After battle with residents, Rock Hill Walmart development stopped

ROCK HILL, S.C. — After a long battle between Walmart and angry Rock Hill residents, a Walmart is no longer bringing a Neighborhood Market store to Celanese Road.

Walmart got the clearance to build the Neighborhood Market store in 2014. Yet, work at the site stopped months ago.

Developers fought to cut down hundreds of trees, move a road and install another traffic light, something that neighbors did not want.

"Initially, when all the construction was going on, it was havoc through here,” neighbor Matt Craig said. “The way they had that road cut off, and now you've got a red light."

This week, Atlanta developer Halpern Enterprises confirmed to Channel 9 that Walmart backed out last month.

"I’m glad Walmart's not going to be there,” neighbor Sam Curry said. “Of course, we might get something worse than Walmart there."

There's only one Walmart Neighborhood Market in town. It's on Cherry Road.

Another was announced on Highway 5 at Rawlinson Road, across from Northwestern High School, but its status is uncertain.

Halpern paid to realign Ebinport Road and install a new traffic signal on Celanese Road.

They also paid for a berm and fence that neighbors demanded to shield them from the store.

"They built on that lot for a year, and you had trucks coming in and out hauling trees for nothing,” Craig said.

“It doesn't look like Walmart did their homework to start with,” Curry said. “It does seem like a real waste of their money."

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