Downtown Fayetteville business owners weigh in on the new Crown Event Center getting cancelled

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Cumberland County officials are back to the drawing board in their plans to revitalize the Crown Complex after cancelling their plans to build a new Crown in downtown Fayetteville.

Some business owners in the area are expressing frustration over losing a development they hoped would attract more business and foot traffic.

The county said it had already racked up $36 million in costs towards the Crown Event Center being built on Gillespie Street.

"They've already spent so much money. That's kind of insane," said Venus Bess of Vibe Gastropub.

In a special meeting on Wednesday, concerned officials pointed to mounting costs for the project--now projected to cost at least $153 million. They were weighing the possibility of having to spend more to build a parking deck--an expense that would have driven the total projected cost to at least $190 million. They also factored in another delay for the venue's opening, which was once scheduled for April 2027, and was getting pushed back to February 2028 after the project was paused for 30 days in March.

"This decision wasn't made lightly," Chairman Kirk deViere of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners. "I believe you saw a board tonight that chose practical solutions over grand promises, careful planning over rushed decisions, and building something that will serve our community for decades to come."

Dr. Isabella Effon, the owner of Taste Of West Africa, said she hoped the event center would have transformed what she describes as an underserved pocket of downtown Fayetteville for the better.

"To me, it was going to change the narrative. We're going to see some, you know, influx of diversity. You know, as we're saying it, but we can see more," she said.

Cumberland County commissioners voted five to two to cancel the Gillespie Street project.

Some business owners said the concern over parking is outsized--and wished the commissioners had prioritized bringing in more dollars through the venue. However, others say they're still hopeful about what's possible for downtown Fayetteville.

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"If they're going to cancel it, I'm glad they canceled it now instead of constantly teasing, and hopefully they can figure out something to do with that parking lot," said Johnny Awesome, the owner of Awesome Tattoos. *"But I mean, I welcome any and all, you know, like new things that are going to build to bring more people down here."

Commissioner Henry Tyson issued a statement to ABC11 noting that the project to replace the Crown Theater and Arena began as an effort to address concerns raised in a handicap accessibility lawsuit filed against the county.

An assessment in 2015 projected that renovating the current facilities would have cost $35 million, in contrast to the up to $80 million it would have cost to replace them. But over time, he wrote that the project cost ballooned to over $210 million once the county decided to construct a replacement facility.

Tyson further noted that the last round of funding for the project had not been approved when the current board of commissioners was seated in December, requiring a re-bidding of the project costs. That process increased the projected costs even further. Tyson said the county has too many competing needs and costs, including utility infrastructure and county schools, to spend so much money on the Crown Event Center project.

"The decision to refocus and redirect our efforts into modernizing our current footprint is one not taken lightly or without the required due diligence by our board. It would not be prudent as your elected representative to pursue a project that would force this board to spend general fund dollars to build, given the needs of our community." Tyson wrote.

It's undecided what will become of the parking lot that the county has already razed to make way for the new crown. As they sort that out, commissioners will also review options to renovate and modernize the current Crown Theater and Arena on US 301.