A rumor has been floating around for sometime McAlister’s Deli will take the spot of the closed Pepper’s Deli on Market Street in Baxter Village. As it turns out, McAlister’s Deli has announced on their website they will be opening soon in Fort Mill, SC – Baxter Village.

The Fort Mil Times and Rock Hill Herald reported Thursday McAlister’s Deli after renovations, will open mid July2012.  The article also confirmed McAlister’s had tried to buy Peppers Deli for quite some time but could never come to terms. Clear Springs Development, leasing company and developer for Baxter Village,  had lease offer from another restaurant but could not take leasing action due to legal issues surrounding Peppers Deli. Obviously, the legal issue has been resolved. (link to Fort Mil Times Story).

It will be nice to see the vacant space on Market Street in Baxter Village filled with an operating business. We are seeing signs of positive growth in our area with new businesses opening. Another restaurant has a planned opening later this month in Tega Cay called Carlos Cafe, see our post Carlos Cafe Coming to Teg Cay 

Carlos “Cuban” Café on Cheery Road in Rock Hill has closed but the restaurant is moving and reopening in Tega Cay at the Stonecrest Shopping center of Hwy 160. An article in the Herald today states Carlos Café is closing and moving to Tega Cay because the restaurant ran out of space at their location in Rock Hill.

The Restaurants’ Facebook page describes the restaurant as

“Family owned Cuban Restaurant, Carlos Cafe, was created to give the Carolinas’ palette an authentic taste of Cuba! Cuban food is a fusion of flavorful spices of Spanish, African and Caribbean cuisines. The owners of Carlos Cafe are bringing a piece of Cuba’s heritage, flavors and culture with their small eatery in a big way! Inspired by Cuba…Made in the U.S.A.”

Some of the items on their menu are; Roast Chicken, Cuban Beef Hash, Sliders (Cuban Burgers – Fritas), Yuengs and Wings,Cuban Pizzas, Cuban Sandwich, Steak Sandwich…more

Their Facebook photo post yesterday said

It is with bitter-sweet emotions that we announce the closing of Carlos Cafe in the Love’s Plaza in Rock Hill, SC. Our last day of operation is today, Thursday, 4/12/2012. We take with us fond and wonderful memories and we feel blessed and grateful for the warm welcome and support we received from our customers in the last four years. The Carlos Cafe family thanks you from the bottom of our hearts.

The good news is that on the early part of May 2012, we will be opening and relocating Carlos Cafe Cuban Cuisine Restaurant to the Tega Cay/Fort Mill area, and this new space will feature the best aspects of our previous space with some new elements to surprise our customers!

The new and improved Carlos Cafe has a much larger dining area with a full service bar, as well as an outdoor seating area to enjoy your Cuban meals, drinks and cigars. The new space will afford us the opportunity to provide events such as live music, DJ’s, open mic and Kareoke nights, salsa lessons, dancing and much more. We will be open seven days and serving our traditional Cuban cuisine as well as adding a few new Florida treats…

Carlos Cafe Facebook Page Link

The new Carlos Cafe Cuban Cuisine Restaurant is currently being upfitted and it is located in the Stonecrest Shopping Plaza by the Super-Walmart on Hwy 160 and the address is 1135 Stonecrest Blvd., Tega Cay, SC 29708.

” Haben Sie Hunger”

Did you know there is a German deli located on Hwy 160 in Fort Mill? I just had a deli sandwich called the Tavern Special at the Bavaria Deli which is located in the Fort Mill Gateway Commons on Hwy 160. It was a great sandwich! The sandwich consisted of a roll with prosciutto, lettuce, mozzarella cheese, tomato, fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt/pepper for $4.95.

The Bavaria Deli claims to be a German Specialties store with meats, sausages, cold cuts, cheese, krauts, mustard’s, pickles, jams, honey, tea, coffee deserts and more. It’s a German butcher-shop and a great lunch take out shop. You’ll also find larger meals like German meatballs, stuffed pork chops, goulash soup, stuffed pot roast and more. And if you like Bratwurst, this is the place to come. They also cater.

The Bavaria Deli opened in July 2011 and is owned by Anna & Stephan Stamm originally from Germany. Oddly enough when I asked some of the neighboring businesses how long had the deli been open, the repsone was a few months. I have been to the Gateway Commons several times the past year and I have not noticed the deli. I believe Stickland’s was in the space before the deli. I am glad I finally took notice of the deli and stopped in to try a sandwich.

Here are a few reviews listed on Yelp!

“This is a GEM! Tucked away in a shopping center, most people would drive by without even considering going inside. What a mistake!”

“INCREDIBLE! Great quality and selection. I cannot pronounce most of it but it is all great.”

The Bavaria Deli is open Tuesday – Saturday 9am -6pm.at 2000 Hwy 160 West – Fort Mill, SC 29708. Find them on the web at bavariadeli.net

“Auf Wiedersehen!”

The City of Tega Cay announced Charlotte, N.C.-based Senior Living Communities will construct a $30 million premier retirement community, named Wellmore, in the Stonecrest Development located on SC Highway 160 near Wal-Mart. The community is expected to create nearly 130 local jobs in health care and management, with sitework and landscape design contracts awarded to local firms.

The Wellmore size is nearly 130,000 square feet, with residential accommodations and a 25,000-square-foot-clubhouse and wellness center. Senior Living Communities hopes to begin construction as early as July 2012 and open the community in January 2014. 

The Tega Cay center will offer skilled-care, Alzheimer’s care, rehabilitation services and two levels of assisted-living units.

Before the Wellmore can be built, Senior Living Communities must apply for a Certificate of Need to operate skilled nursing services with the SC DHEC.

Several news sources including the Rock Hill Herald reported this week, Novant Health will hire 150 people to work in their Fort Mill data processing facility to support their new medical records system. Novant claims the new medical records system will create a better record link system between their physicians offices, hospitals, labs, and billing offices.

The new Fort Mill positions (primarily IT) are expected to be filled by mid March. For job openings at Novant see their website at www.novanthealthcareers.org or www.mctinc.com/novant/.  If you don’t recognize the name Novant, they operate Presbyterian Hospitals in our area.

Have you ever driven by the old Jim and Tammy Bakker built “Hertiage Towers”? The towers are located in Fort Mill SC Regent Park off of US Hwy 21. Is the tower an eyesore for nearby Fort Mill home owners or a diamond in the rough for future senior citizens? If you have not seen Heritage Towers, you’ll find a high rise tower located in what seems to be an odd location for such a tall 21 story structure. There is a fence around the building shielding anyone from falling bricks off of the building. Basically the tower and some areas around the tower look like an un-kept, decaying,  unfinished safety hazard.

Tower owners Morningstar Ministries will meet with York County Council on March 5th to discuss the fate of the tower. Moringstar Ministries has been trying to restore the tower to be used as a high rise christian based retirement complex. Unfortunately their restoration plans, which started in 2004, have never been fully implemented or completed. York County has been pressuring on the group to restore or tear the tower down since 2007.

The long battle between York County and Morningstar Ministries is scheduled for a final resolution in March. The public is invited to the March 5th York County Council Meeting to listen to Morningstar Ministries “final” proposal to the County .

What’s your opinion. Should the Towers stay or be taken down?

WCNC reporter Tony Burbeck’s story on Nov 15th, 2011 has confirmed our story back in September 2010  (Is Publix Grocery Coming To Fort Mill SC)  that Publix’s grocery will build a 49,000 sq ft store on the corner of Pleasant Rd and Gold Hill Rd in the Fort Mill Township near Tega Cay  SC (York County).

Publix also announced it will build a store on Hwy 521 near Dolby’s Bridge Rd in Indian Land in Lancaster County SC.  

With the new grocery stores opening in late 2012 or early 2013, comes approximately 100 jobs for each store. See Reporter Burbeck’s video story below.

Pendleton Village Shopping Center across form Baxter Village is seeing new life besides Lowes Home Improvement. Baxter Bunch Playhouse opened its doors on Monday 11/14/2011.

The Playhouse  leased 9,129 sq ft of retail space at the Pendleton Village Shopping Center, 1504 Carolina Place Dr,  next to Lowes Home Improvement on Hwy 160 and I 77 in Fort Mill SC. Their slogan is “Where Fun and Good Health Collide!” and offers programs like:

• Kid Fitness Classes
• Art Lessons
• Birthday Parties
• School field trips
• Healthy Living tips
• Adult/Teen fitness
• Childhood obesity initiative

They are open M-Thursday 10 to 7:30 Weekdays , 9 to 8 on Fridays and Saturdays, and Noon to 6 on Sundays.

Children 3-12 are $9.95

See their Facebook Page  and Twitter Post:

Baxter’s Bunch PlayhouseBaxter’s Bunch Playhouse is NOW OPEN! Come see us today from 10-7:30! 22 hours ago · 8 likes · 0 comments

Here is a  great reason to consider moving to Fort Mill SC. Continental Tire the Americas, LLC (CTA) has once again received an award from the Charlotte Business Journal as one of the “Best Places to Work” in the Charlotte area.

Just so you know, Fort Mill SC is just minutes south of Charlotte and considered part of the Charlotte Metro. Continental Tire moved its headquarters to Lancaster County SC (Near Fort Mill SC) in March of 2009. For more info, see our post about the Continental Tire HQ move. 

CTA was recognized as the ninth best place to work in the greater Charlotte area. The award recognizes companies with benefits, policies and practices that are among the area’s best. The annual evaluation of the work environment is based on employee surveys, conducted by a third party. CTA was also ranked as the ninth Best Place to Work in the Large Business category by the Charlotte Business Journal in 2010.

So why is Continental Tire a great place to work? According to Continental Tire’s press release:

“Continental Tire the Americas is a great place to work because of our people,” said Jochen Etzel, Chief Executive Officer, CTA. “The fact that we have been recognized for this prestigious award two years in a row, and that this award is based on employee feedback, makes this recognition very special.”

“We’ve worked hard to create a work environment that values employees’ contributions and provides them with outstanding careers at Continental,” Etzel said. “In addition, our business continues to grow, and we are very excited about welcoming new employees to our headquarters over the next several years.”

CTA’s headquarters in Lancaster County is home to nearly 400 employees. The building opened in 2009. Due to the significant growth in the CTA business, Continental has been hiring additional employees at a steady pace.

On October 6, 2011, CTA announced an investment of more than $4 million to expand its Lancaster County, S.C. headquarters. The investment will provide for a 16,000 square foot addition to the headquarters location, bringing the total size of the building to 91,000 square feet. The investment also includes the creation of 80 new jobs over the next four years.

Last Tuesday night, the Fort Mill School Board voted to delay the opening of the new elementary school number 8 (Gold Hill Rd near Tega Cay) until 2014. See an earlier post about FM elementary school 8 planned to open 2o12.

The board also voted to move up the opening of the 9th elementary school near the Massey community on Doby’s Bridge Road to the same year 2014.

The Board’s sited reason for the open date changes are:

1. Cost saving advantages on construction and opening the 2 new schools at the same time.
2. Although there is an enrollment freeze at Gold Hill Elementary and and soon to be Orchard Park, there is still room at other Fort mill Elementary schools. The district wants to maximize the space at all schools and not open a new school before it is needed. Of course this means some new elementary students may have to go to a school that is in another part of town for a while. Fort Mill School District’s current elementary school facility capacity is 6,300. The district is currently at 5106 Students.
3. Redraw the district lines once for the simultaneous opening of the 2 new schools rather then twice in separate years.

Update 11/14/11 – Tenders has closed

Here are some tweets about the closing…

PDQ Restaurant in Gray Stone Crossing Shopping Center in Tega Cay (Hwy 160 between Dam Rd and Stonecrest Blvd) has changed its name to Tenders Fresh Food. PDQ or now Tenders, opened last September 2010 with a fresh food concept and menu consisting of hand-breaded chicken tenders, chicken and turkey sandwiches (prepared grilled or crispy), hand-cut fresh fries, fresh squeezed lemonade, milkshakes and a variety of salads. See last years post What-is-the-pdq-fresh-food-fast-restaurant-in-tega-cay.

On A October 9 2011 press release, Tenders Fresh Food located in Cornelius, NC, is pleased to announce that its current sister location in Tega Cay, SC, will be taking on the same name and corporate culture dedicated to community service.

Why the name change? According to President of Operations Steve Erickson, Tenders had a difficult time branding itself and finding their identity as PDQ or “People Dedicated to Quality.”, “The problem was that people couldn’t figure out who we were. The local citizens confused PDQ with other restaurant concepts and our name was not indicative of what we specialize in.” This change, along with the emphasis on community contribution in the form of fundraising, full-service catering and providing healthy lunches to local schools, is what the Company believes will help them flourish.

Tenders in Tega Cay offers employee appreciation discounts for other great local Companies, frequently do fundraising nights for local schools, charities and churches, and offer healthier catering options including: grilled tenders, raw vegetables, salads and fruits.

Fort Mill School District Central Office is moving next Spring 2012. A new construction notice sign was installed Wednesday signalling the start of the interior construction process for the new Fort Mill School District Central Office.

The new offices will be located at 2229 Deerfield Drive in the same development area (Gold Hill Commons) as the current Knights baseball stadium.

View Larger Map

The are two exiting “shell” office buildings with a combine square footage of  34,000 on 2.92 acres. The FMSD purchased the buildings May 2011 for approx 3.380 million (per York County online tax info). The construction work will be primarily focused on the interior of the office buildings with a hope to move in during the Spring break period next spring.

From York County SC Online GIS

Next to the new central office, work should begin in about a month on a new school bus transportation facility to house and maintain approx 150 school buses.  Read the Jan 2011 FMSD press release with information on these 2 land acquisition projects and a new  Middle School next to Pleasant Knoll Elementary School.  FMSD-News-Release-January-2011-Land-Acquisition

A certified letter was mailed by DHEC to all 3 Fort Mill hospital applicants today. The letter said,

“It is the decision of this Department that a Certificate of Need be issued to Carolinas Medical Center –Fort Mill for the construction of a 64 bed general acute care hospital to be located in York County SC.”

The letter went on to say CMC has best met all of the criteria in the community need documentation.

My question is, is this their final answer?

If you remember, DHEC awarded the Fort Mill Hospital need to Piedmont Medical Center in 2006. See my Jan 2008 post about the hospital war.  Two-New-Hospitals-In-Fort-Mill?  Both CMC and Presbyterian Hospital appealed the decision and last year DHEC reopened the Certificate of Need process for a second time with a different decision announced today.

The DHEC decision becomes final 15 days after the notice period. If the decision is not appealed again, CMS will begin plans to build new 64 bed hospital on 20 acres in the southwest corner of 1-77 and Sutton road exit 83.

More details at the DHEC site

Good news for the Fort Mill Township, Red Ventures plans to hire 500 people before the end of 2011. The Fort Mill SC based Red Ventures is holding a Sales Job Fair  Thursday, August 18th, 10am – 1pm & 6pm – 7pm at thier headquarters at 1101 521 Corporate Center Drive Fort Mill, SC 29707.

Red Ventures is anticipating a large turn out so time slots have been set up in which you can register for via their website at www.redventures.com/events.Although The August 18th Job Fair is centered on filling sales positions, Red Ventures plans to hire across all areas of the company in the next several months.See open positions in Fort Mill at www.redventures.com/careers-corp

Red Ventures is a direct marketing company who specialize in marrying online marketing, telephone sales, and designing technology infrastructure to support their marketing efforts for clients.

Fort Mill continues to see more new growth with another recent construction start near Highway 160 and Dave Gibson Blvd. The land that is in the process of being cleared behind the South Carolina Bank and Trust is for a preschool called Ivybrook Academy.

The new Ivybrook Academy in Fort Mill will be the 2nd campus for Ivybrook Academy, also found on the internet as LearningLinksAcademy.com. The first location is in Weddington NC and has been operation since August 2007. The Academy’s spokesperson Drew McWilliams said they picked Fort Mill for their new location

because of the highly regarded public schools in the area which matches that of our current early childhood education programs”.

Ivybrook Academy is a half-day preschool offering 6 different programs:

Mother’s Morning Out, Explorer, Investigator, Inventor, PreKindergarten, and Transitional Kindergarten. The Academy promotes their facilities are “Eco Healthy ” and  “expertly designed to provide the optimal learning environment for your child”.

The Fort Mill Ivybrook Academy facility is estimated to be completed by August 1, 2011. Just in time for the 2011-2012 school year. Read more about Ivybrook Academy at their website.

If you drive by the intersection of Gold Hill Road and Hwy 160 near Tega Cay, you can’t help but notice the construction taken place on the north east corner. Lake Wylie Lutheran Church is adding a 5,800 sq foot Fellowship Hall, meeting space, and expanded parking lot primarily for the expansion of their ministries and outreach possibilities for the community.

Lake Wylie Lutheran was established in 1981 and has a slogan of “Come As You Are”. The church has seen a 70% increase in congregation from 2002 to 2009. Currently the church has approx 325 members with average worship of 170 in two Sunday services.

Church Council President Dottie France said the Fellowship Hall construction should be completed in Mid March. The Church has a 3 phase growth vision which includes the expansion of the sanctuary and small chapel near the columbarium (Phase II) estimated in 2015 and a ministry building (phase III) in 2022.

Lake Wylie Lutheran Church welcomes all people to worship. They offer two worship services each Sunday; the 8:30 uses the traditional Lutheran liturgy and the 11:00 service uses the best of current contemporary Christian music. A professionally staffed nursery is provided each Sunday. See more info at www.lakewylielutheran.org.

ALDI, a more than 1000 store grocery chain, posted a banner this week their new store location on Hwy 160 and Vandora Springs rd in Fort Mill will open January 13, 2011. The new store has been under construction for several months and appears to be completed but is sitting idle until January.

ALDI opened their first store in southeastern Iowa back in 1976 and now has more than 1,000 grocery store locations in 31 central and east coast states. Their slogan is “honest to goodness savings” on the items you buy the most. If you have not been to an ADLI, the first thing you’ll find different is you’ll have to pay 25 cents to use a shopping cart. ADLI claims they save money by not having extra employees fetching carts so they encourage you to return the cart and get your quarter back. By the way, bring your own eco-friendly shopping bags to shop.

I have seen local online comments glad to see ADLI in our area to other comments stating we don’t need another grocery store. I am sure the negative comments come from the fact that another grocery chain Publix is attempting to build a store in Fort Mill within a couple miles of the new ALDI. More stores or choices should breed competition and in theory lower prices. Who’s not for lower grocery prices? For those of you that have shopped at an ALDI elsewhere, please share your ADLI shopping experience with us.

Tega Cay Real Estate | Lake Shore Subdivision

New Price: $385,000

Address: 1939 Newberry LN Tega Cay, SC 29708

Bedrooms: 5, Bathrooms: 4

4,407 sq ft, Acres: 0.469

York County

Schools: Riverview (Elem), Fort Mill (High), Gold Hill (Junior)

Truly a value! Great home with room for all, including formals, gourmet kitchen, hardwood flooring, guest suite with full bath on main level, large master suite, generous secondary bedrooms, four full baths, huge third story bonus room perfect for a home office, rec room, media room etc. Home is located on a cul-de-sac street within walking distance to parks and lake. Wooded lot backs onto park.

Additional Features:

• Common Area: Club House, Golf Course, Lake, Playground, Pool, Tennis Courts, Walking Trails, Recreation Area
• Doors/Windows: Insulated Windows
• Equipment: Cable Prewire, Ceiling Fan(s), Central Vacuum, Cooktop Electric, Dishwasher, Disposal, Ice Maker Connection, Intercom, Microwave, Refrigerator, Security System, Smoke Detector
• Exterior: Deck, Porch, In-Ground Irrigation
• Fireplace Description: Gas Logs, Great Room
• Fireplace: Yes
• Flooring: Ceramic Tile, Prefinished Wood, Wall-to wall Carpet
• Foundation: Crawl Space
• Mail Level Full Baths: 1
• Upper Level Full Baths: 3
• Full Baths: 4
• HVAC: Central Air, Gas Hot Air, MultiZone Heat, Multizone A/C
• Interior: Whirlpool
• Laundry Location: 2nd Floor
• Main Level Rooms: BED5,DNING,FOYER,GREAT,KITCH,LIVNG,PNTRY
• Upper Level Rooms: BEDR2,BEDR3,BED4,LNDRY,MSTBR
• Siding: Fiber Cement
• Water Heater: Gas
• Water: City Sewer, City Water
• Year Built: 2006

Information Deemed Reliable But Not Guaranteed.

Call me for questions or showings.

See update post on Nov 16 2011  Publix will open late 2012 or early 2013

Publix, a south east grocery chain, plans to build a 54,000 sq foot grocery store on a 3.5 acre property located at the corner of Gold Hill Road and Pleasant Road in the Fort Mill Township.

The proposed Publix grocery store would be the first in our Fort Mill, York County area. It would also be the first Publix location near Charlotte NC since Publix is primarily in the southern and western portions of South Carolina.

Publix has to re-zone the 3.5 acres from a agricultural residential zoning to a business development (commercial) zoning designation with York County approval. The York County Council has initially approved the zoning and use change during their September 7th 2010 meeting. See re-zoning application.

Publix proposed grocery store location has met opposition by next door residents who live in the Ashford on the Water subdivision. The Ashford resident’s concerns are; adding too much traffic, safety issues, noise, and having a large grocery store structure next to their subdivision as reasons for their complaints. The next step in the approval process is to seek York County Zoning Board of Appeals approval on Oct. 14. The Ashford on the Water residents protests will be heard at the Oct 14th meeting.

York County is still growing especially in the Fort Mill Township area. Another new grocery store Aldi, located on Hwy 160 next to Waterstone subdivision, is under construction with a planned open in January 2011.

I am hearing many different points of view if we need more grocery stores. Some don’t like the commercial building and increased traffic. Other residents encourage the competition to save money. What’s your point of view?

Update October 22, 2010

Ken Elkins with the Charlotte Business Journal reported on  October 21, 2010,  The York County Council approved zoning changes that will allow a Florida developer to build the area’s first Publix near Tega Cay. In addition, Publix is eying a second south Charlotte  location around the hwy 521 location in Lancaster County SC.

The following is a guest post written by Preston Smith, Marketing Manager, Presbyterian Healthcare

A Message from Presbyterian Healthcare

Six years ago, the State of South Carolina recognized the need for a second hospital in York County. At that time, the State estimated that more than 215,000 residents would be living in this community by 2009. As we approach the end of 2010, the population has exceeded 227,000, and York County still only has one hospital to meet the needs of its residents.

The process to bring a new hospital to this community has been complicated, confusing and costly to those who so desperately need it and have waited patiently for it. But in their waiting, the residents of York County have made one thing clear—choice and competition are very important to them. In 2009, over 40 percent of York County residents left the county to receive hospital-based care. More than ever before, it’s critical that these individuals have the option of staying in their community to receive the care they need from the provider they prefer.

Next month, three organizations will submit updated proposals to build the new hospital in Fort Mill. Among these is Presbyterian Healthcare, an organization known for its quality, compassion and commitment to this community. Presbyterian is proposing a 64-bed, acute care hospital at the intersection of I-77 and Sutton Road. The new hospital will feature emergency, maternity, surgical and diagnostic services. It will also deliver all that Presbyterian is recognized for like our unmatched financial assistance program and our vision to deliver a remarkable patient experience in every dimension, every time.

While the new hospital may still be years away from reality, Presbyterian’s commitment to York County remains as strong as it has been for over a century. With six physician practices located throughout the county and outpatient centers in communities nearby, we serve tens of thousands of York County residents each year, and we look forward to the opportunity to bring an even higher level care through a state-of-the-art community hospital. To learn more about the proposed Presbyterian Hospital Fort Mill or to show your support for our proposal, visit www.myfortmillhospital.org.