CBJ | By Collin Huguley – Staff Writer, Charlotte Business Journal
An active Rock Hill developer has acquired a downtown site there with plans to revitalize an existing building.
An entity named RH Guardian OZ LLC recently purchased several parcels at Oakland Avenue and Main Street for $3.3 million, according to York County real estate records. The transaction closed in late November.
The buyer is affiliated with Warren Norman Co. Inc., which plans to revitalize an existing structure on the site.
The site consists of two buildings, Warren Norman Co.’s Warren Norman told the Charlotte Business Journal. One is the Guardian building, formerly the Andrew Jackson Hotel building, which totals approximately 42,000 square feet. It will be renovated. The other is a smaller building of around 6,000 square feet that will likely be demolished, Norman said.
Norman envisions restaurant and retail space on the first floor of the six-story Guardian building. The second floor includes a mezzanine that overlooks the restaurant, along with a ballroom/meeting room. The third through sixth floors of the building will include office space, Norman said.
The building currently has office tenants but is only around 35% leased, Norman said. Improvements and updates will be made to the office space.
The building also includes a basement that could potentially be utilized for a speakeasy-type of use, Norman said.
Norman’s team is in the planning phase for the Guardian building’s redevelopment. He hopes to start construction on the building improvements in the fall. Marketing for the restaurant space is expected to begin very soon. The building is in an opportunity zone, which provides tax advantages.
Warren Norman Co.’s portfolio includes several projects throughout Rock Hill. The firm came in at No. 30 on the Charlotte Business Journal‘s most recent list ranking the market’s largest commercial real estate developers based on activity in the last five years. The developer has delivered mostly industrial and retail space over that time, CBJ data shows.
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