The Panthers have settled a lawsuit with York County stemming from owner David Tepper’s decision to walk away from a construction project in South Carolina on a new team practice facility. A federal judge approved a bankruptcy settlement of about $100 million on Friday, according to the Associated Press.
The agreement turns over the land and the incomplete steel shell, worth an estimated $20 million, to the city of Rock Hill.
Tepper’s real estate company, GT Real Estate Holdings, will pay York County, which provided sales tax revenue for road improvements, $21 million. Contractors who worked on the project before it was abandoned earlier this year will spilt another $60 million.
All parties agreed to drop all lawsuits and not file any other claims.
Tepper and the Panthers wanted a 240-acre campus that was to include team headquarters, a practice facility, a sports medicine complex, retail shops, restaurants and a hotel. It was expected to cost $800 million.
Tepper has a net worth of $16.7 billion, according to Forbes magazine. The hedge fund manager spent more than $175 million on the project, which was paused March 7 after Tepper’s companies alleged Rock Hill had failed to come up with $225 million in promised bonds. The team walked away from the project April 19.
Tepper and his company remain under investigation by York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson and Solicitor Kevin Brackett for possible misuse of public money.
But York County released a statement after reaching its deal with Tepper saying the owner and his company “have acted in good faith,” and that the county “believes that no action of any kind with respect to the county payment is warranted.”
