North Carolina senators approved Monday a bill to provide $35 million to boost development plans at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh.
The money would be given to the Centennial Authority, which owns and operates the arena, and used for public infrastructure improvements associated with the planned development of 80 acres around the arena, home to the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes and the NC State men’s basketball team.
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The funding is included in a much larger Senate budget bill (HB 358) unveiled Monday to provide disaster relief funding related to Tropical Storm Chantal and fund capital projcets across the state.
The funding bill now heads to the House, which has sharp differences with the Senate over several items, including tax policy, health care spending and funding for a new children's hospital. The chambers, both led by Republicans, haven't reached agreement on a state budget, and it is not clear that the House will pass this spending measure.
The Lenovo Center, which opened in 1999, is currently undergoing a $300-million renovation, overseen by the Centennial Authority. The authority, which was created by state law in 1995, signed a lease with the Hurricanes to develop up to 80 acres around the arena, a potential $1-billion development. That project is expected to include a new music venue, restaurants, shops and, eventually, hundreds of apartments and hotel rooms.
Executives have previously indicated that the arena would need additional entrances and exits, including a potential frontage road near Wade Avenue, to accommodate the development, the first phase of which is set to begin in December. The state Department of Transportation has been studying the plans and considering options to handle traffic in and out of the proposed development, WRAL previously reported.
Governments often agree to provide infrastructure support for those kinds of projects, particularly if publicly owned land is involved — and especially if the project promises to boost the state or local economy. The Lenovo Center is on state property, adjacent to the State Fair Grounds and near wide swaths of undeveloped state-owned land.
In 2021, North Carolina lawmakers included $40 million in Motorsport Industry Support in the state budget. The money was meant to help several speedways across the state, including The Rock Speedway & Entertainment Complex in Richmond County, North Wilkesboro Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, by providing water, sewer and related infrastructure projects in their respective counties.
Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon’s Pacific Elm Properties is developing the entertainment district on the land around the arena, a long-discussed project that is moving ahead after complex negotiations with the Centennial Authority and zoning approvals by Raleigh officials involving the renovation project and a long-term lease for the Hurricanes.
Dundon, who recently reached an agreement to purchase the National Basketball Association’s Portland Trail Blazers, has also been vocal about his desire to bring a Major League Baseball team to Raleigh — an effort that would require the construction of a new stadium.
The state owns hundreds of undeveloped acres near the Lenovo Center, which is situated in the middle of a tangle of major roads, including Interstate 440, Interstate 40 and N.C. 54.
The state has already demonstrated its willingness to negotiate land deals in Raleigh with private entities that promise economic growth and other benefits to the state government. For instance, North Carolina officials agreed in 2020 to sell about 40 acres at the corner of Reedy Creek and Edwards Mill roads in West Raleigh — just north of the Lenovo Center — to Bandwidth Inc., which built its headquarters on the property. The technology company employs hundreds of workers there now.
As part of that land deal, Bandwidth agreed to increase and improve access to parking for the North Carolina State Fair, which is held across Trinity Road from the Lenovo Center.
Arena plans, state land deals
Multiple sports-and-entertainment-district projects have been in the works across the state.
- Officials at the University of North Carolina have been eyeing a site for a new basketball arena. One of the possible landing spots for the Tar Heels is Carolina North, a 250-acre mixed-use research campus a couple miles north of UNC-Chapel Hill’s main campus. A new arena would likely be surrounded by an entertainment or live-play-work district. A decision on whether to renovate or rebuild the existing Smith Center at its current location or build a new arena somewhere else is expected by the end of the year.
- Private investors are also partnering with the city of Winston-Salem and Wake Forest University to build a 100-acre mixed-use development near the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum and other sports venues.
- And in Buncombe County, UNC-Asheville has been pushing to build a new 54-acre stadium project of its own modeled on the partnership between N.C. State and the Lenovo Center. The UNC Board of Governors signed off on the plan in July. The university now has permission to set up a partnership with private developers to build a stadium that could host college sports as well as professional soccer, and which would also include housing and retail developments nearby.
A separate bill, introduced and passed Monday, would limit the ability of Orange and Buncombe counties to limit rezoning for projects managed or authorized by The University of North Carolina or any of its constituent institutions. The proposal is included in a larger bill (HB 926) aimed at regulatory reform across the state.
