The new development in Rock Hill will include a 640,000-square-foot practice facilityGETTY IMAGES
The NFL Panthers are targeting May '23 as their "move-in date" to their new practice facility and HQ in Rock Hill, S.C., after initial plans to open the first phase of the facility in August '22 were "scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic," according to Alaina Getzenberg of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. But even finishing by then "will be a tight fit," and the impacts of this delay and any that may follow "will ripple beyond the football team." While the pandemic is a "leading cause in the delays," it is "not the only reason." Other reasons include a "hold up in signing the land development agreement that delayed the groundbreaking." The Panthers organization is investing over $1B to "develop and build the facility," and has already received $225M in "tax breaks from York County for project infrastructure, on top of the incentives from the state." The development in Rock Hill will include a "640,000-square-foot practice facility and a more than 110,000-square-foot sports-and-entertainment venue with potential to hold a variety of events from soccer games to high school championships and corporate events and concerts." From the Panthers perspective, they will have "another year of training camp away from their new home." The hope is to have training camp in Rock Hill in '23, but that is "not guaranteed" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 9/5).
FIRM JOINS NEW DISTRICT NEGOTIATIONS: In Charlotte, Erik Spanberg reported New York-based boutique investment banking and consulting firm Inner Circle Sports is helping Charlotte city government "negotiate incentives and related public-private investments with Tepper Sports & Entertainment." As part of Tepper’s $325M purchase of an MLS expansion franchise last year, city government "agreed to fund" up to $110M "worth of land, infrastructure and property improvement for a soccer training headquarters and a mixed-use entertainment district" near Bank of America Stadium. Inner Circle's David Abrams is "leading the firm’s work" with Charlotte Assistant City Manager & Economic Development Dir Tracy Dodson and city government. Dodson said that Abrams and Inner Circle "provide advice on an as-needed basis" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 9/4).
