CHARLOTTE — Construction on a practice facility for the Charlotte Hornets in Uptown has started as the ACC Tournament tipped off on Tuesday.
It was supposed to be built at the transit center.
The buses would be in the basement and the Hornets practice facility would have been above it.
As the ACC Tournament tips off in Uptown so does construction of the Hornets practice facility. You can no longer park in the lot between Spectrum and CMPD. Live at noon @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/354xgNRC0C
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) March 11, 2025
However, the Hornets got new leadership and development stalled.
They quickly pivoted to the back-up plan.
It will be built on a parking lot on North Caldwell Street between the Spectrum Center and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. The lot where it will be now is fenced off.
Plans call for a 100,000-square-foot practice facility plus 35,000 square feet of offices for the team. There will also be ground-level retail and a public plaza.
The city of Charlotte owns the parking lot between Spectrum and CMPD and is leasing it to the Hornets for the next 99 years at a cost of only $10 a year.
Parking will eventually return to the lot. Plans call for a parking deck. The city will lease 125 spaces in the structure for $150,000 a year for weekday employee parking during work hours.
Charlotte City Council committed $30 million to this project. The Hornets are covering cost overruns.
The facility is projected to open for the 2026-2027 basketball season.
Plans also call for a hotel to open on the property.
One of the businesses next door to the lot is No Grease Barber Shop. Barber Angelo Rice thinks it will be beneficial.
“The city is growing. I love it. Let’s go,” Rice said.
If you’re attending the games, keep in mind you now have one less lot you can park in.
That may not be music to the ears of some fans.
Ashanti Selassie has been playing drums outside the Spectrum Center since 2021. He says people should think about using the light rail to get to the games.
He’s excited to see the site being built.
“It will bring more people. It will bring more people so that will help,” Selassie said.
VIDEO: Hornets legend Dell Curry and son Seth continue basketball legacy together
©2025 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
