Editor’s note: This column was updated on February 4 to reflect that Clarence Grier is the county manager for Cumberland County.
Members of the Cumberland County Civic Center Commission were hoping Tuesday for County Commissioner Pavan Patel and County Manager Clarence Grier to provide an update on the renovation of the Crown Theatre and Crown Arena on U.S. Business 301.
They didn’t learn much.
“Commissioner Patel said he was in an unavoidable meeting,” Commission Chair Jami McLaughlin told the board. “I believe Mr. Grier was going to be here, but he is not here.”
County Attorney Rick Moorefield said Grier could not meet with the commission because of another meeting.
You might say it was a bit frustrating for McLaughlin, Nathan Cuffee, Lee Spruill, Ken Burns, Allen Rogers, and Crown General Manager Seth Benalt. Commission members Raqi Barnett, Peter Pappas, Chloe Thompson, and Lynndora Thompson were absent.
What we know is that Cumberland Board of County Commissioners Kirk deViere, Henry Tyson, Marshall Faircloth, and Patel voted on January 20 to hire SfL+a Architects, with offices in Fayetteville and Raleigh, to design the theatre and arena renovation and Turner & Townsend Heery out of Atlanta to oversee the renovation construction. County commissioners Glenn Adams and Veronica Jones voted against SfL+a Architects and Turner & Townsend Heery. Commissioner Jeannette Council was absent.
McLaughlin, Cuffee, Spruill, Burns, Rogers, and Benalt did learn from the county attorney that starting the renovation may take longer than anticipated.
“We’ll know more as per the contracts with SfL+a Architects and Turner & Townsend Heery,” Moorefield said. “We think it will be longer than all estimated. If it’s the theatre first or a joint project,” to include the arena. “I don’t think it will add a whole lot of time—six or seven months.”
Benalt, the Crown Complex general manager, cut to the chase.
“Is there a tentative time to start?” he asked Moorefield about when the renovation will be underway.
“We anticipated in three months,” Moorefield said. “But you can always run into a problem.”
It was a legitimate inquiry from Benalt, who books events, entertainment, concerts, and whatnot on behalf of the Oak View Group, which manages the Crown Complex for the county. It poses a dilemma of sorts for Benalt, too.
“We’ll continue to book and plan and do business,” Benalt told the board. “If a show can’t happen, we’ll reschedule. We don’t want to not book a show.”
Here’s the rub.
Some events cannot be rescheduled, particularly with singers and singing groups and other artists, which means The Crown has to buy out a contract, which can be expensive. Trust me here. I know about buying out contracts with entertainers, and so does Benalt.
Grier sees the silver lining.
“Yes, but it provides us the opportunity to leverage and reimagine the use of the coliseum and Exposition Center,” he said Thursday. “We will be working through these issues with Oak View Group as the schedule progresses.”
‘Everything … Going as Scheduled’
Otherwise, the county manager says, all is going to plan.
“Everything with the Crown Theatre and Arena modernization is going as scheduled,” Grier said. “The request for qualifications for the construction manager at risk will be published this week. Hopefully, the selection process will be complete by the end of March.
“We are currently in the planning stages of modernizing and renovating the Crown Theatre and arena. We will determine over the next couple of months whether to modernize the theatre and arena or fully renovate both venues.
“Once this information and a recommendation are presented to the County Commissioners and we receive approval of the recommended direction for each venue,” he said, “we will have a more defined schedule for completing both venues.”
‘Design to a Budget Rather Than Budget to a Design’
County commissioners will take it from there.
“We are taking a methodical approach to the Crown Theatre and Arena renovation,” Kirk deViere, the county commissioner’s chair, said Wednesday. “The Board selected SfL+a Architects and Turner & Townsend Heery as owners’ representative to work together from day one. We will select a construction manager at risk in March.
“In April, we are holding a pre-planning conference, where the entire team comes together: architect, owner’s rep, CMAR (Construction Manager at Risk), county staff, and Oak View Group. This is where we establish programming requirements, budget parameters, and operational constraints before designs are developed. This ensures we design to a budget rather than budget to a design.
“Oak View Group is involved throughout to provide operational expertise, coordinate scheduling, and minimize disruption to booked events. Additionally, we will keep the Crown Commission updated and involved throughout this process,” deViere said. “We expect to present the programming framework and preliminary budget to the board in April or May. Our goal is to establish controls and realistic parameters upfront rather than watching costs balloon later.”
Along The Way
We’ve been talking about what to do with the old theatre and arena (circa 1968) for 38 months, since November of 2022, when the Cumberland Board of County Commissioners announced a Crown Event Center would be built in the front parking lot between the Judge E. Maurice Braswell Cumberland County Courthouse and the historic courthouse on Gillespie Street in downtown Fayetteville.
“This facility will not only enhance our community’s cultural landscape but also serve as a catalyst for economic growth in Cumberland County,” Glenn Adams, then chair of the county commissioners board, said at an October 25, 2024, groundbreaking for the $145 million project. “We are proud to move forward with a project that reflects the aspirations of our community and positions Cumberland County as a regional leader in the arts and entertainment sector.”
Former commissioner Jimmy Keefe shared in Adams’ vision.
“This facility is not just about meeting today’s needs,” he said. “It’s about anticipating the future as Cumberland County continues to grow.”
Downtown merchants reveled in the idea that a Crown Event Center would boost sales at shops and restaurants, and it would draw eventgoers and stimulate economic growth downtown.
But revelations of rising construction costs in January of 2024, from what began as $131.7 million and increased to $163.5 million, had county commissioners in something of a conundrum.
“I’m ready to walk away,” Keefe said, “I’m so disappointed right now.”
‘The Facts Were Clear.’
Commissioners Henry Tyson, Pavan Patel, Marshall Faircloth, Jeannette Council, and deViere on June 4, 2025, voted to pull the plug on the Crown Event Center, with Adams and Jones voting in opposition.
“The facts were clear,” deViere said.
The Crown Event Center was a money pit growing deeper by the day.
“This was not a vote I took lightly,” deViere said at the time. “ … Moving forward, we are committed to determining appropriate future development opportunities that serve the broader community while providing economic benefits to downtown. This decision doesn’t end a commitment to downtown Fayetteville development. It redirects it toward more responsible and sustainable options.”
Patel said it was not an easy vote to end the downtown project, a sentiment echoed by Tyson.
“By revisiting the potential for renovation of the existing Crown theatre and arena, we can preserve important community assets at a significantly lower cost,” Tyson said in June. “While the Crown Event Center will no longer be built on that site, we remain committed to supporting arts, entertainment, and economic development in the heart of downtown Fayetteville. We envision a vibrant area that continues to serve as a cultural and civic hub for the entire region. Community input and strategic planning will help guide what comes next.”
Epilogue
All of us have our opinions about whether renovating the theatre and arena is the better path or if county commissioners should have stayed the course with the Crown Event Center downtown.
There are pros and cons on both sides of the issue.
But renovation, the majority of county commissioners believe, is a prudent and financially responsible decision, and SfL+a Architects with local ties, is the right architectural firm to upgrade the aging entertainment venues, including American Disabilities Act compliance.
The question for now: what will be the renovation costs?
It’s a reasonable question in this long saga of where do we go from here.
(Editor’s note: Jami McLaughlin is also a freelance writer for CityView. She was not involved in the reporting or editing of this column.)
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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