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Additional Funding Approved for Memorial Stadium Renovation

Memorial Stadium renovation rendering

To address increasing construction and labor costs, Mecklenburg County commissioners have approved an additional $5.5 million in funding for an American Legion Memorial Stadium renovation.

Work is underway on an overhaul to Memorial Stadium, as the historic facility is being prepared for the arrival of USL Championship’s Charlotte Independence in 2021. The project has required additional funds, with a rise in construction and labor costs from earlier estimates cited as the factor by county officials.

In order to resolve that issue, commissioners voted on Tuesday to approve an extra $5.5 million in funding for the project, bringing its total cost to $40.5 million. This action is expected to help keep the project on track. More from WCNC NBC Charlotte:

“It’s been a fixture in this community for a very long time,” said Lee Jones, the director of Mecklenburg Parks and Recreation, as he talked about American Legion Memorial Stadium.

The stadium will be home to the Charlotte Independence soccer team once it’s completed. But construction crews ran into a wall when it came to funding for the project.

The cost of construction and labor has gone up between 15-20% since the start of the project, according to Jones. That’s why he asked the county for more money so the project can stay on track.

“Concrete, masonry, site-work grating, elevators, and conveying equipment,” Jones said as he explained what was costing the extra money. 

The renovation project is expected to effectively modernize the historic facility–first built in 1936 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project–for a variety of uses, including football, lacrosse, concerts, and professional soccer matches. The Independence is slated to return to the Sportsplex at Matthews, a facility in suburban Matthews, NC, in 2020 before arriving at the renovated Memorial Stadium in the spring of 2021.

Rendering courtesy Charlotte Independence.

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