Seen that new construction site on Fort Mill Parkway? Here’s what it will be, and when

Drivers along one of Fort Mill’s busiest rush hour routes can see the construction. And there could be more building to come.

Trees have come down and a J.M. Cope Construction is up at Fort Mill Parkway, Banks Road and Wolfpack Trail. An almost 4-acre triangular lot there will bring a childcare center, The Learning Experience .

“The childcare center will be initially be the only structure on the site,” said property owner Elias Garcia with GSG Holdings, based in Cornelius, North Carolina. “There is another part of the parcel for future development. It’s an undetermined use.”

The Learning Experience will be on the back portion away from Fort Mill Parkway, near where Banks and Wolfpack meet. Future construction would go along Fort Mill Parkway. “That land’s going to be cleared and available,” Garcia said.

Fort Mill Parkway has been a busy town route and cut-through option since it opened half a dozen years ago.

Traffic has grown with new homes and commercial space. There’s more of both coming, including a Harris Teeter shopping center not far from the childcare center property.

The parkway backs up the most when school lets in our out each weekday. More than half of the 20 Fort Mill School District schools are on or within a horn’s blow of the town bypass.

That road starts as Fort Mill Parkway on the south and becomes Springfield Parkway when it crosses S.C. 160. The childcare center site is straight across the parkway from the main entrance to Banks Trail Middle School.

The school district appeal for families means plenty of people looking for childcare options, something Garcia wants to provide. He also has a Lake Wylie center under construction on Blucher Circle, just on the South Carolina side of Buster Boyd Bridge. He’s worked with other facilities in Tega Cay and in Waxhaw, North Carolina.

“Childcare capacity is an issue,” Garcia said. “Reliable, available childcare is something we’re very interested in helping with.”

The new Fort Mill facility should be open by the start of school next year, Garcia said. Any additional construction on the parkway site would happen after that. There’s no timeline for it, Garcia said.