Put it downtown; Businesses in downtown Fayetteville advocate for the Crown Event Center project to stay in its currently planned spot

By Faith Hatton, posted Apr 17, 2025 on BizFayetteville.com

Downtown business owners and organizations gathered for the Joint Quarterly Meeting organized by the Downtown Alliance of Fayetteville and Cool Spring Downtown District on Wednesday, April 17 at the Volta Space.

It’s been a busy few months for the current Cumberland County Board of Commissioners regarding the heavily anticipated $145 million Crown Event Center project that has been in the works since 2022.

Now businesses are expressing concerns over thoughts to move the project from downtown and, instead of a new building, utilize funds to renovate the current Crown Event Center located at 1960 Coliseum Drive located in southeast Fayetteville. In a press release sent by the County, the Board of Commissioners instructed staff to engage Davis Kane Architects to develop cost estimates for renovating and modernizing the existing Crown Theatre and Arena.

During a Joint Quarterly Meeting organized by the Downtown Alliance of Fayetteville (DA) and Cool Spring Downtown District (CSDD), on Wednesday, April 16, Commissioner Glenn Adams came before downtown business owners to provide some insight into what has been happening during closed sessions taking place during scheduled Commissioner’s meetings.

“There is a push to not put it downtown. There's a push to put it back out, where the old [Crown] Theater is, to renovate the old theater for whatever reason. I’ve always been an advocate for putting it downtown. I think it enhances downtown, it enhances all the people,” said Adams “The pause was actually about an invoice and some issues that we had. It had nothing to do with the contractors and the building of this particular event center.”

County Commissioner Glenn Adams provided insight on what's being considered by the Board of Commissioners if the project is scrapped to renovate the current Crown Complex and bring the facility up to ADA standards.

Adams also shared that there were some legal issues regarding compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with the current Crown Complex due to how the additions of other buildings took place. He shared that there were talks to renovate the current Crown Complex back in 2015 with estimations given on what it would cost to renovate the theatre and bring it up to ADA standards. Now, Adams said that plans for renovating just the theater are back on the table.

“There are three proposals that they had on the table. One was to renovate it with the current number of seats with 3,000 seats, which is what the complex was going to have down here, modernize it with 2,000 seats, or do it with 3,000 seats, renovate it and modernize it,” said Adams.“I don't believe if you renovate that theater, that it's going to bring any businesses out to that quarter. I just don’t. I do believe you put this convention center downtown, it’s going to bring all kinds of things to downtown. It's definitely going to bring activity to downtown. ”

Now, downtown organizations are banding together to make their support of the current Crown Event Center plans well known.

The DA has sent a letter of support to the Cumberland County Commissioners and the City of Fayetteville’s City Council, Downtown Fayetteville Stakeholders and others. The DA passed out copies of the letters to its members at the Joint Quarterly Meeting. Included in the letter were details of the economic investment from the community; the DA notes that they invested $119,500 along with $100,000 from the City of Fayetteville to designate the Cool Spring Downton District as the city’s designated cultural district.

The letter reads in part:

“On behalf of the Downtown Alliance, we write to reaffirm our strong and ongoing support for locating the new Crown Event Center in the heart of Downtown Fayetteville. This is simply not a decision about updating infrastructure- it is about choosing the location that will deliver the greatest long-term return on investment for our county’s economy, identity and future.

While modernizing the existing Crown Theatre and Arena on Highway 301 may appear to address immediate structural needs, it would ultimately be a missed opportunity. The current location is isolated, underutilized and disconnected from the cultural and economic momentum driving Fayetteville forward. Audiences come and go without setting foot in a local business. Visitors to the Crown’s present site often leave with a limited- often unfavorable- impression of our city. They arrive for a show without ever experiencing the true Fayetteville.”

Continue reading the full letter below.

The full letter submitted by the Downtown Alliance of Fayetteville.

Leadership with Cool Spring Downtown District have confirmed that they are also working on a letter in support of bringing the Crown Event Center downtown.

In 2025, the project underwent a 30 day pause announced on March 5 to allow for a “comprehensive project review” by the current Board of Commissioners along with counsel from third party individuals, Scott Flowers of Hutchens Law Firm and an unnamed architect.

On April 8, 2025, it was announced that the suspension of the project had been officially lifted but no information regarding when construction would resume or an updated timeline on the project was given to the public.

The most recent news from the County was released on April 14.

The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners held a special meeting at 1 p.m. on Monday, April 14, 2025, to discuss the Crown Event Center project. No formal action was taken following a closed session held for attorney-client matters.

The Board has requested the project team present an updated timeline and associated costs following the lifting of the contract suspension on April 7, 2025. MBP Carolinas, the County’s owner’s representative for the project, will be preparing a revised Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) for the final construction package for the Board’s review and approval.

Commissioners also received an update on the project’s financing plan, including how the financial model is designed to accommodate anticipated cost increases.

Along with Davis Kane Architects developing cost estimates for renovating and modernizing the existing Crown Theatre and Arena, the goal is to evaluate how those facilities might be updated to offer similar programmatic features as the planned Crown Event Center. Chairman deViere noted that the study will support the Board’s decision-making on the future use of those venues.

According to Chairman deViere during the County’s first "Chats with the Chairman” press conference held on April 8, the county has $35 million invested in the Crown Event Center going downtown to include architectural design, site work and preliminary planning.

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