FORT MILL --
The Knights Stadium property owned by York County may be become the site of a distribution center.
The County Council has adopted a resolution for a project that would invest up to $36 million and create 130 jobs.
The resolution also commits the county to granting an option to purchase the 32-acre stadium property at a cost of $26,380 per acre. Exercising the option is dependent on “mutually agreeable conditions” which could include the company building the distribution center demolishing Knight Stadium.
The Knights have been leasing the York County site for $1 a year for the past 23 years. Construction of a new $54 million stadium is under way in downtown Charlotte. BB&T has paid for naming rights to the stadium. The Knights, a AAA minor-league team affiliated with the Chicago White Sox, will play their 2013 home games in Fort Mill.
The Knights informed the county last year of their decision to move from the Fort Mill area. Since then, the county, through a council-appointed committee, has been considering options for the site. At a recent meeting residents advocated the land be converted into youth sports fields.
The resolution, passed at Monday’s County Council meeting, does not specify a company, referring to the plan as “Project Vic.”
County Manager Jim Baker has said there have been discussions with fashion retailer Cato, which recently submitted a $5.7 million bid in federal bankruptcy court to buy 260 acres adjacent to the county’s land. Cato has that indicated it may build a distribution center on the site, while also considering it for other uses, Baker said.
Cato has not purchased the land, however, and is doing its “due diligence” in reviewing a purchase, company officials have said.
The resolution says that the company “know nas project Vic” is considering the purchase of approximately 280 acres in the county for the purpose of developing a commercial business park. The resolution also commits the county to a fee-in-lieu of tax agreement. The resolution says the “company has presented the county with a vision for development of the project ... and the county is both supportive and impressed by the company’s vision.”
If the county and company move forward with the project a more specific development agreement would be negotiated.
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