The second phase of RedStone, the mixed-use shopping and entertainment center at the intersection of Highway 160 and U.S. Highway 521 in Indian Land, has been stuck in neutral for years, and now its developer wants two more years to finish the job. Charlotte-based MPV Properties is asking Lancaster County for an extension on the development agreement and construction schedule for RedStone Phase II, a project meant to bring 350 apartments, 20 townhomes and roughly 24,000 square feet of retail space to the corridor just south of Charlotte.
The request cleared its first hurdle on Monday, when the Lancaster County Council approved the first reading of a two-year extension, according to Bisnow. A second reading is set for September 14, with a final public hearing scheduled for September 28, according to the same report. Phase II was originally slated to begin construction in 2023 and deliver by the third quarter of this year — a timeline that market conditions and rising costs have since blown well past, per the Charlotte Business Journal as cited by Bisnow.
A Long-Delayed Second Act
RedStone’s first phase opened in 2017 and delivered 79,000 square feet of retail across a dozen buildings, anchored by RedStone 14, a 14-screen multiplex, per Bisnow’s reporting. That first phase also landed restaurant tenants including Super Chix and Portofino’s. Separately, according to background reported by MPV Properties, Phase I spanned 36 acres with 80,000 square feet of retail space anchored by the 55,000-square-foot RedStone 14 theater — figures that closely track the numbers cited in the Bisnow account.
Phase II’s roots go back further than this week’s council vote. Lancaster County Council originally approved the master development plan and preliminary plat for the expansion on August 8, 2022, in a 6-1 vote under Ordinance 2022-1820, with Council Member Allen Blackmon casting the sole dissenting vote, per county records shared in public notices. MPV Properties assembled 17 acres across 15 residential parcels in the Pleasant Valley subdivision — a neighborhood established in 1959 — and worked with the South Carolina Department of Transportation and Red Ventures to abandon existing right-of-way in order to extend S.C. Highway 160, according to MPV Properties. The plan calls for a central public event lawn designed to host live music, farmers markets and community gatherings, linking the project’s retail and residential pieces, the developer has said.
Red Ventures Next Door
RedStone is designed to function as a gateway to the neighboring Red Ventures corporate campus, which includes more than 1 million square feet of office space and roughly 3,000 tech employees, according to MPV Properties — a description echoed in the Charlotte Business Journal’s characterization of RedStone as a gateway to the Red Ventures campus in northern Lancaster County, as cited by Bisnow. The Red Ventures campus itself broke ground on a 300,000-square-foot expansion last fall, per Bisnow. Phase II’s apartments were designed with that workforce in mind, giving tech employees housing within walking distance of both office and retail space…