When Canes return to Lenovo Center, arena will have a new look. What’s changing
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- The Lenovo Center will shut down for eight weeks as $300 million renovations continue.
- The lower bowl seats will be replaced and capacity will rise by about 700 seats.
- Summer work begins June 23 and adds a north-south corridor, removes stairways, and digs.
The Lenovo Center will continue to be a busy place the next few months, but minus games or concerts or other entertainment. Hard hats will be essential, however.
The arena, set to undergo $300 million in renovations and enhancements, is being shut down for the next eight weeks for the project to continue unabated.
By next season, when the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes take the ice and N.C. State prepares for a new men’s basketball season, the lower bowl will have a new look and the seating capacity of the arena will increase by about 700 seats for hockey and basketball. The number of aisles on the concourse level will be reduced and all the seats replaced.
The $100 million first phase of the project, which began last summer, has seen the opening of the View Bar on the third level, new bunker suites and the Lenovo Legend Club.
“Our intention is to have this ready as fast as we can,” Centennial Authority chairman Philip Isley said last July.
During this summer’s phase, beginning June 23, a corridor will be built adjacent to the Hurricanes locker room area to provide north-to-south, 360-degree access for the arena. That has been lacking since the building opened in 1999.
“The stuff that you will really see is the seat replacement,” authority executive director Jeff Merritt said Thursday. “But a lot of the work will be foundational work, like tearing out stairways, digging a pit for a new elevator on the north end … that kind of work. And a lot of back-of-house stuff.
‘The yin and the yang of it is you have to have one ‘ugly’ year. This is the ugly year.”
Future plans for the arena in the final phase include an expanded team store that will sell Hurricanes and Wolfpack merchandise; a rooftop bar and restaurant, a new lobby and expanded concourses.
There also will be expansion of the loading dock area on the north end of the arena, allowing easier ingress and egress for concert and other event load-ins.
It’s the first major enhancement since the arena opened as the Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena.
Another enhancement for next fall: the hanging of a second Stanley Cup championship banner.
This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 4:40 PM.
