Fort Mill has a move-in date for its new town hall and a buyer lined up for the old one
The town of Fort Mill will begin its move into the former Springs Industries buildings downtown this month, as new buyers are already lined up for the sites it’ll leave behind.
Last May, the town bought the 123 and 205 N. White St. buildings, long-time homes to Spring Industries executive offices and a research center, for about $23 million. The town approved up to $29 million for the sale and upgrades at the sites.
With the town moving its staff and police departments into the new space, the existing town hall and police station became available. Fort Mill is under contract to sell the police station building at 112 Confederate St., itself a former town hall, to the David Martin Law Group. The town is under contract to sell the town hall building at 200 Tom Hall St. to First Baptist Church of Fort Mill.
The town did not disclose the sale prices for those buildings.
Fort Mill will move some of its administrative workers into the new spaces on Feb. 20. Police staff will begin moving on March 28.
Public services will continue to operate out of the 200 Tom Hall St. address through next year.
Fort Mill Town Council will hold its first meeting at the new 205 N. White St. site on March 24, pending further renovation. Municipal Court will stay at 112 Confederate St. until March 19, and start at the new town hall in May.
A public open house at the new town hall is expected in late March.
Law firm to take police station building
David Martin, elected last fall to the House Dist. 26 seat in the state legislature, intends to use the nearly 20,000-square-foot police station building at 112 Confederate St. to consolidate law firm offices in Fort Mill, Rock Hill and Indian Land.
Martin has eight offices statewide. When he’s fully moved in, there could be 25 or 30 employees.
Martin’s offices will take up the entire main level. On the lower level, the town will keep its 911 call center in the jail area for at least a year. Martin isn’t sure if some space will remain in the building for other tenants outside of his firm, he told The Herald Thursday morning.
He also doesn’t have a timeline for when closing will happen, which will depend on the town’s ability to move into its own new space.
Martin’s firm rents a smaller office on Springs Street. He was looking to purchase a larger space in Rock Hill, he said, when the downtown Fort Mill property became available. A Fort Mill native, Martin saw and opportunity to grow his business closer to home.
“I want to invest back in Fort Mill,” he said.
The town owns three parcels between Confederate and Academy streets that combine for fewer than 2 acres. They back up to the Center Theatre building on Main Street.
There’s a small parking lot on the Main Street side, and a larger one on the police station building’s lower level facing Academy Street.
The police station building was remodeled in 2003, then converted fully to a police station eight years ago when other town staff moved to the town hall on Tom Hall Street. Prior, it had the town’s 4,000-square-foot public library and a municipal building there before the current Fort Mill Public Library opened in 1999 in Baxter.
Downtown church to expand onto Tom Hall
First Baptist Church and its parking lot sit between the two buildings that town staff will move out of in coming months.
The church has been part of downtown Fort Mill for more than 150 years, with part of its current Monroe White campus dating back almost a century.
In recent months church officials discussed how they might use the town hall site, which would allow greater visibility with its location along busy Tom Hall Street. Church members voted months ago for staff to move forward with efforts to purchase the site.
“The additional space will be utilized for office purposes, freeing up our existing office space to expand educational space on our campus,” senior pastor Jeff Bedwell said Thursday morning. “A portion of the new office building on Tom Hall Street will be dedicated to our student ministry, which currently lacks a dedicated space on our campus.”
Like Martin, First Baptist is on the town’s moving timeline to determine what happens next. The church expects the town to continue using the building on Tom Hall into next year.
The town hall site at 200 Tom Hall St. is two parcels that combine for more than 3 acres.
The town acquired it from Comporium in 2017, when staff outgrew the 112 Confederate St. building that housed all town functions including the police department. The nearly 12,000-square-foot town hall facility was built in 1996.
The Tom Hall site has a communications tower that will remain on the property. There are Comporium servers, too, that remained even after the town took ownership. They’ll stay following the pending sale. There’s also a house at 210 Tom Hall St. that once served as a chamber of commerce site.
That house could be used by First Baptist for a ministry or counseling center, or as housing for international missionaries on furlough.
“We will continue to evaluate the best use for the house on the property,” Bedwell said.
This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 8:11 AM.
