Before the Panthers, another massive York County sports site fell through. Here’s why.
Just south of the state line, plans for a new world class sports complex excited a city. A developer talked of elite athletes who would train there, apartments and businesses that would sprout up. The project promised to transform the city.
Then, it didn’t happen.
No, it wasn’t the Carolina Panthers headquarters in Rock Hill. It would have been Game On in Tega Cay.
As Rock Hill awaits what will come next after the Panthers stopped construction and terminated its contract, it’s neighbor across the Catawba River is completing a re-vision for a major development that never came. There now are new plans for the Tega Cay property, which officials can finalize Monday night.
The plans won’t include what would have been called Game On.
“Everything was kind of centered around that private recreational facility that was going to be Game On,” said Charlie Funderburk, city manager in Tega Cay. “For various reasons, the private facility kind of fell through.”
What was Game On?
In 2016, Tega Cay annexed and rezoned property between Stonecrest Boulevard and Dam Road. Mooresville, N.C.-based Game On Development had plans for a two-level sports facility, 14-screen theater, 150-room hotel and four-level parking garage. Park, medical, office, retail and residential spaces were proposed. About half of the roughly 78 acres would need annexation into the city.
The $40-$50 million development would replace a salvage yard not far from the Walmart along S.C. 160. The sports part of Game On would have an Olympic size and resort-style pools and a 35,000-square-foot fitness center. Plus eight basketball courts, four multipurpose fields, bowling, and both indoor and outdoor tennis.
The developer envisioned apartments above commercial uses, where elite athletes could stay while training for Olympic swimming or other high-level competition. Any resident in Game On, or anywhere in the city, could buy memberships to access the sports facilities. The facility was projected to be ready by 2025.
The sports complex, and a hotel, would be part of the first-phase.
In mid-2018, property developers got city approval for 167 townhomes on 22 acres. It was the first residential piece of Game On, with grading set to start that August. All of the property at the time was either purchased by, or under contract with, the developer.
By November 2019 grading and stormwater work was underway, with new home construction eyed for spring 2020. Planning continued for the sports portion.
Yet signs emerged the sports piece may not happen. Final building plans for the sports piece were never submitted.
What failed with the Game On plan?
Work started on the Trinity townhomes. Then, a leadership shift within the development team for Game On led to less focus on the sports piece.
“(The Game On developer) came to us and said look, this isn’t going to happen,” Funderburk said. “We probably saw it coming in about 2019, but really 2020 — the tail end of 2020 — is when we started having those conversations with the primary (developer) as far as, what do you want to see?”
One member of the Game On developer leadership group declined to comment at length Friday on what led to the failure of the sports complex, other than to say the city, and Funderburk in particular, were excellent to work with and did what was in the city’s power to bring the project to life.
George Sheppard was mayor of Tega Cay when the idea of Game On was first mentioned.
“Ultimately, the money wasn’t there to make it happen,” Sheppard said. “There were promises made that couldn’t have been kept, financially.”
Sheppard had concerns, and voted those concerns, when his full council didn’t see full financing details related to the project. Sheppard voted against initial annexation and rezoning, and against putting townhomes in first, though both happened.
“Commercial is where the city would make its money,” Sheppard said.
David O’Neal became mayor after Sheppard, in 2018. There were negotiations between the city and developer in his time, but O’Neal said the city held its ground.
“The Game On developer wanted too many concessions,” he said. “We tried to formulate something that wouldn’t give away so much, but after the Panthers released the deal they struck with the state, city, county, school board — we knew we would never achieve the numbers they wanted, and we relayed it to them.”
A important as commercial growth for the city is, O’Neal said it shouldn’t come at all costs.
“My last words to the developer was, ‘I’d rather leave it be undeveloped land where the deer and the antelope can play’ than approve the 30 years of tax abatement they were looking for,” O’Neal said.
In Tega Cay, the Fort Mill School District is a much larger taxing entity than the city. There were efforts by the city to have the district help with a new tax increment financing district. It never materialized.
Such districts have been used for major redevelopment projects in Rock Hill and elsewhere. A taxing body, in this case the school district, would forego some future tax revenue in an area to pay for public infrastructure in that area. The vision is, as the area grows, it generates far more revenue -- through higher tax values and collections -- that ultimately serves the city and school district.
There were other interactions between Game On and the school board. Anticipated 2020 closure of the former Leroy Springs Recreation Complex in Fort Mill, and loss of pools there, prompted the school district to include $9.9 million for an aquatics center in a $226 million bond package in 2015. Two proposals came in for the project.
One was a partnership between Game On and SwimMAC Charlotte for the pools planned in Tega Cay. The other brought the Town of Fort Mill and Upper Palmetto YMCA together to add to the Leroy Springs site. Ultimately the school district, town, YMCA and Leroy Springs & Co. reached a deal that added new school district pools at the now town-owned Fort Mill YMCA at the Complex.
Game On and the Panthers
Apart from scale, there may appear to be similarities between Game On and the estimated $2 billion Panthers development in Rock Hill.
Tega Cay leaders downplay them.
“I don’t think so, no,” Funderburk said. “I think it’s completely, completely different.”
Game On was capped at 400,000 square feet of commercial space. The Panthers site was large enough to move state officials to fast track a new interchange off I-77.
“You’re not talking about an NFL training center and all the other things that are coming with it,” Funderburk said of Game On.
Sheppard sees Panthers owner David Tepper as a shrewd businessman who is methodical and strategic. Available funding was an issue for Game On, while a lack of money wouldn’t appear to be an issue for Tepper who ranks among the world’s wealthiest sports team owners at a net worth of almost $17 billion, per a Forbes list earlier this year.
The problem in Rock Hill is about the securing of bonds issued by the city for public infrastructure projects. The Panthers group stopped construction and ended its construction contract with the city claiming the city didn’t meet financial commitments. Rock Hill leaders insist they abided by the rules of the deal.
Sheppard, who for years took to calling the Tega Cay project “Game Off,” doesn’t compare the two.
“I don’t see the same things with Tega Cay,” he said.
Yet O’Neal said it was the Panthers public incentive agreement that at least in part led to requests by the Game On developer for tax incentives. At that point the difference in project scope became an issue.
“They wanted a deal similar to the Panthers, except they weren’t the Panthers,” O’Neal said.
What is similar between the Rock Hill property today and the Tega Cay site since Game On fizzled is uncertainty on what will now happen to the properties.
On Monday night, Tega Cay City Council likely will take a major step toward answering their city’s part of that question.
This story was originally published May 16, 2022 at 2:00 AM with the headline "Before the Panthers, another massive York County sports site fell through. Here’s why.."
