ROCK HILL, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) – Questions on why the Carolina Panthers organization is hitting the pause button on construction of its headquarters in Rock Hill continue to rise.
Tepper Sports and Entertainment announcing Monday it is pausing construction on the world class 800 million dollar Panthers Headquarters saying basically it’s partners on the project are not contributing what was agreed too.
The question is, what specific money are they talking about.
According to the city of Rock Hill it has met all obligations under the agreement.
“They haven’t stopped, they’ve paused”, says Rock Hill Mayor, John Gettys.
That pause on the 240 acre site in Rock Hill that is set to bring the Carolina Panthers Headquarters, Training center and more, has a lot of people concerned.
Rock Hill City mayor John Gettys saying no payment is owed from the city.
“The city is giving 100% of our tax revenue, we cant do more than that. We’ve continued to get bonds ready to be issued for all of this and we are ready for them to come to the table to do all of that. That’s not a payment owed, that’s an element to all of this”, says Gettys.
The city confirming no bonds have been issued when it comes to the 225 million dollars in bonds in question.
County councilman, Bump Roddey however believes the millions in bonds is exactly what’s at the center of the Panther’s decision to pause construction.
“The city of Rock Hill was charged with securing the 225 million dollars and they were set to make payments to the Panthers and apparently they haven’t kept up their end of the deal of making those payments on schedule on time” Roddey says. He adds York County wants to help make this deal happen.
This goes back to a letter sent to County officials in May 2021 from the Carolina Panthers asking for their assistance because the 225 million dollars in bonds had not been secured at that time.
County leaders continue to say they are invested and willing to help the city if needed.
“I don’t think we are going back to square one. Like I said my understanding and confidence remain that everyone is working towards the ultimate goal”, says York County Councilman, Joel Hamilton.
The Panthers only releasing this statement as an explanation and not answering any other questions by our deadline.
“We are committed to bettering the Carolinas community that supports our team and players. To that end, while GT Real Estate Holdings, LLC has invested more than $170 million into the development in Rock Hill, our partners have been unable to contribute the agreed upon investment to fund the construction of the public infrastructure. Given the economic realities, the difficult but prudent decision has been made to pause the project. The on-going work will continue with our partners to find an economically acceptable solution for all parties to continue this project in Rock Hill.”
Mayor Gettys adding the city is doing what they can and the city looks forward to continue working on this massive project with the Carolina Panthers.
“They have mentioned that they want to get a better deal. We are fulfilling our obligation as the improvements are built and when the tax revenue comes in we will pay that. The world has changes since 2019 when the Panthers came to town. We’ve had supply chain issues, we’ve had COVID, all these things that have changed and that’s changed other parts of this development that aren’t city related”, says Gettys.
As for many reports about a March 2021 payment not being made by the city, Mayor Gettys says they is incorrect and there was never a march payment obligation. Mayor Gettys also saying this pause does not effect tax payers and the city continues to be in contact with the Carolina Panthers.
