From the newest downtown brewery to the highest-end steaks to some of the most unique apartments, plans are sky high for the almost century-old brick building that once powered an iconic Rock Hill business.

“Hopefully it’s just a hub of a lot of great times to come,” said Tara Sherbert, CEO of The Sherbert Group and developer of the The Power House.

The 378 Technology Center Way address is a 60,000-square-foot redevelopment of the building that once powered the 2.5 million-square-foot Bleachery site in Rock Hill. It’s best known for its two tall brick smoke stacks. The Power House will have 37 apartments from studio to three-story.

Earlier this year Pineville-based Middle James Brewing Company signed as an anchor tenant. Since, restaurant additions include Ms. Lillian’s Kitchen, Flip Out Burger, Gordo & Chuli Taqueria and Naroodle Chibi. The newest signing is Epic Prime, an upscale steakhouse concept from the same group that brought Epic Chophouse in Fort Mill.

There’s also Charlotte-based ice cream shop The Local Scoop and Javesca Coffee Roasters. Bareknuckle Barbershop is part of the project, too.

Middle James is under construction in what was the old turbine room. It will overlook new event space on the Power House side nearest the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center. Epic Prime will be below Middle James, with a private patio along one one of the smoke stacks.

Sherbert said her team worked eight months with Epic Prime partner Elliott Close on the restaurant concept. The steakhouse will have an intimate feel and offer an experience unlike others in the Rock Hill area.

“Having that very high-end, prime component of every steak was very important and very fitting for this building,” Sherbert said of Close’s vision, “and we very much agree.”

Apartments should show up on rental sites within a couple of weeks. New residents should move in mid-February. The eight-stall food hall in under construction and should have equipment coming in February, with a planned March opening.

“To open up one use we really need other uses,” Sherbert said.

Early planning for The Power House included a fully commercial concept. The COVID-19 pandemic and time since changed those plans to the mixed-use concept in place now.

“The Power House was always intended to be the entertainment hub for the entire University City area,” Sherbert said.

The developer has some experience. Drayton Mills in Spartanburg is almost 400,000 square feet with 289 luxury apartments and 60,000 square feet of retail. To date, Sherbert said, it’s the largest textile mill redevelopment of its kind in the state. The Power House will have the same elements, just fit into 60,000 square feet of space.

Sherbert’s company has a few more prospects throughout the region for redevelopment. Keeping the old steel and historic frames in place set apart projects like The Power House. A three-bedroom apartment there, for instance, utilizes the old coal trough as an open atrium.

Which can cause challenges.

“This is anything but a square box,” Sherbert said.

It took eight months to clear the site full of old boiler equipment, then another eight for construction. New residents and guests at business sites will see the same steel bones and brick accents that have long been part of the city’s landscape.

Yet it’s also the newness of downtown that will help The Power Plant. Along with the sports arena there’s new business in the Lowenstein Building, 144 new apartments right behind The Power Plant, student housing, a hotel and The Thread bringing more new business.

“Rock Hill is obviously on fire,” Sherbert said. “It’s a great place to be. The timing of this project, we feel, is just about perfect.”

This story was originally published December 29, 2022, 7:51 AM.

Rock Hill is a step closer to a new swim beach.

Rock Hill City Council voted Monday night to approve a lease agreement with Duke Energy for property at India Hook and Elks Park roads. The site will become a new waterfront park.

”This project is substantially complete,” said deputy city manager Jimmy Bagley. “They’re prepared to turn the keys over to the city for a spring opening.”

The city recreation department will operate the new park. It will be open sunrise to sunset. Amenities will include restrooms, a canoe and kayak launch, fishing piers, trails, picnic tables and benches. The most notable, though, is the new swim beach.

Ebenezer Park has a swim beach. For Tega Cay residents, Windjammer Park has one. Otherwise, there hasn’t been significant public swimming access on Lake Wylie. The new swim beach in Rock Hill will be considered a natural swimming area, meaning it won’t have stationed lifeguards.

Duke operates almost a dozen Catawba River lakes from the North Carolina mountains to the South Carolina sandhills. Duke needs a federal license to operate hydroelectric facilities on them. In 2006, Duke signed an agreement with almost 70 regional stakeholders to apply for a new license, which was granted in 2015. The application included promised public recreation and environmental improvements throughout the basin.

The new Rock Hill park is part of that pledge. So is a massive upgrade effort at Allison Creek Access Area in York County. Upgrades at Dutchman’s Creek Access Area and restrooms at Buster Boyd Access Area in Lake Wylie already are complete.

Beyond Lake Wylie, planned recreation improvements range from a swim beach on Lake Norman to Springs Park Access Area on Fishing Creek Reservoir to the Great Falls restoration of river flow in areas where it was dammed off decades ago.

Bagley, who sat in on years of stakeholder meetings during relicensing, said what city officials now call Lake Park won’t have motor boat access but will have plenty of amenities. Duke will own the site and lease it to the city through the license term, which goes to 2055.

”Hopefully they would have a new license extended (to keep the part operating beyond that date),” Bagley said.

Apart from staffing similar to other city parks, the new site comes at Duke’s expense as part of the agreement.

“It was a long, painstaking process,” Bagley said of relicensing. “It didn’t cost us anything. It will have staffing, that will cost us in the future.”

Councilwoman Kathy Pender said Bagley’s work to represent the city in relicensing was key to the coming attraction. As were other area representatives.

”Part of that was making sure our community came away with something out of that partnership,” Pender said. “Not only this park, but there are others in York County that have come out of that.”

Councilman John Black said the new park meets a need in Rock Hill.

”This is a great amenity and adding something our community really doesn’t have,” Black said.

The addition in Rock Hill grows a range of city offerings to access the Catawba River. The Piedmont Medical Center Trail runs along the river at Riverwalk. The Rock Hill Velodrome, Rock Hill Criterium and Rock Hill Outdoor Center Greens also are at Riverwalk. Just downstream, near Waterford Golf Club, there’s River Park.

The new Rock Hill beachfront park also adds to river recreation sites across the region. Tega Cay recently opened ballfields, trails and more at Catawba Park. York County continues work on the 1,900-acre Catawba Bend Preserve on the Rock Hill banks of the Catawba.

One local leader hopes future development at the site can bring up to 2,000 jobs to the area.

Crews began the demolition of the failed facility on Friday in Rock Hill.

Published: Fri Feb 17 2023

ROCK HILL, S.C. (WBTV) - We’re just weeks away from the one-year mark from when Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper pulled out of plans to bring a multimillion-dollar practice facility to Rock Hill.

Tepper’s real estate company filed bankruptcy following the squashing of the plans, before the City of Rock Hill took over the site this past December.

Plans for the future of the site means the partially-constructed practice facility will have to be torn down, a process that got underway on Friday.

One day into the demolition process, many are wondering what’s next for the site.

Previous Coverage: Panthers terminating agreement with City of Rock Hill for new facility

Local leaders said they hope a new owner will bring thousands of good-paying jobs to the area.

“The best scenario would be to land a company that can bring in and probably bring us 1,500 to 2,000 jobs on that property,” City Councilman William Roddey said.

Originally, York County estimated demolition would cost up to $10 million, but the city worked out a plan to tear down the complex for a single dollar.

The contractor responsible for tearing down the incomplete facility will be allowed to make a profit from the steel and personal property sold from the site.

“It’ll start to come down, not all of the personal property is out, so the contractor is planning to start on one edge of the structure, he’s got a big crane, he’s just going to pull it down,” Gettys said. “As to the site itself, we’re really moving around quickly, as to what might happen with the site, it’s going to go a little bit more slowly, we’re going to take our time and do something that we’re all comfortable with.”

Whatever becomes of the 245-acre site, Roddey hopes its future brings new jobs to the area. The councilman is against more warehouses in the area and wants to keep people in York County instead of traveling north to Charlotte for work.

He believes commercial options for the space could be used for manufacturing, retail and distribution centers, as well as other businesses.

“We have an opportunity that nobody else has right now in the Charlotte metro region and in the state of South Carolina, and we fully expect that we’re going to get the highest and best use and have something that everybody is proud of,” Gettys said.

According to the City of Rock Hill, it will take approximately six months for the demolition process to be completed.

In that meantime, Roddey is hoping a buyer or developer will purchase the property with plans to bring jobs to the area.

Previous Coverage: Site of Panthers’ failed Rock Hill facility listed for sale

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York County finalized a deal Monday night to bring Pallidus to Rock Hill.

The silicon carbide manufacturer intends to create more than 400 jobs and invest $443 million. The company founded in 2015 will relocate its headquarters from New York to a 300,000-square-foot facility at 1786 and 1800 Overview Drive in Rock Hill.

Pallidus applications can serve the electric vehicle, mass transit and green energy sectors, among others. Pallidus intends to expand the country’s semiconductor market.

Operations should begin third quarter of this year. In an announcement from the state commerce department Tuesday, company vice president of global facilities Jerry Knowles said Pallidus is thrilled to partner with South Carolina and the local community.

“The decision to select Rock Hill, South Carolina for our next manufacturing facility was the result of extensive research to locate to a community that aligned with our innovative and collaborative spirit, offered an exceptional quality of life for our employees and is easily supported from our research and development facility in New York,” Knowles said.

Rock Hill Mayor John Gettys said his community invested for decades in utility systems would bring investments like Pallidus. Attaining high standards for the sight resulted, Gettys said, ine one of the most impactful economic development announcements in the city’s history.

“We welcome Pallidus and the new generation of manufacturing jobs they bring to the ‘good town’ as well as the opportunity for more of our people to build wealth through high paying wages,” Gettys said.

Charlotte Regional Business Alliance chief business recruitment officer Danny Chavez said the move is big beyond just York County.

“The state of South Carolina, along with our region, continues to be a magnet for innovative, next-generation companies like Pallidus,” Chavez said. “Success stories like these, within our targeted industries, are a testament to our streamlined, dual-state economic development capabilities.”

York County Council finalized an economic incentive deal for the project on Monday night. Chairwoman Christi Cox said jobs will be liveable wage, many at $80,000 a year or more. Cox spoke with company officials and was impressed that Pallidus is American-owned with American investors.

“It opens up some tremendous opportunities for the county,” Cox said.

Councilman Tom Audette said the number of new jobs is good news for York County.

“The opportunity here for the community, and the opportunity for job growth, is immense,” Audette said.

High school football is a way of life in countless Southern towns, but only one has earned the right to call itself “Football City, USA.”

With a population of 75,000, Rock Hill, South Carolina, says it has turned out more NFL players per capita than any other city in America.

Each of Rock Hill’s three public high schools (Northwestern, Rock Hill, and South Pointe) have won at least one state championship in football since 2000. Together they’ve produced dozens of NFL players including Gerald Dixon, Tori Gurley, Robert Massey, Stephon Gilmore, and Jadeveon Clowney.

“No other area in the state has produced as much NFL talent, especially when compared to size. I believe the last number was 41 players from Rock Hill who have been on NFL rosters,” Northwestern High School coach Paige Wofford told ETV in 2022. “I have coached across the state from the Upstate to the Lowcountry. Football in Rock Hill is unique because of the importance placed on it by the community and the three high schools.”

Michael Strahan recently paid a visit to Rock Hill for ABC’s Nightline series, Impact. Strahan spoke to 14-year-old J’Zavien Currence, a freshman at South Pointe High School who already has six Division 1 offers to play football in college.

“You’re one of the best wide receivers in the country,” Strahan said. “Is that a lot of pressure because you’re only a freshman?”

“Nah,” Currence replied. “You can’t let the game get bigger than yourself. I don’t think about it too much.”

With Rock Hill’s population continuing to grow, locals expect the city to keep pumping out football stars for many years to come. But that’s not to say that football isn’t fun in York County. Rock Hill’s stellar football program also offers valuable lessons to young athletes, regardless of whether they continue to play after high school.

“We have the opportunity to provide young people with brighter futures than if we did not have those things,” Strait Herron, a former coach at South Pointe High School, told ETV. “It is important to note that almost every kid that plays football wants to go play in college, but the reality is that will not happen for most. However, with the correct type of leadership, every player in every sport can learn attributes that can help to create future success.”

Keep up the good work!