Today is a great day for Caniacs, PNC Arena, and the Triangle!

Man, so many cool things to talk about. So, and I will lead into my friend Phillip Isley with this. He is the Chairman of the Centennial Authority and he joins us after an exhausting day of having people agree.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I remember when I got here 25 years ago. I remember how many people told me the hurricanes were never going to stay.

I remember how many people told me that hockey would never make it. And I understand this is not just about hockey, but it kind of is about the Carolina Hurricanes and what they want to do with that area and what Tom Dundon has agreed to do with the surrounding acreage around PNC Arena. So let me start by saying, I think they're going to name the street after you in time. How do you find a deal where everybody seems to be happy?

That never happens. Well, I've had a lot of help along the way. One of the things that I've tried to do since taking over the chairmanship of the Centennial Authority is to listen. I've been a lawyer for 30 years and most people don't think lawyers listen to anything. But that's a pretty good thing to do when you have as many parties that have to be engaged in this decision. You have to listen to them.

Otherwise, you're not going to come close to accomplishing whatever the goal you set for yourself or for the authority. So we've been really good listeners and we started listening as early as January of 22. And we have hired the right people to help us.

We've hired the right professionals to help us with our owners rep, making sure that whatever enhancement monies we were going to receive, we could hit the ground running. And I think just because of the relationships that we've developed along the way with the 21 members of our board, which are extraordinarily well-connected people, it made it easier for people to trust us, to make sure they knew that we were not trying to pull the wool over their eyes, whether it was from our funding partners or the state of North Carolina, North Carolina State, the Carolina Hurricanes. I think we developed a very good rapport for our listening skills, as well as our ability to think through issues that we needed to solve in order to get everybody to the place they got today, which was, I think you're right, a love fest. It was pretty cool to be a part of. I mean, it was everything but somebody on a mandolin and everybody singing Kumbaya.

Philip Isley is the chairman of the Centennial Authority. The man who sat at the head of the table today at the meeting I watched, and apparently my camera was still on, I apologize for that, as I was driving in or I listened to it. I didn't watch it when I was driving in.

That would probably be a violation. Let me ask you, because you mentioned the two major parties here. I mean, not only is the Centennial Authority a thing, and I should point out, and I believe the city and county still have votes scheduled, but we anticipate there won't be any snafus there. State and the Hurricanes, the University and the Hurricanes have not had in the past a symbiotic relationship. But obviously something had to change over the last, let's just say, six to eight months that has allowed this to become, to get to this point today.

So what do you think it is? Well, I mean, Don Laddell, the president and GM of the Hurricanes, I think he's got a third title too, but you know, all things Hurricanes. He's a great person. He has a great relationship with the chancellor and the athletic director. And as I indicated earlier, every negotiation about this deal started with North Carolina State University for me. They were the first meeting I ever had to talk about this, and they were the last meeting I had when we were starting to socialize the term sheet. And I'm hopeful that the way that we've treated this process and got NC State comfortable with what the desires of the Hurricanes were, and the Hurricanes coupled with the desires and the concerns of North Carolina State, that that really did build the bridge toward all manner of goodness between the school and the professional hockey team, where everybody comes out of this as a winner in a substantial manner for a long-term manner that will be there certainly after I'm gone.

But it's fun to think about how we got here based on two pretty divergent interests, you know, amateur sports versus, well, I guess, NIL stuff versus full professional. But, you know, I think it's a testament to the leadership of North Carolina State University as well as the Hurricanes. So Bosley is joining us here.

He is chairman of the Centennial Authority. First of all, Wendell Murphy in a green jacket. I mean, I thought today would have been perfect for his NC State, maybe the leather red jacket, but you know what, he looked good in green. I know he was excited. He couldn't wait to second the motion today.

I don't think Randy Woodson was finished forwarding it to you before Wendell Murphy screamed second. We mentioned that State comes out of this a winner too. What is the biggest winner? What is the biggest win for NC State, do you think? For State?

Yeah. Well, I think the activation of the property around the PNC Arena is going to really pay off for the school in the long run. It may have some folks fretting and distressed about the tailgating situation. If you've gone through the term sheet, you can see very clearly that we have tried to mollify any of the consternation that will arise from, you know, massive construction project with the dedicated five acre tailgate zone with 50% surface lots that still remain after development.

I mean, it's going to be cool. And I think that just the cache of this entertainment district for the university itself and their football program, their basketball program, their college ice hockey program, when we get the new stadium series again, is going to be phenomenal. And of course, when we get the stadium series back, we'll have development on the site at least starting. But the way we have built in the funding mechanisms straight from the owner of the Hurricanes, $75 million in lease payments over the last 15 years of the 20 year lease.

6% ground lease payments for the value of the development goes in there must go back into the building. This building is going to be incredible for the lifetime that it's, you know, 2096. If the building lasts that long, we still have funding resources to make sure that our capital expenses are paid for. And if it's able to last into the 2040s or 2050s, we still have that funding revenue. So they know for a fact they're always going to have a place to play basketball in. And in 15, 20 years, it's going to be a pretty cool place to boot. I actually, I've already renewed my season ticket package for 2096.

So I'm very excited for, I got a senior rate because I'm assuming that I'll qualify at that point. Phillip Isley is the chairman of the Centennial Authority. Tom Dundon can be a difficult man to negotiate with, but he had a vision for, and he's been talking about it for a long time. Did that vision make it a little easier to kind of bring him to where you got? Well, let me say this.

Maybe easier is not the right word. Well, I very much appreciate Tom Dundon and where we've gotten to. I had been elected as chairman, no lie, less than two hours when I've kept getting this phone call from a Texas prefix.

I had no idea who it was. I kept nuking the call. Finally, Wydell texted me because, hey, this is Tom Dundon trying to call you.

And I was in the middle of a huge Zoom hearing or something, so I couldn't take it. So I talked to him the next day and he was very eager to move forward. And I had to explain to him, hey, we're a state entity. This is kind of process, as the Canadians like to say.

And we have to go through the process and we have to make sure there's no controversy and difficulties along the way. And so it took him a while to sort of appreciate that. But once he appreciated that, and I'll tell you, he knew I was working my tail off to try to get this deal done. Between Dan Barrett and myself and Tom Dundon and NC State, I mean, all of us were rowing in the same direction to get to where we ultimately ended today. And I also hope that he knows and realizes that he had me also trying to accomplish the goals that made him happy and Hurricanes happy, NC State happy, and folks that want to go to the monster truck rally happy.

I mean, this is a community asset that's going to be around for a long time. But Tom's vision was bold. And we've been able to make sure that his vision is phased in to where people have that transition period to where they can acclimate themselves to ultimately what he wants to put out there. But we owe him a lot of gratitude for, in addition to the money he's putting into the building, but also his desire to do something cool at his young age when he probably can pick and choose anything he wants to do. He's decided to let Raleigh benefit from his generosity. I think that's pretty awesome. Yeah. And he has become an enormous hockey fan.

And I mean, obviously the team is good too. All of that kind of works. Phillip Isley is joining us, chairman of the Centennial Authority. So if I have all of my ducks in a row here, phase one has to be completed within five years. Is that five years from today or five years from the start of construction?

So we have to get moving pretty quickly, no? He'll start getting his entitlements as soon as he possibly can. And that, again, that's another process that Raleigh will control. And hopefully he'll hire the right land use folks and he'll make sure that he's complying with our building regulations and stuff like that. But yes, as soon as he gets his entitlements, that's when the clock starts ticking and he's got his five years to put in his $200 million, his $150 million in office commercial, his $100,000 of food and beverage, his $200 apartments with workforce housing, and then a 150 room hotel. So, you know, it's something that I think can be daunting given market conditions, but he wants to move.

And I have a feeling he's going to be able to do exactly what he wants to do. Now, you mentioned $200 million. That is a minimum, right?

He has to spend at least $200 minimum. I would wager it would probably be higher than that. I have a substantial feeling that it is going to be considerably higher than that. With a sports book going in, I believe over $200 million is like minus money.

It's definitely a heavy favorite. Are you surprised at the scope of everything that is at least initially planned? Well, you know, anytime you hear about what folks want to build, they always come with very pretty pictures.

But in reality, the market hits. And so I don't pay attention to pictures. I don't pay attention to, you know, the dream necessarily because I know that, you know, I used to do this as a city councilor.

We'd see a lot of these renderings and, you know, five years later, you'd see like, that didn't look like anything they presented to us. It's still developed and it's still nice. But, you know, he wants this to be an extraordinarily active corridor.

And I said this to him on another podcast that I just did. I think that this is the greatest thing to happen to West Raleigh since North Carolina State decided to create its land use or its land grant school there. You know, it's effectively the entrance to Raleigh from the airport. Everything from, you know, the bandwidth projects, extraordinarily exciting. What's happening in Blue Ridge Road corridor with Health and Human Services properties getting built, UNC Rex Hospital, all that state property is going to continue to develop in a manner that I hope will be anchored by what we're trying to accomplish on our own site. Final thing for you, and I really want to give you the floor to kind of just, you know, from a, on a personal level, because I remember when you were just a little old member of the city council going back, it's got to be 15 years ago. And you, you told me then that there were, there had already been, because you have to do these things in advance, already been kind of, you know, brief discussions about maybe building a new arena. You have to be so far ahead of everything.

But what are your thoughts on where we are based on where we were, say, 10, 15 years ago? Well, you know, everyone, anyone who's ever read our original documents knows that the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, whomever that was, had the ability to develop around the PNC arena. And unfortunately, you know, Mr. Crimanos chose not to exercise that option.

He didn't have any interest in doing that. And now we have someone who is very excited to do that. And, and frankly, he's, he's sort of giddy about it.

When he calls you and talks to you, he's, you can hear how excited he is. But you know, 20 years ago, 15 years ago, when I was on the city council, we really thought this would have already been developed. We thought there would be lots of restaurants there, you know, not the Backyard Bistro, the Wendy's and the C Store, and maybe some of the lunch places in the, in the buildings across from Wade Park. I bet you we had four or five really large planned developments at that intersection of Edwards Mill and Wade Avenue that looked incredible when they would approach us to get rezonings, and then they would just die. So, you know, I really do hope that this one takes. If it does, it's going to be the coolest thing to happen to the city of Raleigh and Wake County, likely in this history.

It has the potential to be the largest economic development project in the eastern part of North Carolina. I'm really proud to have been a part of this. And my board, I must, I just have to say, I think our board is incredible, and we're the best public board, I think, out there because of all of our divergent interests.

Political affiliations, what they do for jobs, former elected officials, it's really cool. And I'm just, I'm really excited. I'm relieved that today's vote was unanimous. I'm hopeful that the city council will be unanimous this afternoon. And then on Monday, the 21st, the county commissioners will vote.

My expectation is we'll have three unanimous votes, and then we can hit the ground running. Man, great work. Thank you for your time. I'm sure I'll see you soon.

I don't know. Just enjoy the day, enjoy the win, because it's a pretty big win. Not only for the city, I mean, great job pulling it all together. Philip Isley, chairman of the Centennial Authority.

You'd you'd done good. I'll talk to you very soon. Thank you. Take care. Philip Isley here on the Adam Gold show with no fees or minimums and no overdraft fees.

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