Is that the best name they could find?

Visitor to Rock Hill: “Siri, give me directions to University Center.”

Siri: “I have 6.5 million locations for University Center nationwide. Can you be more specific?”

Visitor: “Siri, give me directions to University Center in South Carolina.”

Siri: “I have 364,000 locations for University Center in South Carolina.”

Visitor: “Uh, never mind, Siri, I’ll go somewhere else.”

As planners have envisioned new uses for the site once occupied by the Rock Hill Printing & Finishing Co., commonly known as the Bleachery, the project has taken on different names.

For a long time, the whole area that included both the Bleachery site and downtown Rock Hill was known as The Textile Corridor.

That had a nice ring to it. It encompassed much of the city’s historic core and referred back to its origins as a town dominated by the textile industry, which provided a living for many of its residents.

But the names started proliferating. We had Old Town to signify the center of the city’s historic downtown and Downtown East to designate another section. The Old Cotton Factory – which is among the most aptly named developments downtown – takes up a block in the area once regarded as the Textile Corridor.

And then the Bleachery site was renamed Knowledge Park. Developers and community supporters wanted to emphasize the fact that one of the chief goals of the project was to attract high-tech enterprises to the park, which would have hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space to accommodate them.

Good concept, lousy name.

But at Monday’s special “redevelopment preview” for the project, we learned that a new name had been bestowed on the 23-acre site: University Center. The new name, we’re told, emphasizes the role the development will play as a bridge between Winthrop University and the downtown business district.

Officials with Sora-Phelps Development stress that the complex will include an indoor sports facility that will be used by Winthrop students along with the general public and a building for student housing. Residents of age-restricted, senior-oriented housing also will be encouraged to take advantage of learning opportunities at the university.

Great concept, better name than Knowledge Park – but still a nondescript, generic moniker that adorns countless strip malls, college student centers and other dull locations around the country. It has no connection to the unique history of the Bleachery or the role played by the textile industry in Rock Hill’s past.

When introducing preliminary plans for the site two years ago, Sora-Phelps officials pledged that the old textile site would not become “Anytown, USA.” They also promised to include references to the textile industry and the Bleachery’s glory days.

Sorry, but Monday’s unveiling was a welcome to University Center, Anytown, USA. We hope planners can come up with a better name.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 6:15 PM with the headline "Is that the best name they could find?."