The UNC Basketball Arena Question: Another Option

UNC’s need to renovate or relocate the home for its storied basketball program has been apparent for a while. That need soon moves from discussion to action. Chancellor Lee Roberts’ research committee seemed to prefer a relocation to Campus North, a 230-acre development project centered upon the old Horace Williams airport site along Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd (Hwy 68). That’s how a presentation to the UNC basketball community last month came across, and it was poorly received. In response, Coach Roy Williams and Tyler Hansbrough now front an effort to increase public support for renovating the Smith Center. Those two pieces of news have reduced the debate to one of two options: relocate to Campus North or renovate the existing location.

Fellow Tar Heel Blog writer Al Hood did an excellent job outlining the advantages and disadvantages of those two options in the two pieces linked above, so I won’t rehash those here. I’d like to discuss another option among the six possibilities originally proposed: a new arena, on campus, at the site of Odum Village.

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A bit of history: Odum Village, for over 50 years, served as housing for UNC married and graduate students. Built in the early 1960’s, 47 two-story brick apartment buildings served up to 500 residents until its closure at the end of the 2015-2016 academic year. 25 of the buildings have been demolished, and 22 units remain, although no longer serving as residences. Issues with bringing the structures up to code apparently preclude repurposing them, and demolition for the remaining buildings has been budgeted and scheduled.

A bit of future: UNC’s 2019 Master Plan advocates developing Odum Village into a “Campus South Hub,” a mixed-use area (live-work-play) serving as a “vibrant activity hub” that will “establish a welcoming arrival sequence.” For those familiar with the area and wondering about access, the Master Plan “reserves land for a future regional transit corridor with a stop…

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Publish date : 2026-01-31 16:00:00

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