A third option for a UNC basketball arena emerged in early March. The first two, are renovating the Dean E. Smith Center or building a new area at the Carolina North campus, 1.6m from downtown.
Third option is to build an arena on 14 acres of Odum Village, formerly married student housing on Mason Farm Road beside the Medical Center. This option is gaining interest because it solves two giant problems—no more $80M roof replacement for the Smith Center and no more permanent seat agreements.
It also sits in the middle of the estimated project cost category ($703M) between Carolina North project ($786M) and DES renovation ($591M) and would have an egress time of 42 mins. compared to 54 for the Smith Center. To many it could be viewed as a compromise between moving and renovating. More than 38,550 signed the renovate don’t relocate petition (3/9).
According to UNC, a new arena at Odum Village could seat between 16,200 and 17,700, have expanded concourses, more bathrooms and concessions, premium seating and student seating near the floor with men/women practice facilities. Games could be played at the Smith Center while Odum was built for no loss of ticket sales.
Rick Steinbacher, Senior Associate Athletic Director, said UNC has spent $1.3M since 2022 on studies to gather arena information.
J.B.