The video presents the transformation of the former Celanese industrial plant in York County into the Riverwalk master‑planned community in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Contact began in 2004 when Celanese sought to sell the site. Cleanup and demolition continued through 2009, with the first property transactions occurring in 2012, marking the start of a ten‑year development plan. Because the land was zoned solely for industrial use and lay below the floodplain, the developers partnered with the City of Rock Hill to rezone for mixed‑use, navigating extensive regulatory hurdles including Corps of Engineers air‑space permits for river‑over‑water structures. The vision integrates residential, industrial, commercial, and retail components within an active outdoor lifestyle, featuring world‑class amenities such as the Giordano Velodrome, Novant Health BMX Supercross Track, eight miles of mountain‑bike trails, a kayak launch, and the Riverwalk Trail. Historic elements were preserved, notably the original pump‑house walls and nearby Catawba pottery, fostering community appreciation. The project’s success is highlighted by the Creative Thinkers Award, recognizing Dave Williams, Mark Mather, Elliot Close, and Colby Mosier for their leadership.
Chapters
I was contacted by Celanese, wanted to sell off their plant in 2004.
This is really a one-of-a-kind development on the East Coast and the whole country. It combines residential, Industrial, commercial, and retail, all in the context of this active outdoor lifestyle.
It's just a beautiful spot. When we got here, of course, it was all fenced off. I just didn't know how pretty the Catawba River was.
When we acquired the property, it was in York County and it was zoned all industrial, and the county had no appetite to rezone it for mixed-use. So we took that opportunity to partner with the City of Rock Hill and develop a master-planned community. We've developed 2 world-class amenities, the Giordano Velodrome, Novant Health BMX Supercross Track. We have 8 miles of mountain bike trails, a kayak launch, the Riverwalk Trail, just an unprecedented number of recreational amenities.
Initial cleaning up of the site and demolition lasted till the end of 2009. We had that little recession thing going on in between. Our first transactions began in 2012. So we're 4 years into a 10-year project, I'd say.
One of the things that intrigued us about this place was, Kobe and I were coming across the bridge over there one day, and I think we were coming from lunch, and both of us kind of looked at each other and said, wouldn't that make a nice restaurant?
Kind of scheduled for demolition, or that's what they were thinking of doing because they couldn't figure out what to do with it. Well, we didn't want to see it go.
One of the problems that they probably looked at, but we're actually below the floodplain, so in order to do anything with it, you've got to go through a lot more regulatory hoops than normal.
We didn't know the Corps of Engineers owns the air above the river, so we had to go to them just to get permission to put a balcony that extended over the water.
During the construction phase, it was questionable whether we'd lost our minds completely or not. We utilized as much of the original building as possible. These walls are the original walls of the pump house. About 40 pieces of Catawba pottery that were done just down the river from us here. The community and the public and folks have accepted and come and they tell us how much they like the place.
It took a big vision to take a look at the Celanese plant back then and then what we've achieved today. We're sticking to that vision. It's paying dividends today.
Congratulations, Dave Williams, Mark Mather, Elliot Close, and Colby Mosier, Counselors of Real Estate Carolina's Chapter Creative Thinkers 2017.
