The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners will host a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, Oct. 25, at 2 p.m. for the Crown Event Center project. The ceremony will be held on the site of the new Crown Event Center, in the parking lot in front of the Judge E. Maurice Braswell Cumberland County Courthouse, 117 Dick Street, Fayetteville.

The Crown Event Center will serve as a replacement to the original Crown Theatre and Arena, which opened in 1967 and must close. The other Crown Complex facilities – a 10,880-seat Coliseum, 60,000-square-foot Expo Center and 9,200-square-foot Ballroom – will remain open in their present location at 1960 Coliseum Drive, Fayetteville.

The project kicked off in April 2022 with site selection and design, and the new Crown Event Center is expected to open in Spring 2027. The Crown Event Center will consist of approximately 134,000 square feet and feature a three-story main event hall with a capacity of approximately 3,000. 

The $145 million project budget is fully supported within the County’s Crown funding model, which includes revenue from a portion of the County’s occupancy tax, the Food and Beverage Tax and operating revenue from the Crown facilities. These funds are restricted for use exclusively on the Crown and cannot be used for other purposes, ensuring that this project does not come at the expense of other County initiatives or priorities.

The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners has approved a new parking deck that will serve the Crown Event Center, which will be built directly behind the Courthouse and Law Enforcement Center. The deck will provide sufficient capacity for several County construction projects in the vicinity, replace any displaced parking, and accommodate future growth. The parking deck is expected to be complete in 2026, ahead of Crown Event Center’s opening.