Sail on Charlotte Coliseum

Alan11 · Post by **Alan11** » May 30, 2007 6:09 pm

This will happen Sunday June 3. Went to some great events there including 2 Buffett Shows. RIP

Its opening in August 1988 ushered Charlotte into the big time of major league team sports.

With 24,000 seats, the Charlotte Coliseum was the biggest building in professional basketball. Alonzo Mourning made an NBA playoff series-winning shot there in 1993. A year later, President Clinton sat in a skybox and watched the NCAA men's Final Four in its only visit to the Queen City.

Frank Sinatra opened the building, and entertainers ranging from U2 to Luciano Pavarotti performed there.

In June 1995, Mother Teresa spoke to a full house there.

But in 10 seconds Sunday morning, the Charlotte Coliseum will come tumbling to the ground, officially marking an end to the city's biggest-ever indoor arena.

CST Environmental, a Mint Hill-based demolition firm, will use 550 pounds of explosives on the 465,000-square-foot building.

The Coliseum hasn't been used since October 2005, replaced as an indoor sports and entertainment venue by the Charlotte Bobcats Arena in uptown.

The Charlotte Hornets enjoyed 364 consecutive sellouts in the Coliseum, but the building became the central part of a nasty controversy that ended with the NBA team moving to New Orleans.

By the mid-1990s, owner George Shinn began lobbying the city for a new arena -- somewhere uptown and with more of the luxury boxes that provide sports franchises with much of their revenue. Shinn said the Coliseum's small amount of premium seating was causing the Hornets to lose money.

But Charlotte voters rejected a bond referendum in 2001 that would have provided funding for an uptown arena.

A year later, Shinn and co-owner Ray Woolridge got approval from fellow NBA owners to move the Hornets.

The building will live on: CST officials say 93 percent of the building's materials will be recycled. Much of its brick and masonry will be used on the site as fill for City Park, a 170-acre development that will include residences, retail and office space, a hotel and with a three-mile trail for walking, running and biking.

Mason Zimmerman of Pope & Land, an Atlanta-based developer that bought the property from the city of Charlotte, said the Coliseum site is perfectly located for mixed use.

"In addition to amazing infrastructure, the property is literally surrounded by a creek, a golf course, mountain bike trails, baseball and soccer fields, tennis courts and one of the largest farmers markets in the state," Zimmerman said.

But the Coliseum's design, with far fewer luxury boxes than most other indoor sports arenas, made it expendable.

Crews have been at the site for about two months, demolishing the arena floor and seating area. The rear service area also was demolished, in preparation for the implosion at 10 a.m. Sunday.

Coliseum Facts

Construction: Began in 1986 and finished in August 1988.

First concert: Frank Sinatra was the first performer at the building.

First pro team sports event: Charlotte Hornets played the Cleveland Cavaliers on Nov. 4, 1988, and lost 133-93.

Other notable sports events: NCAA men's Final Four in 1994. NCAA women's Final Four in 1996. NBA All-Star Game in February 1991. Boxing champion Thomas Hearns fought in February 1994.

Other notable guests: Grateful Dead in October 1989, one month after Hurricane Hugo. Mother Teresa in June 1995. Tina Turner's farewell tour in October 2000. U2 in March 2001. And several hundred survivors of Hurricane Katrina stayed there in September 2005.

Nickname: The Hive (during days of the Charlotte Hornets).

Forgettable event: On Aug. 12, 1988, the day after the Coliseum opened, the state-of-the-art scoreboard broke loose from its ceiling moorings and crashed to the floor.

mirrorthatlies · Post by **mirrorthatlies** » May 30, 2007 7:10 pm

Sail on Charlotte Coliseum....went to the first Hornets game and 3 Buffett concerts, as well as other concerts and games. I really enjoyed the tailgating there. I hate to see it go.

bocanuts · Post by **bocanuts** » May 30, 2007 8:05 pm

What a waste to destroy a building built only 20 years ago. Only in America.

Y-NO-9-O · Post by **Y-NO-9-O** » May 30, 2007 9:50 pm

The ONLY venue of the 18 at which I have seen JB play where I was told by the person behind me to "sit down, we paid good money for these seats". Needless to say, that didn't happen. Poor sound quality, but then again the new arena is not much better.
Another "first": Ms. y-no and I had our first date there 2/14/98. I'll give you one guess who was on stage that night?!?

PackPhanGirl · Post by **PackPhanGirl** » May 30, 2007 10:09 pm

Thanks for the facts Alan11. I had forgotten some of the "history" there. It is a shame that they still use the "old" coliseum (the one on Independence), but couldn't find a use for this one. Hate to see it go

Skibo · Post by **Skibo** » May 31, 2007 8:45 am

bocanuts wrote:What a waste to destroy a building built only 20 years ago. Only in America.

Glad my tax dollars didn't pay for this one.

phjrsaunt · Post by **phjrsaunt** » May 31, 2007 7:56 pm

Wow. Memories to be sure. I'm glad they will be recylying so much of the materials though.

CUparrot · Post by **CUparrot** » May 31, 2007 8:43 pm

Y-NO-9-O wrote:Another "first": Ms. y-no and I had our first date there 2/14/98. I'll give you one guess who was on stage that night?!?

I was there for your first date! That was my first JB show!

Sail on Charlotte Coliseum. I have some happy memories of that place.