As the Centennial Authority in Raleigh, N.C., begins to move forward with the $300 million reimagining of the city's PNC Arena, one key pillar of how those plans were originally envisioned has already been set aside.
The arena is home to both North Carolina State University's Wolfpack men's basketball team and the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL), in addition to hosting more than 400 events each year, including major sporting events, music concerts and business conferences.
Construction over the arena's north-side loading docks has long been intended to create new offices for the Hurricanes and free up their existing space on the arena's sixth floor — prime real estate overlooking Carter-Finley Stadium — for other uses.
But in December, the Raleigh News & Observer reported the initial cost of the office complex priced out at more than $45 million and as much as $65 million, which stakeholders — including the Hurricanes and N.C. State — deemed too large a portion of the renovation budget.
"We've heard from both Gale Force and N.C. State, and they didn't believe that made sense from a financial standpoint," Marc Farha, the CAA/ICON consultant acting as the Centennial Authority's representative, said during a recent update on the project.
The decision was a shock to a number of authority members who have been reviewing plans to repurpose that area of the building for almost a decade. When the building was constructed in 1999, the authority spent $2 million — possibly as much as $10 million in today's dollars, given the increased cost of construction materials — to put foundations in place for an eventual expansion of the arena's north side.
"I thought a big part of the plan was to go into that space," said authority member Bill Mullins, voicing concerns shared by many authority members.
"Until we found out the numbers," added Hurricanes/Gale Force President Don Waddell.
While unexpected, the change in direction is a reminder that the renovation of the 24-year-old arena is an ongoing process that will likely alter course several times before work is completed, and that very long journey is just at its beginning.
"We're all rowing in the same direction. Everybody's on the same page when it comes to the things that really matter," explained Philip Isley, the Centennial Authority's chair. "Knocking out this little issue…again, it's unfortunate that we're not freeing up other parts of the building, but we're also saving an enormous amount of money that will go to things fans see and feel instead of new office space."
Renovations to Be Planned in Three Phases
Farha told the authority that agreements have been finalized with two architecture firms, HOK, a global company, and the Raleigh office of Ratio Architects, along with a consortium of three North Carolina-based contractors, Goldsboro's T.A. Loving, Blum Construction in Winston Salem, and Metcon Buildings & Infrastructure in Pembroke.
He added that 60 potential enhancement projects have been prioritized into three waves.
Those waves correspond with the three payments of $100 million the Centennial Authority was allocated by the city of Raleigh and Wake County in August's landmark agreement between the body and the Hurricanes to extend the team's lease and give team owner Tom Dundon a green light to develop the 80 vacant acres around the arena into a multiuse entertainment district.
"The last two months have been a lot of work," Farha said in December. "There's not a lot of pretty pictures to show but that's coming very quickly. We're constantly pivoting and adjusting and reacting to what we're hearing as we walk the building and things come up. It's a fluid situation."
He added that he imagined the initial planning and programming phase would take another four to five months, which would put the renovations right on the edge of the timeline Isley proposed in August, which was to begin construction in the summer of 2024.
According to Isley, even if the big-picture renovations do not begin by then, other projects — including the long-overdue renovation of the visiting locker rooms — would be under way.
Cost Increase Is Expected
But the initial prioritization and pricing has already thrown up one unexpected development, the News & Observer reported, and there will certainly be more as actual construction approaches.
"Cost is a consideration in everything we do in this building," Isley said.
On that note, Mullins, who has been the authority's fiscal conscience for decades, agreed — but with a caveat.
"I'm happy to hear that you just threw $50 million back in the pot," he said. "But I'm curious to hear how we're going to do the rest of the building."
Waddell also confirmed the Hurricanes' long-rumored plans to purchase the Backyard Bistro restaurant adjacent to the arena and turn it into a temporary sportsbook when sports gambling becomes legal in North Carolina in 2024.
Permanent sportsbooks are planned both within the arena and as a keystone of the development outside it.
PNC Arena currently encompasses approximately 700,000 sq. ft. and has four different seating levels that can accommodate a seating capacity of up to 20,000 patrons.
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