Charlotte Hornets Pick Turner/Everett JV for $250M Arena Overhaul

Charlotte Hornets Pick Turner/Everett JV for $215M Arena Overhaul

The planned arena improvements include adding 2,500 lower-level seats.

Rendering courtesy of Hornets Sports & Entertainment

The NBA’s Charlotte Hornets are planning a $215-million renovation for the Spectrum Center, their home arena. The team recently announced that it selected a joint venture of Turner Construction Co. and D.A. Everett Construction Group as contractors for the project.

The project “touches nearly aspect of the arena,” said Donna Kulian, executive vice president of Hornets Sports & Entertainment and general manager of the Spectrum Center, in a statement. The work on the arena, which originally opened in 2005, is scheduled to be done over the course of the next two off-seasons, starting in May.

Work planned for this year includes widening corridors, adding a new entrance/exit and altering others to improve the flow of visitors through the building. One of the concourses is set for improvements such as lighting and concession locations plus redesigns of fan sections. Event-level clubs will be relocated and a new club space added, and the whole suite level is set to be renovated.

In 2025, the team plans for renovations to the main concourse, to add 2,500 lower-level seats and replace seats throughout the bowl. The “founders level” is also scheduled to be renovated then, and plans include changes to back-of-house spaces.

Perkins&Will is the designer for the upgrades. Joe Dyer, senior project manager and associate principal at the firm, said in a statement that the firm's aim is to keep the Spectrum Center competitive as a venue to draw high-profile events—it has previously hosted the NBA All-Star Game and Democratic National Convention—while also celebrating the city of Charlotte.

“Our goal was to enhance operations, service, sustainability—everything that impacts the fan experience,” Dyer said.

The arena is owned by the city and operated by Hornets Sports & Entertainment. Charlotte city officials approved $215 million for arena improvements in 2022 as part of a larger deal with the team. That also included $60 million for construction of a new Hornets training facility and a renewal of the team’s lease of the arena until 2025.

James Leggate is an online news editor at ENR. He has reported on a variety of issues for more than 10 years and his work has contributed to several regional Associated Press Media Editors and Murrow award wins.