County Commissioner Glenn Adams listened closely on September 10 as Jessica Killian and Christina Grimes of Turner & Townsend Heery, the project management firm, updated the board on plans to modernize the Crown Theatre and its adjoining arena.
They made themselves clear.
It will be a more complicated project, and more expensive than the county anticipated after Kirk deViere, the board chair, and commissioners Henry Tyson, Jeannette Council, Pavan Patel, and Marshall Faircloth voted in early June 2025 to abandon a $145 million downtown Crown Events Center in favor of upgrading or modernizing the existing theatre and arena, circa 1968, along U.S. Business 301.
“I hear, but I don’t hear,” Adams told Killian and Grimes after they delivered the news about the potential issues and project costs. “So, let me make sure I heard what I heard.”
Yes, sir, Killian and Grimes said, you heard us right.
The buildings are structurally suspect, and with health and public safety issues.
To do it right, it will take more than a Band-Aid, and the cost to do it right likely will come in at more than the budgeted $80 million to $100 million.
Killian and Grimes sugarcoated nothing in their report.
“A key component of the pre-designed planning process was a Facility Condition Assessment,” Killian told commissioners. “The FCA was commissioned to provide the information necessary to define scope, budget, and risk before moving forward with major capital investments.
“This assessment was intended to be comprehensive.
“As such, the first part of the assessment was a detailed and comprehensive 3-D scan of the building, which had not been done at this facility before,” Killian said. “The second part was a site walk-through and evaluation by the design team [SfL+a of Fayetteville and Raleigh], including experts in structural engineering, architecture, code compliance, accessibility, building systems, theater systems, acoustics, technology, and a hazardous materials review. The final part was a detailed cost estimate by both the construction manager at risk and the third-party cost estimating firm retained by the architect.”
It was, Killian said, “a top to bottom” assessment.
Another way of saying it is that it was a deep dive into issues of what a modernized or resurrected theatre and arena can mean for the buildings and this community going forward.
Commissioners later met in closed session with County Attorney Rick Moorefield before coming back to deliver the fate of the two buildings that opened in 1968.
“I make a motion that the board of commissioners direct the county manager to close the Crown Theater and Crown Arena to public events,” Tyson said, “to allow for continued due diligence on the future of the facilities.”
Patel seconded Tyson’s motion.
DeViere, Faircloth, and Adams supported closing further use of the theatre and the arena as additional assessments of both facilities ensue.
The decision affects previously scheduled events in the 2,440-seat theatre, including performances by Zach Williams on October 3, Daniel Tosh on October 16, the World Ballet Company’s The Nutcracker on November 20, and The Rock Orchestra By Candlelight concert on December 3. It also will affect the Fayetteville Liberty basketball team, which competes in the 4,500-seat arena in the spring.
“We are reaching out to each event and the ability for” the coliseum “to host those events,” Seth Benalt, general manager of the Crown Complex, said Thursday about the 10,880-seat coliseum (circa 1997). “Some will have to cancel, or the artist wasn’t amenable to it. Others have agreed to move over” to the Coliseum. “We’re going out of our way to make it best for people.”
As for the Fayetteville Liberty basketball team, “we’re working” to make everything happen in the Coliseum in March to May.
Community Is Watching
Meanwhile, deViere was clear with fellow commissioners on September 10 that the community is watching, including those who believe downtown was a better site for a Crown Events Center.
“This is a very public forum where a lot of assumptions are going to be made,” he said, “and so I want to be clear on the facts, because that’s really what matters as we move through this part of this process.”
DeViere further clarified the board’s position on Thursday.
“The board closed both facilities until we have a final, thorough assessment of structure, mechanical, electrical, and accessibility,” he said. “That work requires access you cannot get around a live event schedule, and our intent to restore and modernize would require closing them anyway.
“It made more sense to close once than twice.
“The September 10 presentation is part of the public record,” deViere said. “I won’t speculate on scope or cost before the full assessment is complete. Once the board has the full findings, we can make decisions based on facts. I have asked for all maintenance and capital investments for the theatre and arena over the past several years. I will also ask for a complete review of the [Crown] Coliseum and Expo Center (circa 1988) so we know the condition of every building in the complex.”
Patel said closure of the theatre and arena was the right call.
“As we move forward on the Crown arena and theater project, I do have concerns with operating the facility during (an) invasive due diligence process,” Patel said. “I do not want the guest experience to suffer. As we receive more in-depth findings, my aim is to define a scope and budget that will give our community the best option forward.
“This project needs to be handled responsibly with consideration toward the taxpayers and guests that will be attending events.
“In the meantime, I am grateful for the Civic Center Commission, Oak View Group, and the project team,” he said, “for their continued efforts to move the project forward on a responsible path.”
The Oak View Group manages the Crown Complex for the county.
Adams, who voted against modernization of the theatre and arena in June 2025, preferred that a Crown Events Center be built downtown in front of the Judge E. Maurice Braswell Cumberland County Courthouse. Commissioner Veronica Jones voted with Adams.
Killian and Grimes, Adams said Thursday, offered persuasive information about the current state of the theatre and arena.
“These ladies were honest and up front and basically said you can’t put people in there,” Adams said. “They were straightforward. My thing right now is we have come to the conclusion it is a teardown. Let’s admit it.”
‘Abundance of Caution’
Tyson has questions of his own about Killian’s and Grimes’ preliminary reports of theatre and arena structural flaws.
“Some of this is conjecture,” he said Thursday. “Some of it is presupposition. I voted out of an abundance of caution.”
So did Faircloth.
“It may not be ready to fall down tomorrow, but until we get more information, it scared me enough to think ‘safety first,’” Faircloth Faircloth told CityView.
Tyson said it would have been irresponsible and reckless as an elected county commissioner not to call for closing the facilities.
“My reason for supporting the facility closing is twofold,” he later said. “One, as a precaution. And two, allowing for greater, more exact testing to be completed. The implications of our decisions cannot be overstated, and it is the duty of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners, in my opinion, to not only safeguard the public trust but also to make sure that any vendor doing business with the county must be held to the highest standards of proficiency and accountability. This is especially true due to the community’s sensitivity relating to capital projects recently by local governments and the need for transparency.
“I additionally have troubling concerns relating to the fact that many members of the current project team have previously performed work or assessments in these facilities and have never raised this level of potential concerns until now.
“This must be reconciled.
“The people of Cumberland County deserve nothing less,” Tyson said, “and as an elected representative for them, it is my duty to demand nothing less.”
Epilogue
We’ve long known closure of the theatre and the arena, where Elvis once performed for three nights in 1976, was coming.
We didn’t see it coming this soon.
But it is what it is
The county has three options, Killian told commissioners. They can modernize the theatre and the arena in accordance with its initial budget, replace both venues from the ground up, or walk away for now and continue exploring other alternatives going forward.
“You’ve got those three options,” Glenn Adams said, and a fourth option. “You can still go back downtown.”
It’s complicated.
One thing we know for sure.
Fayetteville native J. Cole is bringing his “Fall-Off Tour” to a sold-out coliseum on Wednesday. And on the other side of the Crown Complex campus, “Elvis … has left the building.”
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
