Charlotte FC pulls MLS headquarters out of Eastland Mall site. City slashes incentives
The MLS headquarters for Charlotte FC will no longer be located at the former Eastland Mall site, as initially planned.
As part of a revised agreement with Tepper Sports & Entertainment from Charlotte City Council, the expected 20,000 square-foot site will not be part of the Eastland plans moving forward. The Eastland Mall site was discussed in Monday’s City Council meeting, but the presentation was shared in advance, showing plans for the site that no longer include the team
A spokesperson for Charlotte FC was not immediately available for comment. Panthers owner David Tepper owns the soccer club.
It was not immediately announced where the MLS headquarters would go or specified why the change of plans, but the Panthers are building a major sports complex in Rock Hill that would have ample room — and fields that vice president & COO of Tepper Sports & Entertainment Mark Hart has previously referred to as fields and “soccer pitches” — to house the soccer team’s headquarters.
The city has reduced the amount it is reimbursing Tepper Sports for both the development of Eastland and uptown, including Bank of America Stadium renovations, from $110 million to $35 million.
“COVID has had a toll on all of us, it’s certainly had a toll on the city, but it’s to a great extent had a great toll on professional sports,” Hart said on the changes to the previous agreement.
The City Council will make an official decision on the new agreement Nov. 9 and decide whether to authorize a contract with Tepper Sports for a reimbursment up to $35 million.
Assistant city manager Tracy Dodson said moving the Charlotte MLS headquarters from the Eastland site ensures more land will be open to the public. That land will be used as the Charlotte FC Elite Academy headquarters with community use of fields. The land will also be used for camps, clinics, festivals and tournaments operated by Tepper Sports, Dodson said.
“This, in my mind, is a bigger win for helping Eastland come to fruition in the vision that everybody has,” Dodson said.
Charlotte announced plans in November to make the $110 million available, as Major League Soccer was deciding between Charlotte, Phoenix and Las Vegas as the location for the league’s 30th franchise.
Amid much fanfare in December, MLS awarded the expansion franchise to Tepper, with the intention of starting play in 2021. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Charlotte FC’s first season has been pushed back to 2022.The new agreement reduces the time before the MLS team can relocate from Bank of America Stadium from 15 years to nine years, and 10 years for the academy team, meaning it will be almost a decade before Charlotte FC can move to a different venue.
The city had planned a community meeting March 12 to discuss the Eastland rezoning petition, which would transform the vacant site into a mixed-use development incorporating residential spaces, retail, offices, hotels, transit facilities and a “vibrant” public park.
But as coronavirus cases began to escalate in Charlotte, officials abruptly canceled the meeting with only a few hours notice. It was later moved to virtual live stream Q&A with the community in May. Monday’s meeting was the first significant public update to plans for the site in five months.
In April, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and other Charlotte officials said they were committed to helping publicly fund the city’s MLS expansion franchise, even as hospitality tax revenues took a dive due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“All of us know this money is hospitality (tax) funding, and it’s a tough time for our hospitality industry right now. So as you think about this, everything is on the table,” Lyles said in April. “But if possible, we ought to be thinking about Eastland as not just Major League Soccer, but Eastland as revitalization of the east side.”
City Council member James Mitchell echoed the commitment to MLS funding in April, saying: “I don’t think we’ve ever had the practice of going back on a deal that’s so important to our community. I hope we never get in a position that we have to take away that funding for MLS.”
What’s next for the mall
The MLS headquarters were the headlining attraction in plans to revitalize the area around the 69-acre mall site. The deal had been praised as a major step to invest in east Charlotte. The MLS headquarters and practice fields were expected to occupy about 29 acres, Mitchell told The Observer last year.
Attempting to revitalize the area around the Eastland site has led to years of frustration, council member Tariq Bokhari said Monday. And he said there will be “no victory” for Eastland development without a strong attraction to draw people in, like the headquarters.
“Eastland requires a very powerful magnet to restart that system,” Bokhari said.
Lyles suggested that the development academy could still fill that void.
Other new additions to the proposed plan with Tepper Sports & Entertainment include Atrium Health opening a facility at the site and the planning and creation of a new uptown entertainment district to be completed by 2022.
Charlotte FC’s development academy headquarters will still be located at Eastland. It will be 15,000 square feet and employ 20-25 full time and 30-40 part time staffers. The city will get approximately 100 annual days to use the fields at the headquarters for various events and Charlotte FC will have occasional public practices there.
The proposed Atrium Health facility located at Eastland Mall will be approximately 10,000 square feet and have 20 to 30 employees. Atrium didn’t disclose any additional details on the new facility.
“Atrium Health is excited about the opportunity of being part of this transformative project that will offer greater access for care closer to the people and communities we have the privilege to serve in East Charlotte,” Atrium spokesman Dan Fogleman said in a statement
Improvements to the stadium are still part of the city’s plan for part of the hospitality funds. The stadium is one of the oldest in the NFL and still needs to undergo some renovations to be fit for MLS play.
This story has been updated from an earlier version that said there had been no public update on the Eastland site since the canceled meeting in March.
Alison Kuznitz contributed to reporting for this story.
This story was originally published October 26, 2020 at 5:47 PM.