Charlotte City Council hears proposal for sports complex in Bojangles Coliseum area

CHARLOTTE — On Monday night over dinner, the new Charlotte City Council heard for the first time a proposal for a project that would transform the Bojangles Coliseum area into a mixed-use amateur sports complex.

GoodSports Enterprises, out of Sarasota, Fla., is asking the city to pony up nearly $18 million to help fund a 100,000-square-foot indoor sports complex, a 150-room hotel and 50,000 square feet of retail, according to the proposal. The total project cost is estimated at $71.2 million. The developer is asking the city to pay for 25 percent of the project, which would be built near the coliseum site at 2700 E. Independence Blvd.

During the dinner meeting, council members referred the proposal to the city’s Economic Development Committee, where it will be discussed – and likely altered – before emerging in the coming months for final approval by the full council.

Revitalizing that section of Independence Boulevard, just west of Briar Creek Road, has long been a priority of the city. The city recently demolished two crime-ridden properties across the freeway from the coliseum and in the $816 million capital improvement plan that passed earlier this year, set aside $25 million to remake the Bojangles Coliseum area. But the council must decide if it wants to spend that money on this proposed project.

In October, the city sent a request for proposals to four companies, asking them for plans for the coliseum site. GoodSports was the only company to respond, according to the city.

Based on the GoodSports proposal, the retail development would cost $7.5 million, the hotel would cost $16.5 million, the field house would cost $12.5 million and the 1,500-space parking garage would cost $31.5 million, a total of $68 million. The developer added more than $3 million in contingency and transaction fees to arrive at the $71.2 million total development cost.

Sarasota-based Core Construction and locally based R.J. Leeper were listed in the proposal as the contractors on the project.