What’s going to happen with development around PNC?

So, the storm surge last night, we had everybody, they did the skull clap and then they got into the butterfly in honor of Cam Ward.

It was very cool. And did Cam Ward have something to do with the shaving cream pie? That's a good question, probably. That's what I heard about that. Sounds very cammy of him.

Yeah, apparently Eric Cole and the Jumbotron told a joke about, not a joke, a story about Cam Ward pulling a practical joke. Huh? Oh yeah. It fits him then.

Oh, boys will be boys. All right, so it can't, it can't always be serious all the time. Although there are serious matters that lay in front of the Carolina hurricanes and the city and the renovation and the development of the arena and the area around it. And somebody who is, I think, intimately involved in it. And in the middle of it is Philip Isley, the chairman of the Centennial Authority.

And he joins us on the Adam Gold show. So, because everything is so serious, how much of this is fun? Can you just set aside all of the negotiation for a few, you know, a day or so and just kind of relax and enjoy what we're about to see here? Because what we're seeing tomorrow, you've been around here a long time. You've been in city council.

I mean, you have to be amazed at what you are about to watch tomorrow. Well, Adam, thank you for having me on the show. I have really, it's been an honor to be the chair of the Centennial Authority for the last year and a couple of months. And it is extraordinary to sit back and think about what's getting ready to happen tomorrow, as well as what's getting ready to happen, I hope, in the future for the arena and the area surrounding the arena. And, you know, it's when I was elected chairman, I said to many of my friends, and I will not use the exact language that I'm going to either screw this job up so badly that I'll be impeached or it's going to be the coolest thing I've ever done in my lifetime. And right now, I think it's trending very positively towards the ladder. It's incredible things I've gotten to do in the last 16, 17 months, the people I've been able to meet the folks I get to talk to on a regular basis. And I'm not fanboy guy, but it's been really cool. And I, I don't think that I expected that necessarily or how much work it would be.

It is an extraordinarily large amount of work to try to deal with all of the players out there. But, you know, I've got really good relationships with lots of people and I'm hopeful that my efforts and the efforts of folks that we've hired are going to continue to pay dividends for us in the future. I remember a conversation you and I had, this goes back a long time, I don't even know how many years now, probably 15 years, maybe more. Completely different building and a completely different era. But you and I had discussions then about in the PNC arena, then was the RBC center had only been open for about four or five years.

And you had told me that there were already discussions about it because you have to have these well in advance about the potential of a downtown arena. Obviously, we're not going in that route. We're staying right where we are. But how far advanced are all of the things that you guys have to deal with to the point where when we do get signatures at some point, you know, when are we starting?

When do we think we'll see progress? Well, there are effectively three different paths that we seem to be on at this moment. The first path is getting the building enhanced to the point where it becomes and continues to be competitive for new buildings, as well as other buildings that are our neighbors, D.C., Charlotte, Atlanta.

So that's path one. And there's lots of complications there. We are funded by taxpayer money. We have two entities, Wake County and Raleigh, that effectively are our mom and dad with the allowance coin purse. We have to convince these leaders in Raleigh and Wake County that investing in the arena in its rehabilitation slash renovation is a very prudent investment for taxpayers.

I can argue this all day long in front of anybody. We had a million and a half people go through the arena last year with still some covid delay. And I predict this year will be even more because our teams are doing really well to be in the building. So there's that first path. The second path is making sure that we have the hurricanes here for a long term lease.

Twenty five years, 20 years. We're actively working on that. I'm not as involved in those negotiations. We've actually hired some folks to help us with that. But they are progressing along. And, you know, I like the folks that we're talking to.

I mean, I think the world of Donald, I think the world Tom Dundon, I think the world of our tenants in the state. I mean, everybody sort of knows what's going on there. And then lastly, we have this path of what happens around the building. All of that is tied into sort of the first path.

Do we get enhancement enough to make everybody want to stay there? So they're all interconnected. And one helps the other.

And one not happening actually hurts the other. So everything's wound up in this tight little ball where I'm still optimistic that we're going to get all of these things done. And we'll have another 20 to 25 years of a building that will continue to pay dividends for our city, our county, our region, you know, Eastern North Carolina, the state of North Carolina. And I think as you see the bandwidth project, the HHS project on Blue Ridge, that entire area around the arena is finally developing. The Department of Agriculture has a ton of land out there.

They sold the bandwidth, which is phenomenal to drive down Edwards Mill and see what has happened in a year. But I just think that that corridor is really prime right now for growth and continued entertainment activities for everybody. Oh, there's no there's no the potential for that area is massive.

I think Tom Dundon sees that he's been talking about it since he got here. So I just I just want to clear up one one quick thing, because we have these three paths. Is there anywhere in the potential for for this potentially, you know, breaking down or changing that we're going to a completely new site? I just want to eliminate that possibility so we don't have to think about it. We're not going to have a new site for a long time.

OK, that's just not happening. I think, you know, if I had to predict anything, which is always very dangerous, but it let's just say that everything that I'm thinking about happens. We hurricanes are here for a long time. We win seven Stanley Cups.

The area out there is incredible. NC State is happy. Our tenants are happy.

Our taxpayers are happy. And in five years, you make the hard call. Do you start all over with a new arena or do you implode that and use that for other development purposes? But, you know, it'll be a 50 year old building at that time. Right.

And it will have exhausted its useful life in a very positive fashion. And I go around arenas all over the country now and we still have a very competitive space given our age. You know, we're still, I think, better shaped than some that are built after us.

But we're hopeful that getting this first pathway cleared out, funded and beginning the enhancement projects is going to yield great benefits for everybody on other two paths as well. I don't think we slam phones anymore, but when was the last time you figuratively slammed a phone in frustration? I'm not so sure.

I would say there's no slamming. You're right about that. I have some sporty conversations from time to time with a number of people. And, you know, it has nothing to do sometimes even with our tenants. I mean, you know, I like our tenants a lot.

Right. But there are a lot of very important people in the mix that have some degree of control or perceived control over everything that we do. And it is sometimes frustrating given what you have to do. But I think I've developed enough of a relationship with the people that matter or they're at least not refusing to listen to what I have to say.

But it's been actually several, I would say, six or seven months before I've had a testy conversation with anybody. And it is fine. It's nothing.

Nothing bad has resulted from that. And we're still moving forward. So let me ask you, we have like a minute and a half or so left with Philip Isley, who's the chairman of the Centennial Authority. They are in charge of all of bringing everybody together. You're basically the general contractor here.

So my guess is that agreement to a long-term lease, the plans in place for how the renovations are going to be implemented, not necessarily paid for. We know how they're going to be paid for. All of these things have to happen at the same time. Would that be fair characterization? It is, in fact.

Everybody's jumping in the pool at the same time together. Once that happens, first of all, how close are we, you think, to something like that happening, give or take a year? Oh, I think we're very close. We're going to be making presentations to the city and the county within the next three, four months on what we think is going to take. We just got architectural renderings, which I'm happy to send you, by the way, that we're now having a meeting, I believe, in the next two weeks to go through what we think we need to focus on and start pricing that out so we can go to the city and the county and say, this amount of money initially will help us obtain the bond financing to do these three things. But it's going to take probably four years to do everything.

So we may have another ability to get another cash infusion, say two or three years into the program. But right now, we're very close to that. And I think we'll have a number within the next probably four months as to what we have. And then we'll deal with that. And then from there, everything else will fall into place is sort of the next steps. So you know, I think we're going to know what in the world's happened with the PMC arena by the end of this year.

Excellent. And when did the new roads go in? Well, that is definitely on my list of things that we must discuss. And in fact, you'll see when I send you these plans, we do have another entrance that we think would be a pretty good way to get folks in and out, basically from Edwards Mill across the street from Wade Park, and have a signalized intersection right there that will have a yet another way in but there's still other things we're talking about with folks that matter at the state level at the local level. But that is certainly something that I think I don't think there's a single tenant tailgater fan of sports concerts that would suggest that a transportation improvement would be pretty darn swell to accomplish. I mean, we always need roads.

We always need roads. So where are you sitting tomorrow night? My my law partners and I are in section four. Okay.

Pretty much center ice about halfway up the lower lower section. Okay. The NHL actually told me Monday, that those that are in the upper deck are going to have the cat bird seats.

Yep. Which I wish I had known that when we were buying our tickets. But we're very excited. Our wives are excited. It's going to be so much fun. I truly I can't believe that I'm participating in this effort. It's really, really cool. Yeah, my my boys are going to be in section 10 about 10 rows up in the upper deck.

Yes, I thought I thought having been to Carter Finley before I thought the upper deck would be the choice spot. I thank you very much for your time. And in advance, congratulations on pulling this off. I hope I didn't just jinx it but I don't believe in jinxes.

So we know it's going to happen. So I thank you so much. I'll see you very soon. Right on. Thanks. Take care Philip Isley, chairman of the Centennial Authority.