Large Indoor Sports Facility Could Be Coming to Rock Hill
A new indoor sports facility may be on its way to Rock Hill. John Gettys Chairman of the Rock Hill Sports Commission gave a presentation to discuss placing the new facility in downtown’s soon to be built University Center. The event took place at the Rock Hill airport at the Hospitality Tax Commitee’s monthly meeting.
The facility would be 170 thousand square feet, which is the biggest in North or South Carolina and officials determined it would be able to host up to 52 indoor events including basketball, volleyball and pickleball. There will be multiple courts including a separate ‘arena style’ court for championship games.
Projections show the facility will attract 172 thousand tourists annually and have a 10 million dollar annual economic impact. It will be built in the upcoming University Center/Knowledge Park area.
The committee hopes for the facility to bring enough revenue to build more hotels and keep the hospitality taxes in the area.
All together it would cost around 25 million dollars. Gettys thinks close to 22.5 million of that could be bonded through the city of Rock Hill with the remaining price being paid through hospitality tax over the next 5 years ($500,000/yr).
The facility is currently in the design stage and Gettys hopes City Council will move forward with the project in the coming months. The committee hopes to have it completed by Fall 2018.
