hotel and shops

Properties around Fort Mill are moving closer to redevelopment.

Three rezoning applications for close to 400 acres are working their way through the York County planning department. The largest would bring more than 360 acres together into a planned development at the former Knights Stadium site. Cato Land Development owns the 13 parcels. Fort Mill Land Development is the applicant.

The consolidation of zonings requires three York County Council readings. A public hearing is tentatively set for the Jan. 4 York County Council meeting.

Cato Corp. issued a news release stating plans there for 4 million square feet of office space, a 150-room hotel, 300 new residences and 100,000 square feet of retail space. The project is a joint venture with Lincoln Harris.

“Although our original intent for the property was development of a new Cato distribution center, we now feel the property has greater potential as a Class A mixed-use development,” Cato CEO John Cato said in the release.

Cato purchased 300 acres in the area in 2012, then more recently, the former baseball stadium site.

“This site offers a fantastic location immediately adjacent to one of the first interchanges in South Carolina off I-77,” said Johno Harris, Lincoln Harris president.

“Many companies have expressed a strong desire to locate to South Carolina, specifically to this growing region.”

According to the rezoning application, the residential portion of the project would be multifamily.

“The intent of this rezoning,” it reads, “is to allow for the development of a high-quality planned development supporting a mixture of land uses including office, retail, mixed use, civic, recreational, and multifamily residential.”

Two other rezonings are much smaller. Meritage Homes and property owner Fresh Water Industries are applying to rezone more than 18 acres of an almost 50-acre tract along Regent Parkway. Meritage is part of a redevelopment effort that will turn the golf course in Regent Park to a residential area including homes, townhomes and apartments.

The other rezoning involves less than seven acres at 3354 Hwy. 160 in Fort Mill, at the Mecklenburg County line. Earth and Woods is looking to zone that property from a residential to business use. The two smaller rezonings also have public hearings tentatively set for Jan. 4.

The Regent Park redevelopment took two steps forward Nov. 9. The county planning commission first recommended an extension of Pikeview Road at the current clubhouse site to connect new housing, then a subdivision plan for 60 townhomes on 10 acres right beside it.

Commission members Larry Barnett and Carmen Miller voted against the road decision, and sat out the vote on the subdivision. Pikeview is a state road, they argued.

“Why would the county want to take responsibility for 462 feet of it?” Barnett asked. “Let the developer take control of it.”

Miller had the same concern.

“I don’t understand why York County has to take over the road when it’s a developer that’s coming in to build over that golf course.”

Audra Miller, county planning director, said the county taking maintenance of the road extension could prevent larger problems later.

“If we do not accept this road it could be gated, and that would impact traffic flow all in this area,” she said.

While some questioned the townhome plan, commission member William Hooper said his group has limited powers since that land use is allowed in the current zoning.

“It’s development by right,” he said. “We can’t turn this down.”

Plans for the golf course include more than 200 homes, 280 apartments and 60 townhomes.

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Plans for Knights Stadium site include homes, hotel and shops."