New apartments signal progress in downtown Rock Hill

At some future date, Rock Hill residents will look back and say, “That was the moment things really started happening downtown.” That moment might be now.

With the City Council’s approval last week of a second site for apartment buildings on Main Street, the essential goal of increasing the number of residents living downtown seems close to being reached. More people are likely to mean more foot traffic and more business in the city’s central downtown core.

Council members approved the final reading Monday on the sale of a half-acre, city-owned parcel at the corner of East Main Street and Dave Lyle Boulevard. The land will be the site of a four-story apartment complex developers are calling the 108 Main project that will include up to 100 units of 750 to 1,000 square-feet each.

The city also approved a parking agreement that could reserve 75 to 100 parking spaces in the Black Street parking deck for residents. A portion of an open-air parking lot would be included in the property sold for apartment construction.

Developers of the new apartment are the same ones involved in building a 37-unit apartment complex down the street at 139 Main, site of the old F.W. Woolworth building. That building was demolished this year after decades of failing to find a tenant willing to spend the considerable amount of money it would have taken to rehabilitate it.

Skip Tuttle, president of the Tuttle Company, the local firm that is involved in both projects, said the 139 Main building should be completed by the end of June. Soil testing and architectural work should begin soon on the 108 Main project, he said.

Developers note that these projects are likely to appeal to young professionals looking for a place to live close to where they work, which for hundreds of employees is within a 2-mile radius of downtown. The apartments also could appeal to older residents seeking to downsize from a house to an apartment with fewer maintenance requirements.

The apartments are likely to attract a significant number of people to the city’s historic downtown, not only new apartment dwellers but also their friends and employees at venues that serve them. In recent months, new restaurants, the city’s first brew pub and a store selling craft beers have opened in the downtown area.

The city’s summer Food Truck Friday series at Fountain Park has been an unexpected, explosive success. The few trucks enlisted for the first event were overwhelmed by thousands of people there to enjoy a free concert and a little street food. It has been like that every week – although more trucks have joined the convoy.

Fountain Park itself has become a popular gathering place. And with a nearby new office complex, more people are working downtown.

The development of Knowledge Park on the site of the former Rock Hill Printing & Finishing plant, commonly known as the Bleachery, should increase downtown activity significantly. So should efforts to expand the College Town plan to make Rock Hill more hospitable to Winthrop University students.

But the building of two downtown apartments and the new ventures by entrepreneurs in the city are, in themselves, a big milestone in the rebirth of a bustling downtown. While the process of reaching this point has seemed slow at times, it could not have happened without the visionary work of many who saw the value of preserving the historic appearance of downtown and constantly seeking new ways to draw people there.

Let’s hope the momentum continues.

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 10:00 AM with the headline "New apartments signal progress in downtown Rock Hill."