Music venue, parking decks, housing at PNC: Details of Hurricanes agreement

By Brian Murphy, WRAL Sports investigative reporter

The Carolina Hurricanes are staying put, but everything at and around PNC Arena could be changing.

Agreements between the Hurricanes' parent company, Gale Force Sports and Entertainment, and the Centennial Authority, which owns PNC Arena, include a 20-year lease extension and a $300-million commitment from the Authority to renovate the arena with funds from a local hospitality tax.

The deal would give the Hurricanes rights to develop the land around PNC into an entertainment district that will include a small indoor music venue, housing and likely parking decks.

"This potential development project is going to be the greatest thing to happen to west Raleigh since North Carolina State decided to build its university there," said Centennial Authority board chairman Philip Isley, a former member of the Raleigh City Council. "It's going to really be the catalyst for an extraordinary entrance into our city."

The deals are contingent upon the Raleigh City Council and Wake County Commissioners voting to approve more than $20 million in annual funding for the PNC renovations from hospitality taxes collected to support arts, culture, sports and convention centers. The city council approved the hospitality tax recommendations in a unanimous vote Tuesday evening.

The county is expected to vote next week. The funding stream will allow the Centennial Authority to finance the $300-million renovation project.

"All of the stakeholders have been heard and are reflected in these term sheets," said NC State chancellor Randy Woodson, a member of the board.

Here are some of the key details of two agreements. The Centennial Authority voted to approve the agreements Tuesday morning. Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon signed them Sunday, according to the documents.

• Lease extension: It is for 20 years and begins after the 2023-24 season. After the 2038-39 NHL season, the team and authority are to negotiate about the future of the arena or a replacement one. The Hurricanes can terminate the lease at that time if agreements are not reached. The Hurricanes signed a five-year lease extension in 2021 that runs through 2029, but the franchise can be terminated as early as the end of the 2023-24 season under that lease.
  
  "There's a lot of people that were skeptical of did he really want to keep this team here," Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell said. "I think by us committing as was announced today, I give him all the credit. ... He's very, very proud of what we got going on here. He wouldn't be committing all this money, I know that, if he didn't believe in what we're doing here and what was going to happen."
  
• Arena renovations: The Centennial Authority will invest a maximum of $300 million in the project. The board already has plans for the renovation, though no specific improvements have been selected. The Hurricanes and NC State will get a say in the renovations.
  
  "College athletics, at times, can be a bit of an arms race," NC State athletic director Boo Corrigan said.
  
  Beginning in 2029-30, the Hurricanes will make $4.5 million annual payments to the Centennial Authority. The payments will increase and total $75 million over the life of the lease. In its latest lease extension, the team did not have to pay rent.
  
  The team will provide $10 million to furnish certain areas, including the sports betting lounge, the team's business office space and premium seating areas.
  
• Indoor music venue: The team will develop at 3,000- to 5,000-capacity indoor music venue adjacent to PNC Arena. The venue is estimated to cost $40 million. Between the payments and furnishings above and the cost of the music venue, Dundon is committing at least $125 million, and that is before development.
  
  Waddell said the arena turned down "quite a few concerts that are in that size" because of problems with dates and how expensive it is to open the much larger arena. He said the indoor venue would not compete with other small music spots in the county. "These kind of shows, I know how many we turned down, there's enough of them to go around," he said. "This could be a multi-use theater becuase it's going to be covered and it's going to be indoors, so there potentially could be some other things that could happen inside there."
• Special NHL events: The Hurricanes will "use best efforts" to host the NHL All-Star Game within three years of the completed renovation and a NHL Stadium Series game within five years of the lease extension. The NHL has committed to these obligations, the authority's lease negotiator Dan Barrett and Waddell said Tuesday.
• Ground lease: Gale Force will be granted the rights to develop land surrounding the arena that is owned by the state and leased to the Centennial Authority. The land will be leased to Gale Force on a phased basis through 2096 for a fee. The money paid to the Centennial Authority will be used to fund capital projects at PNC Arena.
• Phase 1 development: The first phase of development will include 20 acres and must be completed within five years. Each subsequent phase is not to exceed 20 acres. Gale Force will pay for 100% of the private improvements, which is to include retail, 150,000 square feet of office space, 200 units of multi-family residential rentals, which include 10% affordable, workforce and/or faculty housing, and a 150-room hotel.
  
  "Tom is a developer, when he sees an opportunity like this, he gets excited about it," Waddell said. "He is thrilled about this deal, not only for the hockey team because of the lease, but the development also."
  
  Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said discussions about development in and around PNC Arena began 25 years ago when the site was picked. It never happened.
  
  "Now we really get to grow up," she said. "It is a great day. It's a great day for this gateway. It's a great day for the city."
• Parking: Gale Force commits to replace at least 95% of the parking lost during each development phase and commits to keep at least 50% of surface parking on-site. Parking decks can be built.
  
  "It's like the best and worst problem in the world to have," Corrigan said. "We have unbelievable parking, as good a parking as there is in college football. We're going to lose some. It's going to re-purpose, but we still have an awful lot of parking. And we have time."
• Tailgating zone: No vertical development shall occur in a five-acre tailgate zone for NC State football games. That space has not yet been defined, Corrigan said.
  
  Wake County Commissioner Vickie Adamson said she's heard from lots of NC State fans worried about tailgating spots. "NC State football fans who like to tailgate, we love you and we are not going to forget about you," she said during a work session Monday.

The preliminary agreements are not final and complete contracts must still be written. It will take several months for that process to be worked through.