Cost estimate for Carolina Theatre project in uptown soars 24%

CHARLOTTE — Plans for a hotel that would rise above the remade Carolina Theatre on North Tryon Street gained momentum this week.

Representatives from the development group planning the 257-room InterContinental Hotel atop the restored theatre complex visited the site on Thursday with executives from Foundation For The Carolinas, the nonprofit that is behind the renovation.

The site visit marks an important shift for restarting the hotel portion of the project after the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic and economic shutdown devastated the hospitality sector in 2020 and 2021. In November 2020, Valor Hospitality Group and Salter Brothers, the hotel development team, put their plans on hold.

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When planning for the InterContinental was paused, Nathan Kivi, U.S. chief investment officer at Salter Brothers, told CBJ, “Covid has seen traditional hotel construction debt evaporate.” Representatives from the development group could not be reached this week for comment. Last year, local hotel demand surpassed pre-Covid figures for the first time.

Laura Smith, the foundation’s interim president and CEO, who has spearheaded the theater project throughout her 12-year tenure with the nonprofit, shared an update with CBJ this week that included news of the site visit as well as an overall cost increase for the theater to $78 million from $63 million.

Increases in material costs, labor shortages, and overall inflation led to the revised construction budget, Smith said. “I’m in the process now of figuring out how we’re going to fill that bucket,” she said, adding that the likely course is to go back to previous and prospective donors.

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