City can earn $137M from naming rights on new transportation project, consultant says
A consultant working for the city of Charlotte says the city can earn more than $137 million from selling the naming rights to the new Charlotte Transportation Center project. The approved plan will bring a Charlotte Hornets practice facility to the bus depot. The buses will be underground with retail, restaurants, and towers on the site. The city envisions Brevard Street as a “festival street” with the ability to be shut down for major events.
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“I think there is a way to accomplish both a transportation outlet and an economic generator for the community,” Councilman Malcolm Graham said.
The plans have already been approved by the Metropolitan Transit Commission and the council committed to providing taxpayer funding. But city staffers think the city can recover the $60 million for the practice facility through naming rights.
“I am cautiously optimistic that we will be able to move forward in the right direction,” he said.
A consultant told the city’s economic development committee that the new district can generate $137 million from 2028 to 2045. The consultant projects $47 million from naming rights for the entire district, $29 million from naming rights for the practice facility, and $61 million from founding partners.
No potential sponsors were named.
With the project design work starting to kick off, some city leaders want to make sure transit remains a focus.
“We’ve got to remember at the center of this district is a transit project,” Mayor Pro Tem Braxton Winston said.
Graham hopes the city will have plenty of reasons to party when it is built.
“Hopefully we are celebrating an NBA championship in that district one day in the future,” he said.
If plans for the practice facility at the CTC do not work out, the practice facility will be built on a vacant lot in Uptown near the arena.
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