Lease extension for Hurricanes at PNC Arena moves closer to completion
The Centennial Authority has received approval on financial funding from the city and county that was a stipulation in completing a new PNC Arena lease extension with the Carolina Hurricanes.
The authority, an appointed group that is the arena landlord, and the Hurricanes announced in May that a term sheet on a five-year lease extension had been agreed on by both sides. It would extend the Canes’ lease, which was to expire in 2024, through July 1, 2029.
But a requirement in that agreement was that the authority get approval from the City of Raleigh and Wake County that $9 million a year through 2029 be provided through the Tri-Party Agreement, in which money annually is appropriated from the hotel and prepared food and beverage tax revenue.
The Wake County board of commissioners approved a Tri-Party amendment on Monday and the Raleigh City Council approved it unanimously at its meeting Tuesday.
The lease extension has been turned over to attorneys for the authority and the Hurricanes for final inspection and approval, authority executive director Jeff Merritt said Tuesday.
“This was a huge day. We’ve checked off a big box,” Merritt said in an interview. “It took a lot of work by a lot of people to make that happen.”
The annual stipend of $9 million will be used to assume part of the arena operating expenses detailed in the lease extension and for other purposes including enhancement of the arena, which opened in 1999 and hosts Canes games, N.C. State men’s basketball games and other major events and concerts.
As part of the lease agreement, the authority will pay 50 percent of the arena operating costs each year up to $3.885 million. The authority also agreed to a reduction of the rent for fiscal 2020 of $1.78 million and no rent in the following years.
Authority chairman Tom McCormick said in May that a goal of the negotiations was that the Hurricanes “be in an average lease situation” with the other NHL teams.
“They clearly have one of the worst leases in the league,” McCormick said in May.
This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 4:56 PM.
