First look: See inside Charlotte FC’s new headquarters and practice facility

State of play: Everyone under the Major League Soccer club’s umbrella will call Atrium Health Performance Park home, from the first team to the academy to its MLS NEXT Pro team, Crown Legacy FC.

• The first team will move into the club’s new business headquarters and training facility starting on Monday, Aug. 7, followed by the academy and Crown Legacy on Friday, Aug. 11. Staff will move in on Monday, Aug. 14.

Why it matters: Charlotte FC’s first few years have been nomadic, with different parts of the club spread across the Charlotte area. Now everyone — from players, coaches and front office staff to the business, marketing and content side — will be under the same roof. The facility even includes offices for owners David and Nicole Tepper.

Context: The first team began training at the site last year after using the Sportsplex at Matthews and Bank of America Stadium.

By the numbers: Charlotte FC is leasing the site from Levine Properties and privately financed renovating the unoccupied 52,000-square-foot building and the fields. The total site is roughly 50 acres. Club owner Tepper Sports and Entertainment declined to comment on the cost of the project as it is privately funded.

Details: Charlotte’s new headquarters includes player and staff locker rooms, a 45-seat auditorium, an indoor lounge and eating area with a fireplace, a massive outdoor patio with a grill, showers, athletic training rooms, a kitchen, a weight room with a mural by Charlotte artist Matt Moore, classrooms for the academy, multiple conference rooms and business offices.

• Two of the fields are currently complete, but there will ultimately be six full fields and two smaller fields, which are expected to be ready this fall. There will be five full grass fields and one smaller grass field, plus one artificial surface field and a smaller turf field.
• Only the first team currently trains on-site. Crown Legacy, which is in its first season, will continue to train at the Sportsplex at Matthews until the remaining fields are complete. The academy will begin training at Atrium Health Performance Park at the end of August. All three sectors of the club will train there once the fields are complete.
• The new facility is at 8600 McAlpine Park Dr.

What they’re saying: “It’ll just be nice to have a permanent place that we can all call home and a permanent training spot as opposed to having to bus down to training [from Uptown] and then bus back,” Charlotte FC midfielder Brandt Bronico tells Axios.

• Bronico, who played for the Charlotte 49ers up the road and was on loan with the Charlotte Independence, has seen several training facilities in Charlotte from the college level to minor league and professional. He described Atrium Health Performance Park as state of the art.

• It also gives them space for future community events, like the Hispanic Heritage Festival they held there last year, clinics and camps.

Flashback: Charlotte FC’s headquarters, and later its academy headquarters, were previously planned for the former Eastland Mall site, but TSE opted for a different east Charlotte site that would allow them to move in two years earlier than Eastland could.

What’s next: Charlotte FC will face Houston in the round of 16 in Leagues Cup next week.

Take a look around Atrium Health Performance Park. 

Related: Fresh renderings: Charlotte FC will move into its new headquarters and practice facility soon