YORK COUNTY, S.C. — A failed plan to bring the Carolina Panthers practice facility to Rock Hill could result in York County being awarded over $81 million.
On Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Judge Karen Owens filed a motion to allow York County to have an $81 million voting stake in the bankruptcy fallout relating to David Tepper's GT Real Estate company.
Owens made the decision because she was worried about how the county would receive no relief from the project's fallout.
"I'm concerned with the danger of disenfranchisement of the county," said Owens during the court hearing. "It is appropriate for them to have a voice in the vote and at the confirmation proceedings."
Without a voting stake, parties that are owed money from the bankruptcy deal could risk not receiving what they are owed.
Other contracting parties have already somewhat agreed to receive millions from the bankruptcy deal. However, GT Real Estate's bankruptcy proposals left no funding for York County or the city of Rock Hill.
Monday's hearing only pertains to York County. The city of Rock Hill will have to wait till at least Nov. 16 to see if a similar voting stake for $20 million will be granted, according to court records.
The original plans for the practice facility were aimed at rivaling other NFL teams, like the Dallas Cowboys. Tepper announced the $800 million idea in 2019, but work came to a screeching halt less than two years later.
The fallout from the failed facility has seen a flurry of legal action more recently in 2022. The York County government sued not only Tepper, but also the city of Rock Hill, lambasting the facility as a "failed vanity project" in June 2022.