The Tuttle Co. began work on The Lowenstein Building in 2016, the first step in creating Rock Hill's University Center. Over five years later, much of the initial vision for the project has come to life, with work underway in 2022 that will add a wave of residential and retail development to the mix.
Skip Tuttle, principal of project leader The Tuttle Co., said final buildout will total $220 million of investment. The development spans 23 acres and includes a mix of upgraded historic textile buildings and new construction projects designed to connect downtown Rock Hill to Winthrop University.
Around $120 million worth of development has already been completed there with another $80 million under construction, Tuttle said. By the end of this year, four more pieces of University Center, including apartments, retail and restaurant space, are expected to be completed.
Tuttle and his team are leading the development of a 145-unit apartment complex that is under construction and being built by Concorde Construction. A new retail building of around 19,000 square feet is underway with a targeted delivery of later this year.
An adaptive-reuse project called The Power Plant is also under construction. The 55,000-square-foot building will include a brewery, restaurant/retail space and 39 loft apartments, said Wes Tuttle, Tuttle Co. vice president of development. The building of a parking deck is underway, as well.
The first completed projects at University Center were the Lowenstein and 1939 buildings, which landed their initial tenants in 2018. The buildings total around 225,000 square feet of adaptive-reuse office and restaurant/retail space and 270 parking spaces. The $25 million Rock Hill Sports & Event Center, which serves as a hub for the city's vibrant sports tourism sector, was completed next. In 2021, a 305-bed private student housing project called The Nest was finished by Concorde, along with a 110-room Cambria Hotel.
One more wave of projects is expected to start in 2023, including another 100-110 apartments and up to 250 beds of student housing. Another retail building of around 15,000 square feet is being planned for a site near The Power Plant. A second hotel of around 90 rooms will eventually neighbor the Cambria Hotel, Tuttle said. All of those projects are expected to deliver by the end of 2024.
University Center is at the forefront of the larger Knowledge Park development effort, which includes $500 million of planned, completed or ongoing development. Those efforts include ones in downtown, such as the $60 million mixed-use project from White Point Partners at the former site of The Rock Hill Herald. Knowledge Park also contains The Thread, The Keith Corp.'s $100 million office redevelopment of the former Bleachery site next to University Center.