Rock Hill can finalize the $1.5B and 1,500 jobs Octapharma deal soon. Here’s how

Rock Hill officials will meet Thursday morning with the opportunity to finalize the $1.5 billion Octapharma deal they’ve worked for more than a year to complete.

Rock Hill City Council called a special meeting for 8 a.m. at City Hall. After an executive session, the city has four votes related to the project. Octapharma, a Swiss biomedical company, expects to bring 1,500 jobs to Palmetto Research Park of Interstate 77.

Thursday’s decisions could end a tumultuous two months of public votes that threatened the project from happening.

The city and York County have approved different versions of a tax incentive agreement for Octapharma, with at times vastly different funding allocations for the fee Octapharma would pay in lieu of taxes.

York County changed its version on Monday night, after previously cutting funding to the city and instead sending it to the Rock Hill School District.

York County Council approved a version where the school district will get $286.8 million this week, with Rock Hill getting $71.4 million and York County getting $50.8 million. All those amounts are over 40 years, the length of Octapharma’s incentive deal.

If Rock Hill votes to approve those amounts on Thursday, then the incentive deal is done. Both the county and city have to sign off to allow the tax incentives. Octapharma would pay fees based on a 4% tax rate rather than the standard 10.5% for 40 years, and receive credits against those fees.

The city decision Thursday has several parts.

One would finalize the sale of 50 acres within the business park to Octapharma. An amount for that sale isn’t listed in city documents. Two other votes would rezone the property to allow for the Octapharma project.

A final vote would give city approval to the amended incentive deal presented Monday by York County.

Octapharma, along with a $300 million medical campus by Novant Health, would start to fill in the more than 200-acre Palmetto Research Park that the city acquired through bankruptcy proceedings after the Carolina Panthers headquarters project failed four years ago. Octapharma intends to bring a headquarters and lab to the property.

This story was originally published July 22, 2026 at 8:48 AM with the headline “Rock Hill can finalize the $1.5B and 1,500 jobs Octapharma deal soon. Here’s how.”