Carolina Panthers Offer $82M to Settle Claims on Canceled $800M Facility
Construction of the Carolina Panthers' new Rock Hill, S.C., facility, seen here last August, was abandoned earlier this year following the bankruptcy filing of owner David Tepper's real estate company.
(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
The developer of the Carolina Panthers headquarters and practice facility in Rock Hill, S.C., has put forward a proposal to settle claims arising from the abrupt cancelation of the $800 million project earlier this year.
GT Real Estate Holdings, LLC (GTRE), established by Panthers owner David Tepper to oversee the project, filed the Plan of Reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in mid-August, having announced two months earlier that it had begun a court-led financial restructuring process.
According to a company statement, GTRE will establish a $60.5 million cash settlement trust “for the benefit of contractors, subcontractors and general unsecured creditors.” This would include the construction manager at-risk joint venture of Mascaro Construction and Barton Mallow, which had been working on the project’s initial phase since the June 2020 groundbreaking.
The Panthers halted construction in mid-March amid Tepper’s claims that the city of Rock Hill had failed to follow through on a commitment to issue bonds that would fund $225 million worth of infrastructure upgrades at the 234-acre site, the initial phase of which was scheduled to open next summer. Images published at the time indicated that at least some sitework had been completed, along with the structure for the centerpiece five-story, 600,000-sq-ft indoor practice facility.
Mascaro/Barton Mallow subsequently filed a $26 million claim against GTRE, according to the original bankruptcy filing.
GTRE’s statement said the company believes the $60.5-million settlement trust “will be sufficient to pay all allowed claims in full.” Attorneys for Mascaro/Barton Mallow did not respond to a request for comment.
Other elements of GTRE’s restricting plan include providing York County, S.C., with a $21.165-million cash reimbursement for its contribution to the project, plus interest. The county had previously filed a $21-million lawsuit against Tepper’s companies over misuse of public funds intended for expansion of an access road adjacent to the project.
GTRE will also sell an undisclosed portion of the 234-acre site, with the City of Rock Hill receiving at least $20 million from the net proceeds, “after site clean-up and senior claims,” according to the statement. The city has not said whether it will accept the deal or pursue a separate court action that would force an investigation into the holdings of GTRE and other Tepper-owned companies to determine whether financial misconduct has taken place.
Funding for the $82 million in creditor distributions is to be provided by another Tepper-owned company, DT Sports Holding, LLC, which had previously provided GTRE with $20 million in Debtor-in-Possession financing. GTRE said the plan fulfills its promise “to expeditiously resolve all claims and make payments to its creditors.”
The company anticipates the bankruptcy court will hold a hearing in October to consider approval of the plan.
In late July, the Tepper-owned Charlotte FC soccer team withdrew from another area construction project—the public-private revitalization of the 70-acre former Eastland Mall site, which began infrastructure work this month. Having originally planned to locate its practice facility, training academy and offices on a 20-acre parcel, the team claimed the redevelopment’s timeline, which calls for the initial phase of retail and residential space to open in 2024, “posed challenges that led us to research expedited alternatives.”
