FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners Crown Event Center Committee gave its approval Monday to allow the project to move into the Construction Document development phase with an anticipated groundbreaking for the new Crown Event Center planned for September 2024.

The approval followed the presentation of updated pricing for the project from the Construction Manager at Risk (CMaR) TA Loving/Metcon. The CMaR conducted pricing on the 100% Design Development documents completed by project architect EwingCole, which were presented to the Committee on May 20 along with updated renderings of the Crown Event Center’s exterior and interior spaces.

Matt DeSilver, Area Manager with MBP Carolinas, which serves as the County’s Owners Representative for the project, shared that the 100% Design Development cost estimate for construction came in just above the Board’s approved construction budget of $117,864,211 at $122,173,918. However, he noted that this estimate includes built-in design escalation costs through the midpoint of construction as well as design contingency.

He said the Project Delivery Team conducted value engineering to bring the estimated construction cost down below the approved budget to $117,194,895. Items that were removed from the estimate as part of the value engineering process included an operable partition in the multipurpose room, interior window blinds, reduction of LED exterior signage and upper-level audience divider curtains in the main event hall. DeSilver said these items will still be priced so they can be included in the project in the event costs ultimately come in lower than the approved budget.

Committee members voted unanimously to approve the 100% design development cost estimate and to authorize the Project Delivery Team to move into construction document development.

The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners previously approved a total project budget of nearly $145 million in February. DeSilver said the project is still on schedule to break ground in September 2024 with anticipated completion in early 2027. He said next steps for the project will include the development of construction documents and preparation of the early site package.

Additionally, Ryan Parker with Metcon announced the CMaR will host an outreach event for subcontractors, suppliers and vendors interested in participating in the Crown Event Center project this Thursday, June 20 from 3 to 5:30 p.m. at the FSU HUB, located at 1073 Murchison Road, Fayetteville. For more information, contact 910-521-8013.

The Crown Event Center Committee is comprised of Cumberland County Commissioner Jimmy Keefe, who chairs the Committee, Board Chairman Glenn Adams and Commissioner Jeannette Council, along with Cumberland County Civic Center Commission Chairman McBryde Grannis, who serves in an ex officio capacity. The Project Delivery Team (PDT) is made up of County staff, and staff from the County’s owner’s representative MBP Carolinas, project architect EwingCole, construction manager at risk (CMaR) TA Loving/Metcon and Crown Complex Manager OakViewGroup (OVG).

For more information on the Crown Event Center project, go to cumberlandcountync.gov/crowneventcenter.