Since it opened 25 years ago, the arena in West Raleigh now known as the Lenovo Center has been a big building surrounded by parking lots.
Now the parent company of the Carolina Hurricanes and its development partner, Pacific Elm Properties of Dallas, have proposed new zoning that would make the arena a big building among several big buildings, some possibly 40 stories tall.
The Hurricanes and Pacific Elm are asking the city to rezone nearly 81 acres for what they call a "Raleigh Sports and Entertainment District." It would include restaurants and other retail, offices, apartments, a 4,300-seat concert venue and the parking decks needed to support them.
The 81 acres does not include the adjoining Carter-Finley Stadium and its main tailgating parking lots.
The rezoning request, filed Monday, divides the area around the arena into four zones or subdistricts. Subdistrict A includes the arena and some nearby surface parking, which is likely to remain unchanged in early phases of the development.
The three other zones would each have a distinct character.
▪ Zone B: The "entertainment subdistrict" would wrap around the arena closest to the stadium. It would include "first-class entertainment venues, new food and beverage options, expanded opportunities for tailgating before athletic events and meaningful retail and lodging." Building heights would range from three to 15 stories, and renderings show the plaza between the two sports venues would remain open.
▪ Zone C: The "mixed-use subdistrict" would be a narrow strip of retail, residential and offices along Richland Creek, closer to Edwards Mill Road. Buildings would reach up to 40 stories, taller than any now in the city.
▪ Zone D: The "live/work subdistrict" near the intersection of Edwards Mill and Wade Avenue would be the most concentrated office and residential area, also with buildings up to 40 stories tall.
Altogether, the new zoning would allow up to 4,200 apartments or condos and more than 3 million square feet of nonresidential space. A little more than 12 of the 81 acres would remain "open space."
The zoning application makes the case that the proposed development is consistent with the city's comprehensive plan and its goals for creating more compact and distinctive places that make it easier for people to get around without driving. The city has identified the arena area as a "growth center," and zoning that allows tall buildings is consistent with that, the application says.
"Maximizing vertical intensity in this area will permit the urban framework envisioned for this site while also providing a pedestrian-oriented environment, significant open space and environmental features," it says.
The rezoning request, which must be approved by the Raleigh City Council, does not include details that a development plan would. Buildings appear as plain boxes on renderings of what the site might look like.
The state owns the land around the arena, which is controlled by the Centennial Authority, a public body created by the General Assembly. The authority reached a deal with Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon that extended the team's lease on the arena through 2044 and gave him the right to develop the land around it. The lease extension was a condition of the authority receiving $300 million in local tourism tax money to renovate the arena.
Pacific Elm Properties and Gale Force Sports & Entertainment, parent company of the Hurricanes, have said the arena-area development would cost $1 billion and be done in phases over 15 to 20 years.