Panthers’ Rock Hill facility finally approved. What to know about 20-plus-year project
The Carolina Panthers have been clearing and preparing the land of their new home for months.
Since the summer, the Panthers have been physically working on their new site in Rock Hill, South Carolina, that will house the team’s practice facility, headquarters and much more. But it took until Thursday, Dec. 10, to officially get the plans approved by the Rock Hill City Council, two years after discussions first began.
“Welcome to Rock Hill, Carolina Panthers,” Rock Hill Mayor John Gettys said.
What happened Thursday?
Yes, the site is already under construction.
The city held a special meeting Thursday morning to vote on three items to finalize Rock Hill’s approval of the plans with the Panthers. Negotiations had continued while the team began the project, but the city voted on multiple measures to formalize the agreement.
First was annexation, bringing a portion of land into the Rock Hill city limits. Secondly, 281.63 total acres were rezoned from Residential Conservation I (RC-1), Residential Development I (RD-I) and Urban Development (UD) to MasterPlanned Commercial (MP-C). Finally, the 1,400-page development plan was officially approved.
The agreement on the plan was unanimously voted on, however, prior to the City Council voting, there was a discussion about the plans for Manchester Meadows, a multi-field soccer complex in Rock Hill. The agreement allows the Panthers and city to execute a joint promotional agreement for “non-City-organized non-sports events” on the property that will provide for shared revenues (events, sponsorship and advertising), for the purposes of generating additional benefits to Rock Hill.
The city is not able to offer sponsorship and advertising opportunities at Manchester Meadows that would be in direct competition with the Panthers, without the team’s consent. (For example, Rock Hill working with Wells Fargo on a naming rights opportunity at Manchester Meadows, while the Panthers have Bank of America as a naming rights sponsor at the team facility over the same period of time.)
Panthers COO Mark Hart said Thursday that there many aspects of the development that the team does not know yet how it will use. Hart said they don’t have specific plans yet for Manchester Meadows, which is home to many fields and areas for public recreation, but that they wanted to benefit both Rock Hill and the Panthers.
The law firm O’Melveny represented Panthers team owner David Tepper and the team in the negotiations with the city. Members of the Hutchison family, whom the Panthers bought the site from, were present.
What’s the Panthers-Rock Hill timeline?
The official commencement date of the project was July 13, 2020, (delayed partly due to COVID-19 and these talks on parts of the agreements), however, groundbreaking took place in June. The projected completion of all developments on the site is by Dec. 31, 2056.
The main structures and supporting infrastructure of the project is expected to be 15% complete by 2025, 40% done in 2030, 80% finished in 2035 and and 100% wrapped up by 2040, according to planning documents in the final agreement.
A variety of development could continue on the site following structural completion — everything from public transportation to landscaping to expanding the site to establishing sports betting if the state allows could be included.
The current agreement includes a permanent bus stop on the site, a shuttle service for special events and the exploration of expanding the Rock Hill Airport. No rail service is currently planned. The Panthers also declared their intent to have no more than one sports betting brick-and-mortar facility within the property. It would be within a facility like a restaurant, sports bar, or hotel and while sports betting is not legal in South Carolina, Rock Hill acknowledged the Panthers will be exploring the idea.
The Panthers’ headquarters and team facility, a k a “The Rock,” are expected to open in 2023 in time for the team’s training camp to be held there.
What else you need to know
The team’s new home in Rock Hill will include a 640,000-square-foot practice facility and a more than 110,000-square-foot sports-and-entertainment venue with potential to hold a variety of events from soccer games to high school championships and corporate events and concerts. Plans and renderings of the site were shared in October.
Also planned, in addition to team offices, are an Atrium Health orthopedic sports medicine facility, apartments, hotels, trails, retail and restaurants. The first phase will include building a road network for the headquarters and practice site. In total, more than 13,000 feet of new public streets, 2,600 parking spaces, sidewalks and trail networks for cyclists and pedestrian walkers and runners will be constructed.
The Panthers purchased more than 240 acres off Interstate 77 for more $16 million in late March to build their new home, and the team had already bought the nearby Waterford Golf Club earlier that month. South Carolina offered about $115 million in incentives for the team to move there from their home at Bank of America Stadium. The Panthers organization is investing more than $1 billion to develop and build the facility.
Surrounding the headquarters site are an additional 880 acres made up of largely commercial and industrial properties on one side and some rural residential properties. That land is noted in a tax incentive deal should the property owners choose to sell to the Panthers, giving Tepper more expansion opportunities.
A new interchange off I-77 is being built to accommodate the facility. South Carolina pledged $40 million to build the change to the interstate (Exit 81 on I-77), supported by a $34.6 million federal grant awarded to the S.C. Department of Transportation. New roads are being built with names like Tepper Way, Blue and Black Boulevard, Keep Pounding Way and One Carolina Drive.
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This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 9:52 PM.
