Overview:
• Commissioners voted 5-2 to seek proposals to rehabilitate the old civic center properties
• This comes after the commissioners in June canceled construction of the downtown Crown Event Center
• A new plan for free parking around the courthouse may start in November
Editor’s Note: This article and its headline have been corrected. Based on erroneous information in a news release from the county, the article previously reported the commissioners set a $100 million cap for proposals on the cost of renovating the Crown Arena and Crown Theatre, and set seating capacities of 2,500 and 3,000 seats. The commissioners did not set a cap or set seating capacities.
The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners voted 5-2 on Thursday to move forward with plans to renovate the old Crown Arena and Crown Theatre, following the board’s decision in June to abandon construction of a 3,000-seat Crown Event Center downtown.
The commissioners are continuing to solicit comments from the public through Monday on what should be done with the site where the Crown Event Center would have been built if the commissioners had not canceled it. The site used to be a 204-space parking lot for employees and visitors of the Cumberland County Courthouse.
The former parking lot is now a field of mud taking up most of a city block. The county manager told commissioners he hopes as soon as November to have a plan in place to improve parking for employees and visitors to the courthouse. Employees and the public have complained of a shortage of free parking around the courthouse since the front parking lot closed last October for construction of the now-canceled Crown Event Center.
Fixing the old Arena and Theatre
The commissioners voted 5-2 for the county to solicit contractors to make proposals to modernize the Crown Arena and Crown Theatre and make them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The commissioners’ Infrastructure Committee previously discussed setting a cap of $100 million on the project, and to look at seating options of 2,500 and 3,000 people. Neither of these parameters was included in what the commissioners voted to approve on Thursday, but they were discussed.
County Commissioners Pavan Patel, Henry Tyson, Jeannette Council, Marshall Faircloth and Chair Kirk deViere voted in favor of the plan. Commissioners Veronica Jones and Glenn Adams voted against.
Jones and Adams previously voted in June against the decision to cancel the Event Center. Adams had been the commissioners’ chair when the county broke ground for the Event Center in October last year.
“I’m not in favor of renovating the Crown [Arena] or the Theatre,” Adams said at Thursday’s commissioners meeting. “And at $100 million, it’s just not a good use of taxpayers’ dollars.”
Jones, who is the vice chair, also balked at the $100 million price. “That’s as much as a new coliseum could have been,” she said. “So I’m not really comfortable with that type of money — not for renovations, I’m not.”
Tyson said $100 million is not a set budget for the renovations. The county at this point is seeking “providers to partner with us on the design process in this project.”
The Crown Arena and Crown Theatre were built in the late 1960s as traditional civic center facilities on U.S. 301 several miles outside of downtown. Back then, the Crown Theatre and Arena were called the Cumberland County Memorial Auditorium and Exhibit Hall.
Over the last 10 years, previous county commissioners considered whether to remodel the 4,500-to-5,000 seat Crown Arena and the 2,400-seat Theatre, which have been in bad shape and are not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The commissioners decided to replace the facilities with a new performance and event space downtown, the Crown Event Center, for $144.4 million.
Construction started in October. Then new commissioners were elected in November. The new commissioners shut down construction in March, reevaluated the project and voted June 4 to cancel it.
What to do with the site?
Last week, the county opened an online survey to seek comments on what to do with the former parking lot where the Event Center was going to be built.
That survey is running through Monday, Sept. 15, County Manager Clarence Grier said. As of Thursday afternoon, just over 1,000 comments had been submitted, he said.
DeViere, the chair, said the commissioners will review the survey results at their Oct. 9 meeting.
DeViere directed Grier to work with the county’s economic development team on options for the property in addition to presenting the survey results in October.
Replace lost parking spaces
Grier said he is developing a plan to improve parking in the courthouse vicinity since the front parking lot shut down last year for the Crown Event Center. The closure took away 204 free parking spaces that were convenient to the front door of the courthouse.
He said the ideas include designating some of the 414 parking spaces behind the courthouse specifically for employees, and some just for the public. There would be signage and parking stickers to enforce these.
An overflow lot across Person Street from the courthouse will soon get lighting for the safety of people parked there after dark, Grier said.
The county has an unpaved overflow parking lot almost two blocks from the courthouse, he said. He plans to have that lot paved.
Grier anticipates the new parking plan won’t be in place until November at the soonest.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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