CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Blue and orange balloons welcomed fans to the Charlotte Bobcats Arena for the team's season opener Wednesday night.

It's year No. 2 in the new facility, and the team wants to see more fans, like Herbert Kendrick, buying tickets.

Kendrick snatched up a few in the afternoon.

"Championship, NBA champs is what the city needs," he said.

Critics of the new arena say the old coliseum was just fine, so why build a new facility? But center city leaders point to the economic impact the arena has had on the area.

Leaders say right now there are $3.9 billion of development going on in uptown, about half of which is attributable to the arena. That includes the creation of the 210 Trade Apartments, along with the Courtside Apartments and the Ritz Carlton Hotel that is under construction.

"The arena really has fulfilled its promise. We have seen great economic impact from it," said Michael Smith, president of Center City Partners.

Several events at the arena have added to its success, but the challenge the Bobcats face is filling seats. The team ranks toward the bottom for attendance in the NBA.

Uptown leaders hope the arena attracts more fans this year than last year.

"It's an anchor, and the next thing we need is more retail. We have a million square feet of retail in uptown, but it's everywhere. It's not concentrated enough," Smith said.

City Has Big Plans For Uptown

The first event at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena last October was a sold out Rolling Stones concert. Since then the arena has hosted 170 events, 20 more than the 150 predicted. An arena spokesperson says the facility is on track to book that many events again this year.

When the city first started talking about the arena, it was at the top of a priority list aimed at bringing more tourists to Charlotte. The city saw the facility as part of a much larger plan to bring more business and people to uptown.

Some of that plan is close to being realized, while other parts are still in the talking stages.

First, more than 10,000 people already live in uptown, and the arena has spurred some new development. Thousands of new apartment and condo units are in the works, which could attract more retailers who are usually attracted to areas with more than 12,000 people.

Another part of the original plan, another tourist draw in uptown, was a motor sports museum. That will become a reality in 2009 with the opening of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. That hall is being built at the corner of Second and Brevard streets, just blocks from the arena. Demolition of a building on that site started just days ago, and the hall coming to uptown could change much more than just that corner.

The city wants to improve Brevard Street to make it pedestrian-friendly between the Charlotte Bobcats Arena and the hall of fame, and possibly even create a link to the South End.

Another way to link the city, and another part of that original plan for uptown, is more mass transit. The light rail line now under construction runs just feet from the arena and will soon tie uptown to South End and beyond. When that line opens, trains will run all the way to Pineville.

One more part of the city's plan, which is yet to become reality, is an uptown baseball stadium. The city is now working with Mecklenburg County, the school system and private landowners on a complicated land swap. That deal could mean baseball would join basketball in uptown.