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PNC Arena set to undergo multi-million dollar facelift

NoMich said:
The additions and renovations to the arena will be partially cosmetic and partially functional improvements, according to Centennial Authority Executive Director Jeff Merritt.

Anyone have any additional information on the proposed upgrades? Who will pay for the upgrades?
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First I've seen of the formal announcement but this has been in the works for some time. There was always a major renovation planned to happen after the 15 year mark to make sure the arena stays in good functioning condition with all the modern arena amenities. The Authority sets aside a percentage of the rents and leases each year to pay for capital improvements, which is where the funding for this will come from, and where funding for past improvement projects (club level work, suite upgrades, parking and drive upgrades, the new scoreboard and ribbon boards, etc) came from. If there isn't enough cash on hand to complete this scale of project, they would have no issues leveraging future revenues to finance the project. IIRC they set aside something like $1.5-2.0 million a year. (Edit ... missed the decimals on those numbers)
 
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A further sign that the Canes will be moving to Canada sooner than later...

[/sarcasm]
 
Looks like some nice improvements to help keep the arena feeling somewhat modern. I like it. That said my preferred renovation would have been to forklift the arena downtown, but that isn't real practical. :)
 
CarolinaPen said:
...That said my preferred renovation would have been to forklift the arena downtown, but that isn't real practical. :)
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It will be a while before the economic life of the PNC Arena is exhausted.

But there is space on the Gateway Center portion of the Downtown Plan (Concept 2: Cultural/Entertainment/Sporting Center on page 44 of the Raleigh Downtown Plan) reserved for a future sports arena to be located a bit south of the Red Hat Amphitheater and the Convention Center.



 
has anybody ever seen a distribution of where they think the majority of fans that attend games come from (if they can do that). Just curious because coming from Chapel Hill area, moving things eventually to downtown or further east might certainly curb my attendance. Not a fan of "convenience" ,but with work, the location sure is better for me on this side of Raleigh.
Elsker said:
It will be a while before the economic life of the PNC Arena is exhausted.

But there is space on the Gateway Center portion of the Downtown Plan (Concept 2: Cultural/Entertainment/Sporting Center on page 44 of the Raleigh Downtown Plan) reserved for a future sports arena to be located a bit south of the Red Hat Amphitheater and the Convention Center.



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HurryCanes said:
has anybody ever seen a distribution of where they think the majority of fans that attend games come from (if they can do that). Just curious because coming from Chapel Hill area, moving things eventually to downtown or further east might certainly curb my attendance. Not a fan of "convenience" ,but with work, the location sure is better for me on this side of Raleigh.
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To me, the biggest problem with a downtown arena is the lack of mass transit availability. Raleigh's "downtown" area is pretty compact. Where are all the cars going to park? Can you imagine what getting in and out of an arena would be like on a weeknight?
 
You can add me to the list of folks who love that the arena is where it is and would cringe at the idea of trying to put it 'downtown'. Coming from Holly Springs, the idea of having to go to downtown Raleigh for a 7PM game would be a nightmare both coming (traffic into Raleigh would be brutal) and going (everyone leaving after the game, it would take forever just to get out of the city). No thanks!
 
andyt said:
To me, the biggest problem with a downtown arena is the lack of mass transit availability. Raleigh's "downtown" area is pretty compact. Where are all the cars going to park? Can you imagine what getting in and out of an arena would be like on a weeknight?
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A downtown arena with our current public transportation system would be freaking horrible, no matter what anyone says to the contrary. And for those holding out hope for the commuter train that will be on line sometime in the next 5-10 years, that's also off base, as that won't be geared towards getting people from the suburbs to downtown and back. It's just not practical beyond the realm of the "wouldn't it be great if" thinking. NC State did all the studies (running both a bigger building on campus and one downtown) before they sought the land from the State upon which the current building sits. It didn't make sense then and not much has really changed logistically other than the addition of a few parking decks.

And look, the current location is great. We have more than ample room for tailgating (the kind that doesn't involve trying to use a grill in a parking deck), traffic flow in and out is relatively easy with multiple options, and it's on the edge of town, not out in some pasture out in the middle of suburban nowhere. Yeah, it's not downtown ... that's really the only drawback and that's just not a big enough knock on the facility to warrant a change in plans.
 
It will be a long, long time before such a thing happens, if ever. Way beyond most of our fan experiences. So, no need to worry.

But the city lives forever and has a much longer time frame for planning.

Note that it is just Concept 2 for that area, with Concept 1 being turning that subarea into an urban innovation center, bridging the Warehouse and Fayetteville areas with public/private investment.

It's good to have options.

But as for now, I like you, prefer it where it is. And yes, transit HAS to be in place before such a move could occur.

Either plan needs it as Concept 1 involves lots and lots of workers. And it will be there before either occurs.
 
And note that Concept 2's arena doesn't have to be a big one. They've also talked about a secondary municipal arena like the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte (in it's current form). The city is not currently big enough to support that, but it could well be within a decade or two. Also, a municipal arena would take some financial pressure off of our two HBCUs and our larger High Schools by allowing larger revenue streams for basketball. It wouldn't have to be a big old barn ... something like a 5,000-7,500 seater has been discussed.

Dorton Arena used to serve in this function but was just too impractical to continue using that way after the big arena was built.
 
Exactly. Can't imagine the tailgating tradition of either of the PNC Arena's fan bases wanting to move.

But a smaller facility might be constantly booked for both sports and other entertainment events at a much more manageable transportation infrastructure expense.

Again, good to have options...AND long-range planning.
 
JamesNorthern said:
So after continued degrading of the quality of product on ice, they want to rebrand their house? won't make a dif.
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Missing the point, IMO. They aren't rebranding anything. The authority always had as a goal to keep the facility state of the art. In order to do that a renovation of this sort was always planned in the 15-20 year window. That's where we are. It has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the hockey team.
 
I fully understand why people wouldn't want the arena downtown (tailgating, parking, etc) but as the city continues to grow it is good to see long term plans where the arena could be downtown. I personally like going to arenas in more urban environments where good restaurants, bars, etc are readily available and within walking distance. It can make for a very fun night out.

An interesting juxtaposition about the Triangle area is people love it for being low key with lots of space. This sprawl has has really enabled the area to thrive and grow. That said, the sprawl is one of the biggest contributors to current complaints about increasing traffic and lack of public transit options. At some point the city needs to either slow growth or continue trying to do a better job of clustering growth to limit sprawl so public transportation is a more practical option. Eventually the arena will be downtown or somewhere that is more walk-able, but like others have rightly noted it will be past most of our times. Hopefully whatever happens leaves the city/area in a better position for the long haul to handle the expected growth as guessing what traffic will look like in 5-10 years scares me.
 
Also, with Edwards Mill now finished out to 54, that area is primed for development. 10 years from now, it won't even seem like it's on the edge of town.
 
There are recession-delayed plans for more activity around the existing arena.

As to where to put all the people that keep coming (better to be a population migration destination than a sender), the plan is to steadily increase the density and direct the growth to areas proximate to the transit corridors while long-term upping the nature of the transit on that corridor (bus -> bus rapid transit -> rail).

So, hopefully we can have our cake and eat it, too. Nice areas of green and low-grade sprawl in the fringe areas with dense urbanized areas that can be accessed by means other than cars.

Live here, maybe work here, too, but at least be able to move between live/work destinations via public transit in addition to private vehicles. And, bonus, would be able to move between subareas for evening/weekend entertainment via the same transit system.

More of a lifestyle move that's not for everyone, but hopefully enough of the percentage of growth that the existing road networks are not overwhelmed.

EDIT: Professional planner, by the way...and maybe it shows. :sarcasm
 
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