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.

Exciting news Tega Cay and Fort Mill!  George and Jan Wallace from Tega Cay are opening a new garden center in Fort Mill in Spring 2010. It took vision and nerves of steel, but Jan and George purchased property on Highway 160 at the border of North and South Carolina and are building a premier garden center.

Here is what their website says about their new Sugar Creek Garden Center:

Sugar Creek Garden Center will be a garden center with an atmosphere like a botanical garden and will offer inspirational ideas in a project-based retail operation catering to today’s homeowner demographic. In addition to offering high quality and unique varieties of plants,  Sugar Creek Garden Center will offer outdoor living and landscape projects, gardening tools and accessories, gifts, birding items, and houseplants.  Sugar Creek Garden Center will also have a design center, knowledgeable staff and exceptional customer service. Sugar Creek Garden Center will be a family oriented garden center hosting seasonal and educational events for children and adults.

Construction began last October.

The rain has slowed progress but you can now see a greenhouse standing. Sugar Creek Garden Center is now hiring. For more information, contact George or Jan at george.wallace@SugarCreekGardenCenter.com or call them at 803-802-2600. Visit their website for progress pictures, newsletters, blog, and apply online. www.sugarcreekgardencenter.com

A year has passed since our last article on Lake Ridge at Tega Cay. There have been changes to the master planned home community. So what are the changes and has anything been built or going to be built in Lake Ridge at Tega Cay? Why hasn’t Toll Brothers built homes in Lake Ridge at Tega Cay yet?

To recap, Lake Ridge is a new home community in Tega Cay developed by Drake Capital LLC. Lake Ridge Tega Cay is a 435 acre master planned community with 150 acres of the 435 acres dedicated to planned parks, walking trails, and recreation. 75% of the planned new homes will be adjacent to a wooded conservation area.

Carmen and I toured the Lake Ridge area recently and spoke to the Drake Capital developer Jeff Leforce.  Here is a recap of Lake Ridge’s latest changes and progress.

The economy and recent changes in home buyer demands has affected the Lake Ridge community plans. There is  less demand for larger luxury estate type homes than a year ago. Toll Brothers, who had planned to build primarily estate type homes, decided to put a hold on their plans. Drake Capital decided to shift their focus to family type homes and lots for Lake Ridge.  Many of the originally planned 95 foot wide lots in the community have been changed to approximately 55 foot wide lots. Jeff with Drake said they plan to reserve a small portion of the community for estate type homes and lots.

Some of the basic site development infrastructure including streets and utilities have been constructed. The amenity center which includes the club house, pool, etc has been completed. The club is larger than planned, approximately 8,000 sq feet. The clubhouse size was expanded to accommodate the increased number of homes planned for the community. The clubhouse design is similar to a lake front lodge style with spacious rooms.

The most significant changes are the home builders. True Homes and DR Horton are now the two primary home builders in Lake Ridge at Tega Cay.

True Homes is a local Carolina based home builder. True Homes portion of Lake Ridge is Called Lake Ridge Commons. True Homes said their homes are in the 230,000 to 400,000 price range and 2,900 to 4,300 square feet. Two homes are currently under construction and should be completed by the end of August.

DR Horton, a well known national home builder, plans to build homes starting in the low $220,000 range with sizes in the 1,910 to 4,127 square foot range. Dr Horton plans to begin building homes by August.

An updated amenity list includes:

• Four planned pocket parks
• Four miles of paved walking trails.
• A 8,000 sq foot Timberlake-style clubhouse with:
  • five-lane competition pool and kiddie pool with water slide
  • two tennis courts
  • a multi-purpose court and a playground area
  • a grand gathering area around a fireplace
  • a party kitchen
  • a state-of-the-art fitness center,
  • Wi-fi connectivity
• Walking distance to the Catawba River
• Fort Mill Schools
• Just minutes south of Charlotte

We will be updating homesfortmill.com soon with detailed information about Lake Ridge and the homes that will be offered at lake Ridge.

In the meantime for more information about Lake Ridge at Tega Cay or details about True Homes or DR Horton Homes located in Lake Ridge at Tega Cay please contact:

You may have notice many public rezoning signs around Fort Mill lately. Fort Mill SC could double in size if 5,000 acres are annexed by the city of Fort Mill by the end of this summer.

The 5,000 acres is the combined land of many Clear Springs Development areas including Kingsley and Springfield to name just a few and Leroy Springs acres. The City and developers have been working on Fort Mill’s annexation of the land for approx 2 years.

The First reading of the planned annexation is schedule for July 14th City Council meeting. The second reading is scheduled for the July 28th Fort Mill council meeting.

There has been several meetings between the developers and the city putting the annexation plans together. The city hopes to gain the tax revenue base of proposed mixed use commercial development areas. If the annexation plan is approved the city would have to provide the usual city services to these new development areas.

Close Springs Development is the development company that built the well known Baxter Village outside of Fort Mill. Baxter Village is not in the this proposed annexation plan. Close Springs Development is the development company the Close Family, the founders of Springs Industries, formed to manage their 7,000 acres of land around Fort Mill.

Some of the areas to be annexed are:

• Kingsley – Hwy 160 and Hwy 21 by-pass
• Springfield
• 30 acres at Merritt
• 345 acres at Avery
• 845 acresat McAlhaney Along the Catawba River
• 452 acres at Bradley Park
• 2,200 acres of recreation land including Anne Springs Close Greenway

Fort Mill SC keeps growing. The new Koll Development Company 150,000 square foot Intellicenter building in Fort Mill SC is finished and has been turned over to Daimler Trucks of North America. Freightliner LLC changed it corporate name last January to Daimler Trucks of North America.

Last October Daimler Trucks announced the move of its 340 job sales and marketing division from Portland OR to Fort Mill, SC. As of the company deadline for relocation decisions last January, 118 Portland Daimler employees are making the move to Fort Mill, SC. I took a look at Daimler’s job opening website. Only 14 positions were listed as available. Daimler had a job fair in March so many of the non relocating positions may have been filled.

The Daimler Trucks sales and marketing new office is located on Deerfield Drive near the Gold Hill and I-77 interchange. Here is the last picture from the construction job site camera of new building taken on May 21st.

You can see the exterior of the building and landscaping is complete. Work left to do is focused on the interior office set up including furniture. Daimler Trucks expects operations to begin in the new offices the first part of August.

What is the latest about the Daimler Trucks HQ move from Portland to the York County area? I searched for press releases and articles. I found a couple May articles in the Charlotte Business Journal about the move. Daimler Trucks has an option on 400 acres on the west side of Lake Wylie near the Big Allison Creek area. The articles claim Daimler Trucks corporate office campus would be part of the Crescent Resources or Allison Creek Partners 2,300 acre master planned development project in York County on the Allison Creek. A Daimler Trucks spokesperson confirmed they were working with local landowners, developers and York County SC officials on the project but no final decisions have been made.

The Allison Creek master planned development plan is estimated to contain almost 4.4 million square feet of office space and a potential of 3,500 homes. If Daimler Trucks would be relocated to the development, the plan would allow for many support companies to relocate near the corporate campus. The over plan would almost triple the current York County multitenant space if and when finished.

See also

Will Freightliner Move To South Carolina  

Crescent Keeps Planning New Home Communities Around Fort Mill and Lake Wylie

View Larger Map
York County Council approved on May 19 to re-zone 32 acres in Fort Mill on highway 160 west across from Baxter Village to mixed use.

ELA, a Rock Hill based developer, original planned to build apartments but sought to add retail and office developmemt to the project. The development after last months county approval will now consist of 288 apartments and 110,605 square foot of retail and office space.

The buildings in the front of the development facing highway 160 will be 4 to 5 story buildings with retail and restaurants on the first floor and offices in the upper floors. The apartments will be located in the rear of the development.

The county has tried to restricted further commercial development on this part of highway 160 to minimize the traffic impact on the highway. But after looking at the prosed mixed use plan, the council did not see much difference in the traffic impact when comparing the original approved multifamily plan versus the proposed mixed use plan.

Site grading has already started. If you have been watching the work in the last few months a couple of older homes were removed from the front of this property and the development entrance has been graded. ELA predicts the project will take approx 2 years to complete.