Wedding & Event Venue Near Rock Hill, SC.

A baseball program built on a historic run of success in Fort Mill plans to open a new facility in Rock Hill.

Mill Town Industrial Properties submitted plans April 7 to rezone property near District 3 Stadium in Rock Hill for a new baseball training facility. The company is connected to Mill Town Baseball Academy, which formed from the same coaches and many of the same players who won a state championship and then the Dixie Youth Baseball World Series last summer representing Fort Mill.

The Rock Hill plan would transform a former lumberyard just south of the high school football stadium, between Chester Street and Lancaster Avenue.

There are five buildings on the property, which is more than 3 acres. Three buildings would be removed. One would be used for indoor baseball training. The other is shown on a submitted sketch plan as a possible restaurant.

The removed buildings would make way for parking to serve the project. A later phase would be an outdoor baseball field for training.

Chris Mattox is listed as the applicant. Ryan Smith addressed the Rock Hill city planning commission to outline plans. Both were coaches with the Fort Mill squad last summer that since has grown to include travel teams as Mill Town Baseball.

“Chris and I grew up playing baseball around the Fort Mill, Charlotte area,” Smith told the commission earlier this week. “Went on to play college ball, each of us. Both of us have been fairly successful in our careers and our lives, and we attribute a lot of that to being raised on the ballfields. Being taught life skills through baseball.”

The success of last summer’s team, formed of all stars from the town parks and recreation program, continued even beyond the World Series run.

“From there we said, ‘We can’t stop here,’” Smith said.

The main building that will be used for training is 11,000 square feet and has 20-plus-foot ceilings. It would be perfect for baseball training, Smith said, and softball at some point, too. Smith said he’d like Fort Mill, Rock Hill and surrounding areas to become known as a baseball hotbed.

“It just makes perfect sense for us to further that mission,” he said.

The planning commission recommended the rezoning, but the final decision comes from Rock Hill City Council. Rock Hill is a city known for youth sports, from its investment in sites like Cherry Park and Manchester Meadows to its “Football City USA” moniker and familiar “Competition Lives Here” motto.

The training site also would be an infill project to grow downtown development, other common city goals.

“What you guys are doing, working with youth, that’s right up our alley here,” said planning commission chair Randy Graham.

This story was originally published May 5, 2022 11:37 AM.

What do you get when you mix a blast from Rock Hill’s food past with one of its newer, up and coming neighborhoods?

You get Blend.

The Demas family plans to open the new restaurant at 652 Herrons Ferry Road, suite 113, in Riverwalk. New equipment arrived on the truck Tuesday morning. Blend could be open by month’s end.

Pete Demas spent two decades in Rock Hill starting back in 1970, at Pete’s Snack Bar. His son Peter and Peter’s new wife Caitlin also are partners in Blend.

“Using your creative mind to blend the perfect meal,” Caitlin Demas said of the new concept. “It’ll be salads, sandwiches, smoothies, wraps, power bowls.”

The plan is fresh healthy foods, Peter Demas said, where the customer is as big a part of a great meal as the Blend staff.

“We’ll have a few signature dishes, but the rest of it is we want the customer to create their own, blend their own meals,” he said. “Create their own type of foods.”

Peter and Caitlin Demas grew up in Charlotte. He had family in Rock Hill. The pair brought their dog to walk at Riverwalk and eventually moved to the neighborhood, where they will live within walking distance of Blend.

“We like the neighborhood,” Peter Demas said. “It’s hard to find places like this, with the river and everything, anywhere.”

The building where Blend is located fronts the Catawba River. It includes the new Tony’s Cantina Mexican Grill that opened last month, and a variety of retail spots. The site is close to The Pump House and river access points.

“More and more people are learning about this place,” Pete Demas said. “And it’s just good clean family fun. You float all the way to Great Falls or almost to Gastonia the other way. It’s just nice to have that choice that a lot of communities don’t have.”

His experience with Pete’s Snack Bar made the new venture an easy choice.

“They’re good people in this town,” Pete Demas said. “Luckily we came back here, I guess for this reason. And also to meet new friends here, make new friends. New development here is going to help us a lot.”

Some of the lessons learned from Pete’s Snack Bar will influence the new venture.

“I’m not going to serve it if I don’t eat it,” Pete Demas said. “So that’s my motto. And give you enough where you’re satisfied and come back.”

The key for Blend, he said, is freshness.

“The products that we’re going to put in here are going to be as fresh as we can possibly get,” Pete Demas said. “Whether it’s off the farm, we’re trying to connect with some farmers. So we want people to come in here and eat something they can’t find nowhere else.”

Restaurant hours, days open and other details will be set in coming weeks. Caitlin Demas said she’ll provide updates on Instagram and other platforms. The ownership team, part deep Rock Hill roots and part vibrant new Rock Hill community, sees a lot of themselves in Blend.

“I moved down here,” Pete Demas said. “I lived down here. I invested down here, and I know a lot of people down here. It feels good to come back home.”

This story was originally published June 16, 2022 8:34 AM.

Whether you consider yourself an outdoor enthusiast, or are just looking for a unique gift idea Nichols Store has you covered

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — This article involves commercial content.

The products and services featured appear as paid advertising.

Nichols Store, located in Rock Hill, South Carolina, started back in 1968 as a small country store primarily selling gas, grocery items and a small amount of fishing supplies. The store was owned and operated by Tommy "Papa Tom" Nichols from 1968 until 1989, at which time Tommy's son, Darren, purchased the store.

Now celebrating over 30 years, Darren Nichols has combined his experiences and love for the outdoors and expressed it by taking his vision into action and creating an outdoor retail store for the entire family. Here with more is Nichols Store Manager, Jeff Bolton.

Nichols Store provides product expertise in all areas and is devoted to fulfilling all of your outdoor needs.

Nichols Store sells hard to find name-brand products from hunting gear for all seasons, kayaks, clothing and footwear, firearms, ammunition, safes, archery, fishing, cutlery to Beautiful reclaimed wood furniture and Log Cabins by Legacy Quest Outdoors.

Nichols Store has a deli for your convenience, as well as apparel and sun glasses. Nichols Store is the largest Southeast dealer to a number of companies.

They include:

YETI: Noted for their Yeti tumblers, Yeti also have dog bowls and beds mugs, jugs and coolers. The YETI cooler is great for any occasion, such as hunting, fishing, camping rafting and barbequing.

SureFire: Is the maker of the finest illumination tools and tactical products. SureFire remains at the fore of laser aiming device technology and continues to be the standard by which all others are judged. Laser Products went on to establish itself as the leading manufacturer of rugged, powerful and compact illumination tools for tactical applications - from weapon-mounted lights and laser sights, shield lights and baton lights to hand-held lights powerful and bright enough to qualify as "force-option" tools that could temporarily blind, unbalance, and disorient a threat

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AP Sports Writer

The Carolina Panthers' proposed $800 million practice facility project in Rock Hill, South Carolina, is officially dead after team owner David Tepper’s real estate company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware on Wednesday night.

Tepper, who made billions in hedge funds, is the NFL’s wealthiest owner. The filing will not affect the NFL’s Panthers or Major League Soccer’s Charlotte FC in any way.

It’s unclear at this point what will happen to the half-built practice facility.

Tepper has invested more than $175 million into the facility, which is located about 25 miles south of the team’s current downtown stadium and headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.

GT Real Estate Holdings, LLC (GTRE), a Delaware limited liability company, announced to The Associated Press in a statement late Wednesday night that is has begun a court-led financial restructuring process in Delaware to effect an orderly wind-down of the project. The action follows the termination and rescission of the agreements with the City of Rock Hill that related to the project, which GTRE previously announced.

GTRE also announced that it has received a commitment for $20 million in financing from DT Sports Holding, LLC, subject to court approval, which will allow the company to fund a process to address its legitimate creditor claims, as well as to preserve, protect and enhance the Rock Hill site for the benefit of all stakeholders.

“In recent weeks, GTRE has been confronted with various claims, some valid and some not, from vendors, contractors and other third parties, including York County, SC," GT Real Estate Holdings said in a statement. "GTRE is taking this action to ensure legitimate claims are processed as fairly and expeditiously as possible under a court supervised process, and to achieve the project’s orderly and safe wind-down. GTRE intends to resolve its legitimate obligations.”

The City of Rock Hill does not plan to make a statement until it has had a chance to review the bankruptcy filing Thursday, a city spokesperson said.

The Panthers announced on April 19 they had terminated their agreement with the City of Rock Hill, South Carolina.

The bankruptcy ends a bitter back-and-forth public disagreement between Tepper and the city of Rock Hill.

Tepper’s company said it negotiated with the city for more than a year, warning them in March they had 30 days or the Panthers would pull out. They said in a statement in April that is “unfortunate that some recently decided to conduct a misguided, destructive public relations campaign to obscure their failures.”

Rock Hill officials responded to the announcement, saying the Panthers' announcement was “misleading and erroneous” and that they embraced the Panthers, welcomed their headquarters to South Carolina and “did everything to make this project a success and has not defaulted on any of our obligations.”

“It was and remains our intention to continue negotiating in good faith while protecting the interests of our taxpayers,” the City of Rock Hill had said. “In fact, in the past few weeks we have attempted to meet with the Panthers on numerous occasions to no avail.”

The city also claimed that it had met all obligations required under the agreement, but could not provide the Panthers unlimited resources and had to protect taxpayers.

The Panthers' headquarters and practice facility had been expected to be completed in 2023.

It is unclear if Tepper will attempt to build another practice in the future and, if so, where that will be.

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More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://apnews.com/hub/pro-32 and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

According to the lawsuit, those monies were restricted public funds that were to be used to expand Mt. Gallant Road in York County.

York County is bringing a lawsuit against David Tepper's companies after the Panthers' failed facility in Rock Hill.

YORK COUNTY, S.C. (WBTV) – York County has filed a lawsuit against several of Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper’s organizations and the city of Rock Hill over the “misappropriation” of $21 million in funds tied to the team facility that was under construction in Rock Hill.

“It is unfortunate we’ve gotten to this point that it’s going to result in lawsuit after lawsuit,” says York County Councilmember Bump Roddey.

According to the lawsuit, those monies were restricted public funds that were to be used to expand Mt. Gallant Road in York County.

Appaloosa Management, DT Sports Holding and Tepper Sports Holding were each named as defendants and are referred to throughout as the “Tepper Defendants.”

County leaders allege in the lawsuit the Tepper Defendants “improperly utilized these funds on their failed vanity project, the Carolina Panthers’ headquarters and practice facility.”

“Both the City and the Tepper Defendants have harmed York County and its taxpayers, and the County should be made whole,” court documents state.

“There’s a lot of money on the line so we’re just doing this to protect York County taxpayers,” he says. “York County’s done everything it was supposed to do in this agreement but other parties may or may not have done that and I think the courts is one way to flesh that out.”

The $21 million came from the county’s Penny Tax Revenue and was designated to expand Mt. Gallant Road between Dave Lyle Boulevard and Anderson Road from two lanes to three, the lawsuit states.

According to court documents, as plans for the project developed the defendants identified the need to further expand Mt. Gallant Road to five lanes instead of three. That road borders the planned headquarters.

County leaders claim that they, Tepper’s companies and the city of Rock Hill agreed that if the Penny Tax Funds were provided, the Tepper Defendants would manage and construct the Mt. Gallant Road expansion and be responsible for all additional costs.

York County claims the funds were “comingled” with other operating funds and misappropriated to other aspects of the project.

“To date, no progress has been made toward the completion of the Mt. Gallant Expanded Scope,” the lawsuit states.

York County is seeking full restitution and repayment of the $21 million.

A Tepper Sports and Entertainment spokesperson declined to comment.

The City of Rock Hill released the following statement:

Lawyer Tommy Pope says the city of Rock Hill being in this suit is not actually surprising.

”What I read there was the lawyers trying to do their best job for York County,” Pope says.

Attorney Tommy Pope says including Rock Hill is probably more about York County covering all its bases, especially if its ruled the city did breach the contract.

”Any time lawyers get involved everybody has to get into their own foxhole and has to protect their own interests,” he says.

Pope’s not only a lawyer but also a state legislator that fought for this project – and fears this project’s failure could hurt future proposals.

”It’s gonna be much more difficult for the next opportunity we have to have the legislative or political courage to step up and try to do something,” he says.

The Carolina Panthers’ facility and team headquarters was stalled in early March, but construction didn’t end until the end of the month.

Then last week, Tepper’s GT Real Estate Holdings, LLC, created in anticipation of the team’s headquarters, filed for bankruptcy.

That bankruptcy filing dealt a final blow to the Panthers’ project in Rock Hill.

In Oct 2020, the Carolina Panthers revealed renderings of their new headquarters and practice facility coming to Rock Hill.

It was a joint reveal from the Panthers, York County, and the city of Rock Hill. The mixed-use site was designed to host Tepper Sports and Entertainment and become a destination for people all over the region.

The lawsuit adds that the project and developments spurred by the project, were expected to reap over $100 million for the county in tax revenues and economic benefits. The county is requesting restitution for that lost revenue.

When completed, the development was to include restaurants, retail, a healthcare facility, apartments, hotels, trails, and office space.

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