Fayetteville Event Center proposed redesign chops $30 million from price tag
Myron B. PittsIt looks like people will not be hobnobbing on a rooftop terrace at the planned Crown Event Center in downtown Fayetteville — at least as things stand now.
Two terraces included in the original design for the downtown entertainment and events venue were the most visible cuts to the design, after a committee of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners last week said the price tag for the project had risen too high. The center had been approved at $131 million but construction costs had driven it to as much as $163.5 million.
More:Pitts: Fayetteville event center expected to remain ‘first-class’ despite design cutbacks. Good.
Glenn Adams, chairman of the Crown Event Center Committee, said he would miss the terrace.
“Sometimes you have a wish list,” he said. “I think the terrace is something this community would benefit from. I can live without it, but it would be my belief that I would much rather have it.
“One, it’s a revenue generator and it allows our citizens to have something they can use, especially during those summer months.”
He said he could live without one however, because the new design stays within the commissioners revised budget for the center, $145 million.
What stayed in, what got taken out, what got moved
Officials with the Crown Event Center Project Delivery Team, which includes architect EwingCole, and T.A. Loving/Metcon, the construction manager at-risk, updated the Event Center Committee at a meeting on Tuesday afternoon in the Cumberland County Courthouse.
In addition to the terraces, the new proposed design of the three-story building jettisons the speakeasy, a VIP bar; reconfigures the concession stands and some performer spaces; and reduces the lobby area, according to a presentation by the delivery team.
But most of the key features of the center remain, said Matt DeSilver, who is area manager for MBP Carolinas and the county’s representative on the team, during the presentation. These include seating for approximately 3,000; luxury boxes; a VIP lounge area; and lounges on each floor; a multipurpose and meeting rooms; and a kitchen that serves 500.
“The lobby is still a good-sized lobby, a functional space, we just reduced the size of it a little bit,” he said.
DeSilver added that the delivery team had not given up on the terrace, and would look at configurations that would allow it to fit within the budget.
Bill Koonz, of EwingCole, said the square footage of concessions would remain about the same — which is important for generating revenue for the facility.
Completion date pushed farther into future
Groundbreaking for the center is expected in the September time frame, according to DeSilver, with full-site construction starting in early 2025. The estimated completion date is the spring of 2027, according to a revised schedule included in the presentation.
The reconfiguration adds delay to a project that had already fallen behind schedule. Commissioners had once hoped to open the event center near the time it had to shutter the venues it replaces, the Crown Arena and Crown Theater, which are expected to close in November of 2025.
DeSilver said team members would look for ways to accelerate the schedule by coordinating more activities.
The Event Committee members seemed mostly pleased with what the delivery team had come back with. The design will be tweaked over the coming weeks, they were told.
Adams said the new design was aesthetically pleasing.
Keefe said: “I’m not seeing anything that takes away from the customer experience.”
Opinion Editor Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.