The Hornets’ owners buy the old EpiCentre for $27.5 million, 71% below its 2022 foreclosure price, and have spent $20.5 million more next door

The Charlotte Hornets’ owners just bought a piece of downtown Charlotte at a 71% discount to the last time it changed hands. Hornets Sports & Entertainment, Lincoln Property Company and Vision Ventures closed on Queen City Quarter, the four-level complex formerly known as the EpiCentre, on Monday, Nov. 2 and announced the joint venture the next day. County property records show the price was $27.5 million. The Hornets declined to comment on the terms, and the size of the team’s share has not been disclosed.

😬 Epicentre sale price to Hornets: $27.5M

Appraised value: $97.8M
Winning bid at 2022 auction: $95M
2014 sale to CIM Group: $130.5Mhttps://t.co/E0ItZadahP

— alex sands (@alexsands_) November 4, 2026

What $27.5 million bought

The property sits at 210 E. Trade St., on about 3.17 acres between Spectrum Center and the Charlotte Convention Center. It has 302,324 square feet of restaurant, retail, entertainment and office space, so the price works out to roughly $91 a square foot. It opened in 2008, and the news release describes it as a once-thriving entertainment hub whose occupancy and activity have changed significantly in recent years. Here is how the price compares with what the building has been valued at before:

Date	Event	Price or value	$27.5M is
2014	CIM Group buys the complex	$130.5 million	79% lower
Aug. 9, 2022	Lender is the only bidder at a foreclosure auction	$95 million	71% lower
Now	Tax value in county records	About $97.8 million	72% lower
Nov. 2, 2026	Hornets-Lincoln-Vision joint venture	$27.5 million	–

The discount makes sense once you look at what the venture is getting. Listing data kept by CBRE, the firm that has managed the property since the foreclosure and put it on the market in April, shows occupancy of 32.5%, with more than 193,000 square feet still available. Three tenants have recently faced eviction proceedings over unpaid rent. In other words, the Hornets’ group is not buying a performing shopping center, it is buying a block of land and buildings next to the arena.

The second purchase in a week

This is the Hornets’ second uptown land deal in about a week. On Oct. 26, Hornets Basketball Holdings, the team’s ownership and management entity, paid $20.5 million for two older office buildings at 301 S. Brevard St., a 1.89-acre site that includes the former Brooklyn McCrorey YMCA building, a historic landmark since 2021. The team has not said what it plans to build there. Adding the two deals gives the following picture of the owners’ known spending in the neighborhood:

Project	Amount	Who pays
Spectrum Center renovation, finished 2025	$245 million	City of Charlotte
Novant Health Performance Center, opens spring 2027	$190 million	About $160 million Hornets owners, about $30 million city
301 S. Brevard St., closed Oct. 26	$20.5 million	Hornets Basketball Holdings
Queen City Quarter, closed Nov. 2	$27.5 million	Joint venture; Hornets share not disclosed

The practice facility is the big one. The Hornets originally budgeted it at $150 million and kept raising the number as construction went on, in particular on technology. Reporting on the project says the city had set aside $215 million for the arena and $60 million for training space, then moved $30 million of the training money to the arena, which left the owners to cover $160 million of the $190 million building. Add the $20.5 million Brevard purchase and the owners have put roughly $180 million of their own money into the blocks around Spectrum Center since 2025, before counting whatever share of Queen City Quarter belongs to them.

Why an arena owner buys the block next door

The reason is the one every arena-district project shares: a game is three hours long, and the money is in the other hours. The team has long talked about an “entertainment district” around the arena in the mold of Milwaukee’s Deer District, and the name “Hive District” has been floated. Owning the land next to the building lets the team put restaurants, bars and event space where fans already walk before and after games, and keep the rent. The same arena-first thinking runs through the Trail Blazers’ Moda Center fight, where the building’s future is still in doubt, and the Mavericks’ Valley View project in Dallas, where a 40-year home is planned on a former mall site.

The timing matters. Spectrum Center was a city-funded $245 million project that reopened last season, and Charlotte business reports credit the team with the league’s biggest attendance gain last season, 9%. The arena is aiming for more than 150 events a year and will host the WTA Finals starting in 2027. That is the argument for owning the neighbors: more events and more fans mean more people looking for somewhere to eat and drink nearby.

The franchise math

The spending is easier to understand next to what the team is worth. Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin took control of the Hornets from Michael Jordan in 2023 at a valuation of about $3 billion. Sportico’s 2026 list puts the franchise at $4.85 billion, 25th of 30 teams and up 17% in a year, and Forbes values it at $4.4 billion, with estimated revenue of $367 million and operating income of $90 million. Counting the owners’ $160 million for the practice facility, the $20.5 million Brevard purchase and, if the group had paid for all of it, the full $27.5 million, the total is about $208 million, more than twice the team’s estimated annual operating income, so this is long-term capital, not a way to balance a season.

In a statement, Schnall and Plotkin said: “A vibrant Uptown is essential to Charlotte’s continued emergence as a leading U.S. city, and we’re committed to being part of the city’s future success.” Our reading is that the real return depends on what gets built. Without tenants, a complex that is two-thirds empty gets no help from being next to a busy arena.

What we don’t know

The owners have not said what they plan to build on either site, how much of Queen City Quarter the Hornets own, or what the investment will cost beyond the purchase price. Next to watch are a redevelopment plan or rezoning request for Trade Street, any request for city help, and whether the building fills up before the practice facility opens in the spring and the WTA Finals arrive in 2027.