ROCK HILL, S.C. — After getting the green light from South Carolina lawmakers, leaders in Rock Hill are eager to get to work with the Panthers' front office to start planning construction on a new headquarters in the Palmetto State.
"It'll be a real teamwork approach to this. It's how we like to work and it appears it's how the Panthers like to work as well," said Mayor John Gettys.
He and others have fought hard to bring a Panthers campus to the city. Gettys said he has already spoken with team owner David Tepper after it passed the House and Senate, and they're prepared to start forming the detailed steps.
"Everybody is holding cards," Gettys said. "Until it's time to show those cards. We've seen glimpses and stuff but not how it all fits together quite yet."
"Next, what we'll see is the Panthers organization, the city, and other entities will sit down and will see the actual plans and work on how to make those come to a reality as quickly, efficiently, and reasonably priced as possible," he added.
The hype has been felt for months, especially among area businesses who welcome the new neighbor.
"I mean it's going to be a big change for sure," said Jason Sandy, a worker at Ferguson Enterprises, a plumbing supply store. "It's going to bring a lot of growth to this area."
The store sits directly across the street from where the facility is expected to go. First, the Panthers would have to buy the property that sits just south of Cherry Road off I-77. That brings another concern: Traffic.
"It's definitely going to mess up traffic in this area eventually, I'm sure," Sandy added.
There are talks of a new I-77 interchange being built to help alleviate congestion. The renderings of the new headquarters showed what the interchange may look like, although that part of the model has not been confirmed with the South Carolina Department of Transportation.
Neither the DOT nor Department of Commerce has commented about a possible interchange project.
Mayor Gettys confirmed there would be plans for the City of Rock Hill to pay roughly $7.5 million towards the road project, with the taxpayers paying the ultimate price.
Lawmakers noted the federal government would pay $20 million and the state would contribute $12.5 million.
Gettys hopes to break ground on the project by the end of the year. Construction would likely continue for months to build the state of the art facility that includes a sports medicine facility, two practice facilities which include an indoor field.
Sandy and other surrounding business are anxiously awaiting as they project a business boom.
"Local companies that get plumbing supplies that are going to help build are going to end up coming to us," Sandy said.