Underground? Above ground? Charlotte assesses new uptown bus hub design

Charlotte’s public transit system expects to open a new uptown bus hub by 2028 and has determined three options for its design, which is intended to be a “multi-level, multimodal” transit center.

The options include moving the bus facility underground, moving it to the same level as the LYNX Blue Line light rail or keeping it at street level.

“It has served us well for nearly three decades,” Charlotte Area Transit System CEO John Lewis said. “To meet the mobility needs today and into the future, the Charlotte Transportation Center would require major renovations and is nearing the end of its useful life.”

Lewis hopes a new CTC would:

• Create a more comfortable experience;
• Centralize bus transfer; and
• Minimize pedestrian and automobile conflicts.

Lewis didn’t directly answer questions about potential cost differences for moving the bus facility or keeping it at street level, but said that it would require multiple funding sources — including a $15 million grant from the federal government — to complete the project.

“The only way we get to a reasonable cost factor is by doing the design,” Lewis said. “And so we’re in the process, the early process of doing the design.”

CATS will soon begin to get the public’s input by surveying folks at the CTC, holding pop-up meetings and sharing information at its public meetings.

Design review is expected to last until 2024, when a temporary bus facility is set to be constructed. Once that is in place, construction on the new CTC is expected to begin in 2025 and last three years.

Will the Hornets practice facility still be included in the CTC redesign?

Charlotte City Council approved a $275 million deal with the Charlotte Hornets in June that showed plans to build a practice facility in the same building as the transit center, extend the NBA team’s lease and renovate the Spectrum Center.

Tracy Dodson, Charlotte assistant city manager and director of economic development, said Monday night that the priority will be the transit component of the development, but that the city and CATS have considered putting the Hornets practice facility on top of parking in the building that would house the CTC.

Plan B is to use the existing gravel lot beside the stadium at Caldwell and Trade streets for the Hornets practice facility, Dodson said, and keep it separate from the transit center.

In the deal, $215 million would come from the city’s tourism funds and pay for the Spectrum Center’s renovations. The remaining $60 million for the NBA team’s practice facility would come from whoever receives naming rights for the creation of a sports and entertainment district around the Spectrum Center. The deal passed by a 10-1 vote. Braxton Winston, now mayor pro tem, voted against the deal.

Early renderings showed the transit center and new practice facility in a high-rise building on the site of the existing Charlotte Transportation Center. It would include two full basketball courts, expanded locker room space and a health care space.

The rest of the tower would be filled with parking and undetermined development on the top floors.

The deal approved by City Council in June extends the city’s lease with the Charlotte Hornets, originally set to expire in 2030, to 2045. The Hornets are expected to begin paying $2 million per year in rent in 2030 and $1.1 million in annual capital investments beginning in 2024.

Next steps for Charlotte City Council

▪ Sept. 26 — Initial presentation to City Council

▪ Oct. 6-26 — Public outreach and stakeholder engagement

▪ Nov. 7 — CATS will convene with the Transportation, Planning and Development Committee

▪ Nov. 14 — CATS will report back to City Council with further evaluation of design options ahead of a memorandum of understanding

This story was originally published September 26, 2022 at 5:38 PM.

Genna Contino

The Charlotte Observer

Genna Contino previously covered local government for the Observer, where she wrote about Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. She attended the University of South Carolina and grew up in Rock Hill.