Former Easland Mall site takes on sports-focused  future

CITY OF CHARLOTTE

Charlotte government officials shovel dirt for the ceremonial groundbreaking at the Eastland Sports Campus on March 13. City officials estimate the campus, anchored by Charlotte Soccer Academy, BIC (Belton Ivory Canty) and Edge Sports Global will generate $169 million in annual economic impact.

The former Eastland Mall site is now a space for sports.

The March 6 groundbreaking of the $67.1 million Eastland Sports Campus is a milestone for east Charlotte, where community leaders have lobbied for new investment since the mall’s demolition in 2013. The 30-acre complex is expected to spark economic development in the corridor through its three tenants – Edge Sports Global, BIC (Belton Ivory Canty) LLC and Charlotte Soccer Academy. 

City leaders estimate the campus will create 500 jobs, generate $169 million in annual economic impact, and generate 130,000 hotel room nights each year for youth sports.

The “groundbreaking is a milestone, not a finish line,” said Greg Asciutto, executive director of CharlotteEAST, a nonprofit community advocacy group. “We look forward to how this project will help the Greater Eastland area once again become one of the Piedmont’s premier tourism destinations, and CharlotteEAST will be here to shepherd that work and ensure our existing, booming small business ecosystem benefits from the opportunities this development brings.”

City government committed $30 million to construction and site improvements in 2023.The campus, a public-private initiative, will feature six full-size multipurpose athletic fields and a 100,000-square-foot indoor sports facility with courts for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. The soccer fields will take eight months to build and will open first. The indoor facility will take 12-to-14 months. The full project is expected to deliver in 2028.

City leaders anticipate ESC will attract visitors from along the East Coast for youth athletic events and training. The campus will also headquarter health and wellness facility, walking and biking paths, academic learning center and public green space.

“When the City of Charlotte created CharlotteEAST—then the Eastland Area Organization Task Force—back in 2002, the assignment was straightforward: identify a catalytic project that could bring sustained economic activity to this corridor,” Asciutto said. “The Eastland Sports Campus is exactly that, a long-awaited anchor designed to bring jobs, investment, and opportunity back to East Charlotte, fulfilling the vision CharlotteEAST laid out more than two decades ago.”

The ESC is one of several development projects underway at the 80-acre Eastland Yards site, which includes affordable senior housing, mixed-use apartment and retail project, townhomes and single-family homes, and a park expected to open later this year.

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