The Town of Fort Mill broke ground Sept. 16 on a new Operations Center that will move its Utilities and Public Works departments out of a 1938 National Guard armory in the center of town and onto a 33 acre campus.
Mayor Guynn Savage opened the ceremony surrounded by employees in work vests, and much of the program was given over to the roughly 85 workers who will eventually report to the site. Town Manager Cary Vargo said the project is about the people who do the work as much as the buildings.
“It’s going to be a wonderful campus, incredibly functional and one that’s long overdue,” Vargo said.
The campus will include an administration building, warehousing, vehicle and equipment storage, a fleet maintenance building, and a fuel and wash depot. Construction is expected to take about 15 months.
Outgrowing the armory
Savage traced the project back to the armory at the corner of Unity and Elliott streets, built in 1938 for military training before World War II. The building is one of roughly 30 armories in South Carolina and one of only a small number built in an art deco style, she said. Over the decades it served as a public venue for parties, youth basketball, an annual Halloween carnival and a school gym, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. More recently it has housed the town’s public works and utilities operations.
A 2022 assessment of town facilities found the armory too small for those departments, with no room to expand on a landlocked site, in need of significant repairs, and poorly located in the middle of town for that kind of operation, Savage said.
Town Council had purchased the 33 acres where the new center will sit several years earlier, Vargo said, which gave the town a place to build once funding came together.
How the project was funded
Savage credited former state Rep. Raye Felder with carrying the town’s proposal through the state budget process and securing a $25 million allotment for the facility. Felder, in remarks at the ceremony, thanked the York County legislative delegation for backing the request.
Felder also used her time to press for the armory’s future. She said the building needs substantial work but is worth preserving, and she noted it will turn 100 years old in 2038. She said she looks forward to working with the mayor, council and community leaders on a renovation.
Savage said the town has already moved on other historic properties, including the purchase of two buildings on White Street and the renovation of the old Bank Street gym.
What the departments handle
Vargo laid out the daily workload the new campus is meant to support. Between them, public works and utilities maintain roughly 84 lane miles of roadway along with signage and, before long, traffic signals. They collect trash from nearly 9,200 properties, maintain 35 or more town properties, and keep a fleet of more than 225 vehicles running. They also maintain the town’s fire hydrants and water distribution system, its wastewater system and its stormwater system.
Utilities Director Adam Jones said his crews respond to water and sewer emergencies overnight and work through heat, cold and rain until a job is finished. Public Works Director Brian Harris told his employees he wanted to thank them publicly rather than only in staff meetings.
Council member Alan Garrison gave the invocation. Savage also recognized council members Lisa Cook, Ronnie Helms, Ben Hudgens and Chris Wolf, assistant town managers Gordon Burnett, Eric Davis and Chris Pettit, and York County Council member Debbie Cloninger.
The project team includes general contractor Hood Construction, DP3 Architects and Goodwyn Mills Cawood. Vargo said the town expects to return to the site for a ribbon cutting in about 14 months.
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Thomas Hyslip lives in Tega Cay with his wife and daughter. After 27 years in the U.S. Army and Federal Law Enforcement, he retired to pursue his passion for teaching. Tom is now an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In 2 short years he has won 10 awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including first place in column writing, education beat reporting and best podcast.
