Panthers file for rezoning at Bank of America Stadium to pave way for renovations
The Carolina Panthers have taken another necessary step toward renovating their home of the present and future.
Panthers Stadium, LLC, filed its rezoning site plan with the city of Charlotte on Monday, initiating an important — if mostly technical — step toward renovating Bank of America Stadium.
The filings state that the rezoning relates “primarily to technical aspects associated with improvements to Bank of America Stadium,” and that the rezoning is required because “the current stadium zoning is out of date” for the team’s stadium renovation plans.
A Tepper Sports and Entertainment spokesperson said that the plans were filed now to kickstart the process of rezoning that takes months to complete. History shows that’s accurate. The Panthers filed their rezoning petition for an expanded uptown practice facility in February — a plan that included a state-of-the-art field house — and that project wasn’t approved until mid-June and after multiple opportunities for community feedback.
This is all more or less compulsory after the Charlotte City Council agreed in June to contribute $650 million to update the nearly 30-year-old, 74,000-seat Bank of America Stadium. The deal set in motion one of the largest public expenditures in city history for a single project and also locked the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and MLS’s Charlotte FC into a 20-year non-relocation agreement.
The planned stadium updates include new seats installed throughout the upper and lower bowls; stadium safety and security enhancements; a reimagined South Lawn Pavilion; upgraded restrooms; exterior enhancements (including LED video boards) and more. Planning for the stadium renovation project will continue through 2025, with construction starting in 2026 and the renovation’s conclusion in 2029, The Observer previously reported.
The reason the Panthers are seeking this rezoning can be traced to 2022, when Charlotte City Council adopted its Unified Development Ordinance. The UDO is a nearly 700-page document — which went into effect in the summer of 2023 — that sets rules for what can be built where in Charlotte, The Observer previously reported. It essentially charts a path to implement the goals of the city’s 2040 comprehensive plan.
Tepper Sports, according to rezoning documents, is seeking a designation of “Uptown Core, Exception” in their rezoning request to make the renovations possible. Exception rezonings enable zoning standards to be modified. They are reserved for circumstances in which meeting ordinance standards causes “an undo burden,” per the city website, and can only be granted in exchange for specific public benefits — including city improvements, public amenities and sustainability measures.
Stadium rezoning to plan for ‘near- and long-term uses’
Monday’s stadium rezoning documents also list off proposed uses of the 25.3 acres in question — land owned by the city and leased to Tepper Sports for the stadium. Those proposed uses are including but not limited to:
▪ Stadium upgrades
▪ Upgrades to the practice/training facilities and field house
▪ Sports operations, activities, events and wagering facilities authorized under state law
▪ Restaurant/bars
▪ Retail spaces
▪ Lodging and overnight stays, including without limitation for players, personnel, vendors, visitors and others
A TSE spokesperson clarified that this rezoning is meant to plan for “any potential uses, near- and long-term.”
The spokesperson also said the rezoning process will take a number of months and will require at least one community meeting. The public hearing for the rezoning is not scheduled to take place until March of next year at the earliest, and a majority of votes among the 11-member council is needed for the rezoning’s approval.
This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 6:15 AM.
