Cumberland, Fayetteville are eyeing heavy entertainment investments

Myron B. Pitts

Opinion Editor

Fayetteville Observer

USA TODAY NETWORK

Not long after the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners walked away last year from a new Crown Event Center in downtown Fayetteville — ending a project in progress — the board began looking at renovating the Crown Arena and Crown Theatre on Eastern Boulevard.

Now, Plan B is coming into sharper focus. The board at its May 4 meeting approved the team of T.A. Loving and Metcon out of five proposals as the construction manager at risk, the contractor responsible for building the project. This team served the same role with the Event Center.

Expectations from the newly minted contract got out of the gate a little mixed-up, with T.A. Loving putting the price tag right at $100 million on its social media pages. That figure came as a surprise to at least some commissioners, according to a story in CityView. Kirk deViere, board chair, and Henry Tyson, told the publication that a final price had not been set yet. Tyson said he would like to see the figure somewhere between $80-$100 million.

DeViere, responding May 12 to emailed questions, said that a preplanning meeting was scheduled for the next day, May 13.

'Until that work is underway and the Board has reviewed scope, scale, and financing, any dollar amount is speculation,' he said.

Voting in favor of the construction contract May 4 were deViere, Vice Chair Veronica Jones, Marshall Faircloth, Pavan Patel and Tyson. Commissioner Glenn Adams was the sole vote against. Commissioner Jeannette Council was not at the meeting.

The board plans to work with the architect Sfl+a to figure out features and amenities before setting a guaranteed price.

Adams voted against because he would have preferred the features and such had been decided first.

'It seems as though you’re putting the cart before the horse,' he said.

Why the cheaper option may not save much

Adams was also one of two votes against abandoning the event center project, which was halted in June of 2025, after a groundbreaking in October the previous year. Three commissioners elected in November 2024 — deViere, Patel and Tyson — joined incumbents Council and Faircloth to move on from downtown.

The potential for escalating costs was cited as a major reason for that move.

However, when one considers even conservative costs on the renovations for the Eastern Boulevard venues and multiple other factors, the savings do not look especially robust.

The event center was projected at $145 million, to be funded by a special 1% food and beverage tax, pooled with a hotel occupancy tax. These economic development tools are available to Cumberland County and a handful of other locations in North Carolina for tourism-related ventures.

If we take what might be a conservative estimate of the arena and theater renovation, a floor of $80 million, that looks pretty good. But then, it is proper to add to that cost the money sunk by canceling contracts and stopping work on the Event Center that had already torn up a parking lot with 200+ spaces that served the county courthouse. More than $30 million had been spent by the time the project ended.

Ultimately, how big a figure was $145 million for this type of venue? It is in line with what major venues cost these days. It sounds downright modest compared to how Raleigh and Wake County have leveraged their hospitality taxes, just since 2023: $350-387 million to expand the Raleigh Convention Center build a new hotel and relocate the Red Hat Amphitheater; $300 million to renovate the Lenovo Center; $5.3 million annually for a Cary Indoor Sports facility. Pretty soon, you’ll be talking about real money, as was once famously said about Congressional spending.

Early in the discussions on renovating the arena and theater, the commissioners were looking to cap the project at $100 million or less. But deViere said May 12 he would not 'anchor to a specific number.'

'We will let the planning shape the budget, not the other way around, and then build a sustainable funding model that leverages Food and Beverage revenue alongside other available tools.'

DeViere said the board seeks to use the tax strategically but did not want to rely too heavily on any one single source.

He also addressed the Gillespie Street lot, where the event center had been under construction. A temporary plan by the county calls for putting in a gravel parking; a parking lot was there before, but had been torn up for the event center.

DeViere said the board had directed County Manager Clarence Grier, working with the Economic Development Corporation, to update a feasibility study on products that could be supported in downtown Fayetteville, including at the Gillespie Street lot. He said the lot 'has drawn private development interest.'

DeViere on a possible Fayetteville convention center: ‘different product’

The cancellation of the event center project downtown has emerged as a sore point between the county and city.

The Fayetteville City Council is planning to study building a convention center downtown, after a request by Mayor Mitch Colvin at the council’s May 4 work session. He made clear his action was in part a response to the Event Center falling through. Colvin listed several major county projects that were not steered downtown and said the city would need to take matters of economic development downtown into its own hands.

DeViere was asked about the mayor’s comments and whether a convention center could conflict or overlap with arena and theater events.

He said a convention center, arena and theater complex 'are different products.'

'There could be some overlap in event types, much like we see with hospitality products around Skibo Road, but I believe our market can accommodate it,' he said.

He said the board expected to receive the manager’s feasibility study within 30 days.

'I spoke with Mayor Colvin about this prior to his request of the Fayetteville City Council, and I look forward to sharing the report with the City and exploring ways we could work together,' he said.

Aging venues, big ambitions and a familiar price climb

The arena and theater are part of the Crown Complex, which includes the Crown Coliseum, the city’s biggest concert venue, and the Crown Expo Center. In the end, when the finish line is reached on the major renovation for the theater/arena, the venues will have reached or surpassed their 60th anniversaries. Perhaps their retro look can be sold on those lines.

How it will all shake out, we cannot say at this point. It is not typical, historically, for so many capital entertainment investments to be discussed at one time.

But with all this activity in the hopper, pretty soon you’ll be talking real money.

Opinion Editor Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com .

An empty lot at Otis Jones Parkway and Gillespie Street in downtown Fayetteville. The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners canceled the Crown Event Center, slated for that space earlier last year, after breaking ground in October of 2024. Plans call for the lot to be used temporarily for courthouse parking. The Cumberland County Historic Courthouse is in the background.

Myron B. Pitts/The Fayetteville Observer

The Crown Arena and Theatre in Fayetteville are approaching their 60th anniversaries.

Andrew Craft/The Fayetteville Observer