‘Full speed ahead’: City, county leaders celebrate Panthers vote and business to come.
A little more than a year ago, the first private conversation was held about Rock Hill as a potential headquarters for the Carolina Panthers.
Now that site is on its way out of the ground.
“We’re creating a foundation for tremendous growth,” said York County Councilman Britt Blackwell.
Monday night county council approved an incentive deal for the Panthers. It includes more than 200 acres off I-77 and the Waterford Golf Club, which the team already owns, and could grow to include more acreage should the team buy it.
Councilman William “Bump” Roddey envisioned the hotels, offices, restaurants and shopping planned at and near the main headquarters site. He saw medical and commercial space, a world class attraction that will provide its own economic stimulus package of sorts for this region.
“This is going to be a destination,” Roddey said.
Mayor John Gettys said Tuesday morning the air smelled a little sweeter.
He said he was thankful county leaders finalized their end of the incentive package to bring the Panthers.
“They held true to economic development,” Gettys said.
Rock Hill city officials could sign off on the county incentive package as early as this week.
The headquarters site still must be annexed into Rock Hill. The city planning commission in May should hear a couple of items related to the Panthers development. The city and team have been working for some time on items from what types of business the Panthers site might include to financing and types of signs.
“Other agreements that we’ve been working for quite a while now are close,” Gettys said. “Some of them are resolved. Some of them are close.”
The county incentive package puts that planning into another gear.
“What we’ll see now is full speed ahead,” Gettys said.
The large majority of public comments that came in via telephone or Zoom at the Monday night council meeting — COVID-19 prevented a full public gathering — either opposed how wide an area of land the deal covered or wanted a decision delayed to allow more public information. Few voices opposed the Panthers headquarters development itself.
One caller said he is “highly in favor” of the Panthers project with the new business and infrastructure growth it will bring.
“It’ll bring more than we can even imagine,” the caller said.
Another caller said Rock Hill will be known for what the Panthers bring.
“It’s going to be national, where we are spotlighted and looked upon in the future for other things that are happening,” the caller said.
Billy Dunlap, president and CEO of Visit York County, spent several hours logged into Monday night’s meeting. He had studied and spent time at other facilities like The Star in Frisco, Tx., where the Dallas Cowboys have their headquarters.
“It’s an exciting time to be in Rock Hill and York County right now,” Dunlap said Tuesday morning. “What council did last night was really a step forward for this area.”
Dunlap said opposition to the project likely came from people who don’t understand the economic development and tourism impact the project will have for decades.
“The majority of the people don’t understand the concept of this development, and what this is going to bring to the area,” Dunlap said. “With everything that Rock Hill and York County has now from a tourism and economic develop status, they’ve never seen anything like this. This is something different from anything else that we’ve got.”
Even locals may have a hard time guessing the second biggest tourism area in York County today. Some may be surprised, Dunlap said, to learn it isn’t a park. People don’t always think of business- and restaurant-heavy destinations as the major tourism centers they can be.
“Other than Carowinds, Kingsley is the next biggest tourist attraction,” Dunlap said, noting both Kingsley and the Panthers site are near the North Carolina line and right off the interstate. “Multiply that times three, and that’s what’s across the street at The Star in Frisco, Texas.”
Mark Hart, Panthers COO, talked Monday night about $500 million of private investment and a destination attraction. He talked of educational and athletic partnerships with area schools, entertainment, hotels, research, high-tech business. He talked about a world-class healthcare facility that would accompany team headquarters.
“Facilities that everybody from York County is going to benefit from,” Hart said.
Councilman Robert Winkler heads the council committee that looks at fee agreements before the full council votes on them. Winkler voted against the incentive deal Monday night because it made investment in and around the headquarters site so lucrative that he wondered whether other parts of the county could compete. Still, Winkler acknowledged the headquarters piece itself could be a major asset for the county.
“This is the biggest deal York County has ever looked at,” Winkler said.
At a time when coronavirus and social distancing creates an uncertain future for businesses, Blackwell said the Panthers incentive issue isn’t the worst problem to have.
“I can guarantee you any other county in the state or the region would love to have this opportunity,” he said.
Gettys said he sees a development that could insulate his city and county through construction and road jobs, plus businesses and corporations that may come with the team.
“A lot of people will get work that they weren’t going to find here otherwise,” Gettys said.
Gettys marvels how the project came through city, county, state and other approvals at the pace it has, to where the county had a package to finalize Monday.
“We’re right at the verge, or knocking on the door of prosperity with something that a year ago, nobody saw coming,” Gettys said.
If the Panthers deal seems dizzying thus far, Dunlap sees more coming as all sorts of people show up “to immerse themselves into the culture of the Carolina Panthers.” People will attend events. They will stay weekends.
“We haven’t seen anything,” Dunlap said. “It’s going to blow away everything that we’ve got right now. It just changes everything.”
While the tax revenue impact may take a few years to materialize as buildings go up, he said, the tourism impact will be immediate.
“It’s going to be the biggest thing ever to happen in Rock Hill,” Dunlap said. “The biggest thing to happen in York County.”
In his time as mayor, Gettys often talks of the transition he’d like to see in Rock Hill from a successful city to a significant one. The vote Monday night was a big step.
“Today,” he said, “we are significant.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 4:00 PM with the headline "‘Full speed ahead’: City, county leaders celebrate Panthers vote and business to come.."
