Home Care In York, SC

QTS is acquiring 400 acres of land in South Carolina’s York County for a new data center campus.

Citing York County real estate records, BizJournal reports two entities affiliated with QTS Realty Trust LLC acquired a total of approximately 400 acres off S.C. Highway 274 in recent weeks for more than $11.2 million across three purchases.

One of the entities, QTS York I LLC, acquired its land from Catawba River Investments LLC, records show. The other entity, QTS York II LLC, acquired its land from York County.

The Daily Herald reports one of the portions of land was at 2107 Hands Mill Highway, and the other was at 5805 Campbell Rd, a neighboring plot.

York County’s portion of the land, located at 2157 Hands Mill Highway, was sold to the developer as part of ‘Project Cobra’; a $1 billion data center project first revealed in June 2023. The county council is considering a number of tax breaks for the development.

Project Cobra intends to “acquire, construct and install land, buildings, improvements, fixtures, machinery, equipment, furnishings and other real and/or tangible personal property constituting a new data center facility in the County," council documents state.

Details around number, size, and capacity of the data center campus are unclear at this time. The site on Hands Mill Highway is largely greenfield land.

York County is in northeast South Carolina, east of Greenville and Spartanburg, and close to the city of Charlotte over the border in North Carolina.

Google has a presence in both South Carolina in Berkeley County to the south of the state, and North Carolina in Caldwell County. Microsoft is developing data centers in North Carolina in Catawba County. Meta has a campus in North Carolina’s Rutherford County, while Apple operates a site in Catawba County.

Local operators DC Blox and Dartpoints have a presence across South Carolina. Operators including TierPoint and Flexential operate sites over the border in Charlotte.

Blackstone-owned QTS currently has no presence in South or North Carolina. It does have two sites in neighboring Georgia in the Atlanta area, and a third campus in development in Fayetteville.

Almost a dozen communities across the Rock Hill region will choose mayors next week, along with dozens of city or town council candidates.

Election day is Nov. 7. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. across the region. Details are available at county voter registration offices or at scvotes.org. All races next week are nonpartisan. Only county council seats in the region file candidates by party affiliation.

Fort Mill has its mayoral job and one of three open town council seats contested in the coming election. Ryan Helms and Guynn Savage vie for mayor. Lisa Cook, Lindsay Curby and Matt Vilardebo contend for one town council at-large seat. Fort Mill also has two unopposed council candidates, incumbents Ronnie Helms in Ward 2 and Chris Moody in Ward 4.

Fort Mill Economic Partners and the York County Regional Chamber of Commerce hosted a candidate forum that’s viewable at the FMEP Facebook page.

Clover only has contested races. Greg Holmes and Bo Legg filed for mayor. Mike Easler, Brittany Farr, Jason Manos and Amy Nivens contend for three town council seats. The Greater Clover Chamber of Commerce hosted a candidate forum Oct. 26 that is available to view on that group’s Facebook page under the live tab.

Five candidates face off for two city council seats in Tega Cay. Brian Carter, Adam Grabiec, Ron Kirby, Carmen Miller and Daniel Robert all participated in an Oct. 25 candidate forum hosted by the regional chamber of commerce. It’s online at the city’s webpage tegacaysc.org or on Youtube.

Rounding out election season are a host of decisions in smaller communities, uncontested races or non-election day votes. They include:

? In Rock Hill, Brent Faulkenberry defeated Hope Matthews for the city council Ward 2 seat by 19 votes on Oct. 17. Incumbents Derrick Lindsay in Ward 1 and Kevin Sutton in Ward 3 won uncontested races.

? York only has uncontested races. They are Mike Fuesser for mayor, Eddie Brown for city council Ward 2, Marion Ramsey for city council Ward 3 and Stephanie Jarrett for city council Ward 4.

? Bryan Jenkins and Bill Nance face off for mayor in McConnells. Uncontested town council candidates are Liz Christenberry, Bill Covington, Jim Hoban and James Sciba.

? Hickory Grove candidates, all in uncontested races, are Larry Earl for mayor and Ollie Bankhead, Kevin Faulkner, Harry James Good and Kyle Wyatt for four town council seats.

? Sharon has Nicole Perkins unopposed for mayor, and three candidates on the ballot with four town council seats open. Candidates are Herschel Brown, Jr., Ashley Glenn and Margarette Parrish.

? Smyrna has all uncontested races. Frances Faulkner for mayor, plus only three candidates for four open town council seats in Kimberly Linow, Amy Myott and Jessica Smith.

? Contested Lancaster County races include Iva Drakeford, Howard Mickle and Vincent Webb for two town council seats in Heath Springs and Loyd Fox, Kristen Setzer and Kyle Starnes for two town council seats in Van Wyck.

Uncontested races are Mike Dorman for mayor and Bobbie Faulkenberry, Michael Cook and Randy Seegars for three town council seats in Kershaw.

? Chester County candidates are Flora Barber and James Harris for mayor and Flora Barber, Nancy Beatty, Recorda Holmes, Albert Stewart, Jr. and Helen Ruth Williams in Richburg; Joseph Wilson for mayor and Cole Abell, Buddy Courtney, Valeria Erwin and Mitchell Lisenby for town council in Lowrys; Carlton Martin for mayor with Lee Ann Gaston and Angel Waits for town council in Fort Lawn.

This story was originally published October 30, 2023, 12:06 PM.

York County’s first tattoo parlor is ready to make its mark, with grand opening activities planned for Saturday.

The Local Tattoo has a noon ribbon cutting and 1 p.m. raffle at 1140 S.C. 55 E. in Clover. The tattoo shop will give away $3,000 in free tattoo prizes, according to an online event page.

Artists are taking online bookings now. Walk-ins are welcome, too. The new shop will be open Tuesdays through Saturdays 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to its website.

The shop is one of two buildings on the same parcel between Courtney’s BBQ and Brew and the Clover Area Assistance Center.

A former gas station built in 1950 sits on the property. So does the former Market on Main building. A Belmont, North Carolina, company bought the property in 2013.

Devon Aguila and Heather Ireland moved to Clover last year from Arizona. They closed a shop there and planned to open one in their new hometown when they realized they were somewhere different. Where they left, tattoo shops were everywhere.

”We were really looking to get a location in our town,” Ireland said. “We really haven’t seen any tattoo studios in York County.”

South Carolina law didn’t allow tattoo parlors until 2004. Now the state health department regulates them.

Tattoo parlors aren’t allowed within 1,000 feet of a school, church or playground, but otherwise it’s up to counties or municipalities to set their own zoning rules for where they can be.

Almost two decades after tattoo parlors became legal, the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control lists 162 parlors statewide. Columbia has 22 of them. Myrtle Beach has 16. Spartanburg has 12 parlors, Sumter and Anderson contain eight each and several smaller communities across the state have a handful each.

The Local Tattoo in Clover is the first and only one located in York County. Neither Lancaster nor Chester counties has one, either.

In 2017 Long Island, New York, entrepreneur Lou Rubino moved south and set up shop in unincorporated Fort Mill for three tattoo-related businesses in an industrial park near Carowinds. Within a year about 50 employees worked at Ultimate Tattoo Supply, United Ink Productions and World Famous Tattoo Ink. The companies brought tattoo machines, needles and ink, and even started the Queen City Tattoo & Arts Festival in Charlotte.

There are other surface level ties to tattoos in the area.

Rock Hill has Tattooed Brews, a bar and restaurant concept that celebrates the inked lifestyle in its name but doesn’t ink customers. The Mercantile in Rock Hill opened a temporary tattoo parlor in 2019 billed as a family friendly place for inked art lasting two to four days.

Tattoos were part of a much larger conversation in Rock Hill that same year, in relation to the since failed Carolina Panthers headquarters project that was once destined for York County.

Representatives for the NFL team sought several concessions related to the anticipated move of its team practice facility from Charlotte to Rock Hill. They wanted to be allowed two potential uses disallowed by state law — gambling venues and bars selling alcohol past 2 a.m. They also wanted two potential uses prohibited by Rock Hill law, cigar bars and tattoo parlors.

Ultimately none of those requests were the reason the Panthers project fell through last year. The timing and allocation of public funding were reasons given by the team.

Earlier this year a change.org petition popped up calling for Rock Hill zoning rule changes to allow a tattoo parlor. City planning staff brought up tattoo sites in some recent public meetings on other zoning questions, but haven’t made significant changes.

York County took up questions on tattoo parlors as part of its recent recoding of zoning rules last year.

Ireland said it took a while to find a spot that fit parameters to get a licensed tattoo place in South Carolina.

”Our vision for this studio is, we’re really looking to offer our community a high-end tattoo studio,” Ireland said. “They come in and all our staff are professional. It’s bright, airy, clean.”

There’s pressure, Ireland said, about being the first parlor in the county. “We want to be accepted by our community.”

Ireland said there can be negative stigmas associated with tattoos or parlors. Owners hope if there are people in the community with concerns or who are skeptical, they’ll come out Saturday and meet the new crew.

”We’re here for the art,” Ireland said. “We’re here for the clients.”

This story was originally published November 3, 2023, 2:03 PM.

The York County planning commission moved forward with several plans Monday night that would allow new homes and businesses.

The most significant residential change comes in Lake Wylie. There, two decisions would add almost 180 homes.

Here are the proposed land changes and uses approved by the commission:

? The planning commission approved a preliminary plat for a 155-home subdivision on almost 96 acres in Lake Wylie. Aberforth at Allison Creek sits at the intersection of Charlotte Highway and Daimler Boulevard. Fiorenza Properties is the developer. Big Allison Creek sits just south of the property.

The property sits on land that was part of the Big Allison Creek development agreement approved more than a decade ago by the county. That agreement requires commercial space that isn’t planned yet, but does appear on the residential plat.

A submitted plan shows a roundabout at Daimler and S.C. 49. Just west, plans show two 9,500-square-foot commercial buildings and four 5,000-square-foot commercial buildings. Homes are behind the commercial space with roads leading to five cul-de-sacs and several planned ponds.

? The planning commission approved a preliminary plat for the fifth phase of the Gentry at Hands Mill, within Hands Mill at Lake Wylie. The commission approved plans in 2018 for Gentry, at 129 homes. The final phase is 24 homes on almost 15 acres. The new approval was needed after trees were removed from areas not shown in prior plans, though the overall project still meets its tree save and open space requirements.

The Valita Road homes and property involved in the decision include two marinas off a peninsula on Lake Wylie.

? A plan to rezone almost 6 acres in Fort Mill will go to York County Council after the planning commission recommended in favor of the change. Brothers Storage applied for the rezoning to allow a boat and RV storage operation with trucking on the west side of Flint Hill Road, north of Pikeview Road.

In May, the county issued a stop work order for zoning violations and land disturbance without a permit for the property cleared prior to allow tractor trailer storage. A sketch plan submitted with the application shows almost 90 parking spaces.

? The planning commission also voted to approve a plat that splits an almost 72-acre property into two parcels, the smaller piece at about 5 acres, along Charlotte Highway between North Shiloh and Adkins roads between Lake Wylie and York. Both properties would remain residential and agricultural.

? An almost 6-acre parcel at 1674 Lawrence Road, south of Clover, would be rezoned as part of a split from one residential parcel to two. The planning commission recommended in favor of the decision which would add one home.

This story was originally published September 13, 2023, 11:43 AM.

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John Marks graduated from Furman University in 2004 and joined the Herald in 2005. He covers community growth, municipalities, transportation and education mainly in York County and Lancaster County. The Fort Mill native earned dozens of South Carolina Press Association awards and multiple McClatchy President’s Awards for news coverage in Fort Mill and Lake Wylie.

York County Council can finalize an incentive agreement Monday night for the $1 billion QTS Data Centers project. The decision would come after a scheduled public hearing.

For months the county has been working through details on the agreement. York County on Friday released it’s agenda for Monday’s meeting, which listed a final decision on the incentive agreement. That was the first time the county identified QTS Data Center, which previously been called “Project Cobra.”

The Herald had connected the project via land records and prior county decisions to the Kansas-based data center.

QTS is projecting a $1 billion investment and 12 new jobs. The proposed economic incentive deal would require a minimum $900 million investment and 10 jobs within eight years.

Property that ordinarily would be taxed at 10.5% would instead pay a fee, if the company hits promised targets, based on a 4% assessment. Millage would be adjustable. The deal would extend over 40 years.

The company also would be eligible for credits against that fee of 20% to 35% during the four-decade term. Those special source revenue credits are based on infrastructure produced by the company.

QTS owns property for the site in the Campbell Road and Hands Mill Highway area of Lake Wylie. The Herald previously reported QTS had 360 acres in that area after spending more than $10 million in July.

A $7 million purchase was for more than 230 acres at 2107 Hands Mill Property and surrounding areas, north of Paraham Road. QTS spent more than $4.3 million for another 130 acres at 5805 Campbell Road.

Also at Monday night’s council meeting, set for 6 p.m. at the county government center at 6 S. Congress St. in York, two more decisions await.

Both involve economic incentive agreements.

The county can finalize an incentive deal with Silfab Solar Cells. The Herald previously reported plans for 800 new jobs and a $150 million investment for the solar manufacturer eyeing 7149 Logistics Lane in Fort Mill. There has been citizen and council member push back on that project related to roads in that area.

The Silfab project was initially labeled Project Mountie. The incentive deal would be a similar assessment rate reduction and fee in place of a tax, this time for 30 years.

Also on Monday’s agenda, council can decide whether to convey terms from an existing economic development incentive deal for RG Baxter Lane to Exeter 7149 Logistics. The county completed a fee deal with RG Baxter Lane in 2019.

The Herald reported RG Baxter Lane bought 72 acres of farmland in the Gold Hill Road area of Fort Mill in 2019 for almost $8.5 million. The Herald also reported RG Baxter Lane applied that same year for a 1.1 million-square-foot warehouse project, Stateline 77.

Documents listed with the decision to convey the incentive agreement list the same Stateline 77 subdivision property. The property, building and incentive arrangement would transition to Pennsylvania real estate investment management company EQT Exeter.

This story was originally published September 15, 2023, 3:40 PM.