CityView Magazine

22 June 2022 renovation cost $1 million and included new carpeting and the addition of handrails on the lower half of the theater. e second phase of work, which would cost a projected $15 million, is expected to get underway in the summer of 2023 and will be what theater advocates say is a reimagining of the building as a whole. "It's not oen our administrators get rock 'n' roll applause," says Ella Wrenn, managing director of the theater. "We announced our renovation plans to core supporters." e initial phase of work on the 22,484-square-foot theater was completed while the theater was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. e theater has reached $9.5 million of its $15 million goal for the second phase, Wrenn says. e state has earmarked a one- time direct grant of $5 million. "We talk a lot about the Haymount area being sort of a vanguard to downtown," Wrenn says. "It's how a lot of people enter downtown. It does feel there is an effort to bridge the two places together. So increasing the attractability and visual aesthetic of the area and making it more functional and more walkable will only help expand the time that people want to spend here and downtown. We all know the more time you spend, the more you consume. Also, the more money you spend." She says the renovations and expansion will only increase the visibility of the theater, making it more attractive to Fayetteville's highly transient residents. "I see, I think, a momentum to the start of a redesign and beautifying, if you will, the downtown area," Wrenn says. "And that is one of the things that was attractive to me about moving here. I think there are things happening here that would make it a stronger driving district. Part of that is walkability. e intersection out in front of the theater is really tough. And so I think increasing how easily you can move through this area makes it more compelling." Multipurpose center e Cumberland County Board of Commissioners plans to build a 2,500- seat multipurpose events center that is expected to cost no more than $82.5 million. e Crown Event Center would be used for concerts, comedy shows, Broadway productions and other shows. "Right now, we're the only county in the state of North Carolina with over 300,000 people that doesn't have a performing arts center or a center like this," says Jimmy Keefe, a member of the board who also sits on the Cumberland County Crown Event Committee. e centers that will be replaced are over 60 years old. "I believe the community deserves this. One of the things that came out of the feasibility study done by CSL last summer was that the community can support this. e community can finance this without additional tax revenue," Keefe says. "Most importantly, we shied from a traditional performing arts center to this multipurpose type of event center that, by and large, the study shows this can support itself, which is very uncommon in these types of facilities. e reason it can, it will allow us to not so much compete with maybe the Durhams and the Raleighs and other places, but it also gives a different type of new large-scale venue that they can have here that they can't have in some of those other places, like a traditional performing arts center." e committee is moving forward on the project to replace the theater and arena at the Crown Coliseum Complex. e committee voted April 20 to accept the framework presented by the county's consultant for site selection, design and construction. "Aside from the obvious, an arts and entertainment venue (would have) options that it gives people here," Keefe says. "Also, economically, it helps the businesses that are around the center. It could increase development around the center. But I don't think you can put a number on the image that it's going to create in our community, just like Segra Stadium did. When you are looking to bring companies in or individuals into your community, they're looking at quality-of-life things to share with your family." Other projects Several other proposals for downtown and Haymount have been floated in recent months. ey include an African American museum, a project that remains in the early stages. e museum would incorporate history with theater, music and spoken-word programs. And a business team plans to bring the former Hamont Auto Repair shop on Broadfoot Avenue back to life as a food- truck court. Jordan Sherrod, a 39-year-old active-duty soldier who closed on the property in June 2021, co-owns it with Chris Beaty. Haymount Truck Stop would be a retail hybrid of food- truck court, arcade and bar. A committee appointed by the Cumberland County commissioners is moving forward with plans to replace the theater and arena at the Crown Coliseum Complex.

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