The Johnsonian

Issue date: 8/30/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Alison Rauch Winthrop currently rents enough land for about 525 parking spaces from the Legion. After construction is complete there will be enough room for 1,000-1,500 cars to park.

Years of discussion reached a conclusion in August when the American Legion board of trustees voted to sell Winthrop 15 of approximately 21 acres which neighbor the campus between the railway tracks and Constitution Boulevard.

"We've been neighbors and partners with Winthrop for years," Gary Mitchell, chairman of the American Legion board of trustees said. "We could have sold the property to other people, but we wanted Winthrop to have it because they are good neighbors, and it's a worthwhile cause."

Winthrop is expecting to pay about $156,000 an acre, but must get approval from Columbia before the deal can be finalized, according to a statement released by the Office of the President.

For its part, Winthrop plans on using the new property for additional parking spaces. Sections of the land are already being rented by Winthrop for the use of about 525 parking spaces.

As part of the deal, Winthrop has agreed to allow the annual fair held on the grounds to continue until October 2007.

Mitchell said they have not decided what to do about the fair after that, but said they are considering looking for a new piece of property to host it on.

"As soon as the second fair is over we're going to level all the buildings and really neaten up the parking area and organize it into about 1,000-1,500 car parking lot," Walter Hardin, vice president for facilities management, said.

The new parking lots will be landscaped and will have an integral walkway so students can walk from one end of it to the other without having to go onto Cherry Road, Hardin said. It will also have safety features such as good lighting, surveillance cameras and emergency phones.

The land being purchased is a crucial part of Winthrop's development plans as it re-centers the heart of campus to allow more room for construction and seeks to meet the needs of a growing student body.

"An academic community is organized around class schedules, so having the ability to grow into an area already contiguous to the existing campus means Winthrop can remain a pedestrian-oriented community, with walking times between buildings and classes remaining realistic," Rebecca Masters, assistant to the president for public affairs, said.

The City of Rock Hill is also pleased with Winthrop getting the land Masters said.

"Winthrop's long-term growth is also seen as an economic engine for the area between the campus and downtown Rock Hill," Masters said.

"That area, known as the 'Textile Corridor' because of the former textile mills that occupy it now, is an area that the City of Rock Hill wants to see develop through private investment into a real 'college town' environment."

Hardin said that Winthrop hopes to one day buy the city property in that area as well and that the city is actively looking for a new location.

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