Octapharma is a done deal in Rock Hill, as city approves $1.5B, 1,500-job plan

The Octapharma deal is done, setting up decades of financial incentives for the Swiss biomedical company to begin work in Rock Hill. Octapharma plans a $1.5 billion headquarters and lab site that aims to bring 1,500 high-paying jobs.

The Rock Hill City Council voted unanimously Thursday morning to sell 50 acres in Palmetto Research Park to the company, and to approve a tax incentive agreement.

“This has been a long road for us to get to this point,” said Mayor John Gettys, “and today we’re turning that page once and for all.”

The Octapharma deal was in jeopardy in recent weeks when the city and York County disagreed on how to split up money the company would pay in lieu of taxes. The agreement requires both city and county approval.

Rock Hill gave initial approval to an incentive deal last month. It would’ve had the city, county and Rock Hill school district give up half the revenue Octapharma would generate as an incentive for the company to move here.

York County modified those terms during its approval process.

After giving preliminary approval to a plan that would’ve wiped away all of Rock Hill’s revenue and send it to the school district for capital needs, York County approved a deal July 8. It would cost Rock Hill nearly $43 million compared to the original version.

Rock Hill didn’t agree to it, leading to negotiations between the two sides.

On Monday, York County reconsidered its decision and changed the terms. That decision would generate $286.8 million for schools, $71.4 million for the city and $50.8 million for York County. Those amounts would come over the 40-year incentive deal.

“Yes, it was ugly the way it played out in public,” said City Councilman Derrick Lindsay. “But it has happened. It is water under the bridge to me right now at this point. Is it muddy water? Yes.”

Octapharma will join Novant Health in Palmetto Research Park. Novant plans to build a $300 medical campus on 25 acres.

Until the property sales to Octapharma and Novant Health are complete, Rock Hill owns more than 200 acres at Palmetto Research Park. That’s the former Carolina Panthers headquarters site off Interstate 77, at Exit 81.

The city has stated plans since the Panthers deal fell through four years ago to create a life sciences and advanced manufacturing hub there. Main draws from that industry are high wages.

Octapharma jobs in Rock Hill are expected to average more than $100,000 per year. The average wage in York County today, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is nearly $64,000.

Barry Pomeroy, vice president with Charlotte-based subsidiary Octapharma Plasma, took the city and county funding debate as one of the many challenges his company expected in finding a headquarters site. His team wasn’t restrained to pick a site in any part of the country, he said.

Octapharma has 180 locations in 35 states.

“We treated it like any other obstacle,” he said. “We wanted to get to the finish line.”

The 50-acre Rock Hill site is a little larger than Octapharma needs now, Pomeroy said. That’s why he anticipates future investment and new jobs beyond what’s projected now.

“This is going to be multigenerational, because we have no plans to actually locate any other manufacturing in the U.S. anywhere other than here,” Pomeroy said.

Octapharma takes donated plasma and uses it to create medicine and therapies. Pomeroy is hopeful that the city and council agreeing on terms will shift the focus to the creation of life-changing products for the company, and economic impact for the region.

“We’re going to be bringing great jobs here,” he said, “and lots of them.”

This story was originally published July 23, 2026 at 9:08 AM with the headline “Octapharma is a done deal in Rock Hill, as city approves $1.5B, 1,500-job plan.”