Charlotte quietly revives push for big-time tennis stadium
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The Charlotte Invitational put a tennis court inside Spectrum Center. Photo: Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images
Charlotte City Council member Malcolm Graham revealed Wednesday he's been working behind the scenes to revive the city's dashed dreams of building a tennis stadium.
Why it matters: About two years ago, Charlotte was pursuing the Western and Southern Open. But, in a huge economic letdown for Charlotte, the tournament's owners opted to keep the prestigious event in Ohio, citing the escalating costs of constructing a new facility.
"I don't like to lose," Graham, a former Johnson C. Smith University tennis player, told reporters at a post-election-night roundtable.
- Graham said he's since stayed in touch with Ben Navarro, the Charleston billionaire whose company Beemok Capital owns the rights to the Western and Southern Open, about still building a tennis facility that could double as a concert venue.
Inside the room: The destination could be built at the River District, a 1,400-acre master-planned development in west Charlotte near the airport. It's some of the area's last remaining undeveloped land, and it's where Beemok originally envisioned a $400 million complex.
- The project, Graham shared, may involve council dipping back into the city's tourism tax buckets, which it's recently accessed for renovations of Bank of America Stadium and Spectrum Center.
- The city also offered $65 million of the restaurant and hotel tax revenue in the Beemok bid for the proposed stadium construction.
The big picture: Charlotte is evolving as a sports destination and hosted the inaugural Charlotte Invitational last year. The tennis doubleheader returns this December, drawing star players Venus Williams vs. Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe vs. Taylor Fritz.
- "There's an appetite in this region for big-time tennis," Graham said. "When you get an exhibition and you draw 16,000, that's saying a whole lot."
- The event made a $4.4 million economic splash, the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority reported.
- Graham expects they'd get more events with the right facility: "It's one of those scenarios — if we build it, they will come."
What's next: Expect Graham to start a discussion about the project at the council's annual retreat in January.