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The Rock Hill City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve the first of two readings of Premier Design Solutions’ petition to rezone and annex 32 acres for its Riverside on the Catawba mixed-use project.
The $70 million development would bring up to 300 apartments and condos and 235,000 square feet of offices, retail, and restaurants to largely vacant land on the east and west sides of Cherry Road, just south of the U.S. Highway 21 bridge over the Catawba River.
Plans also call for a 130-room hotel.
The city’s planning staff recommended to council members that a few issues with the developer be resolved before approval of a master plan.
Currently, the project calls for 1,084 to 1,281 parking spaces, which is a 20 percent reduction in the number of spaces that the city usually allows for such projects. Staff said it needed a firmer calculation of the number of proposed spaces because the area is dominated by autos.
In addition, the staff wants the developer to update proposed site plans to meet city standards regarding issues such as dumpster locations and fire truck access.
Premier Design is seeking to break ground on the project by late summer. Development would be completed in several phases over the next two to three years. The company has said the project would add 300 construction-related jobs to the area. Riverside on the Catawba would be slightly west of the Riverwalk community under development. That $600 million project will feature more than 2,300 homes, along with retail and office space, athletic fields, and a town center.
Premier Design is seeking a rezoning to master-planned commercial zoning from urban development and planned-unit development.
In other actions, the council unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance to classify the former Bleachery site as part of the S.C. Textile Communities Revitalization Act. The reclassification provides tax incentives for the redevelopment, renovation and rehabilitation of abandoned textile mill sites.
Developer Sora-Phelps recently won rezoning approval to redevelop the former textile mill site for a mixed-use project that proposes a 164,000-square-foot sports complex, 141 apartments, housing to accommodate 499 students, and senior housing. Plans also call for a 140-room hotel, 228,000 square feet of office space, and 67,500 square feet of retail. Seven acres will be devoted to open space.
Rock Hill bought the Bleachery site, home to the former Rock Hill Printing & Finishing Co., in 2010, a $6 million investment that jump-started a redevelopment project named Knowledge Park. This ownership gives Rock Hill complete control over all development decisions.
Knowledge Park is a public-private initiative to revitalize a corridor from Fountain Park to Winthrop University with high-tech employers and private development.
