It’s been an ongoing debate now for many months: what should be the long-term future home of Tar Heel men’s basketball? UNC officials have floated the idea of building a new arena on the Carolina North campus, but that’s gotten significant pushback – led by a group called the Committee for a South Campus Arena, headed up by former UNC trustee Rusty Carter.
Now, that committee has unveiled a proposal that would not only preserve the Dean Smith Center, but also transform the area around the Dean Dome into a “Village at South Campus” that could include a hotel, restaurants, retail and entertainment space, more student housing, and a pedestrian mall along part of Skipper Bowles Drive. And they’re renewing their call to Chancellor Lee Roberts to join them in the effort.
Renditions of a possible ‘Village at South Campus,’ via the Committee for a South Campus Arena.
97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck discussed the latest proposal with Rusty Carter. Click here to listen to their full conversation; the transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.
AARON KECK: I have to say, the last time we talked, you said something that stuck with me, which was that South Campus doesn’t really feel like a place that’s connected to (the rest of) campus. And at the time, I thought that undercut your argument (against Carolina North) because part of your argument was that Carolina North is disconnected – but this proposal would create that placemaking effort.
RUSTY CARTER: Thank you. Our letter to the Chancellor had two parts. First, we are openly inviting Chancellor Roberts to join us in (supporting) the agenda of renovating the Smith Center, and abandon this idea of moving it to Carolina North. We think the facts are there, the history’s there, the studies are there, that it’s time to just say, “Okay, Carolina North is no longer on the table.” The second part, we’re referring to as the Village at South Campus. It is a takeoff on the idea that was presented for Carolina North, no doubt about it, but there’s ample space to create some of the same type of environment…
I’m one of the students that was in Morrison Dorm in the early 1970s, and there was the discussion that South Campus would be connected to North Campus, our main campus, and you would, you would hardly know the transition between the two. Well, that never happened. It is a really isolated part of our wonderful campus. We’re (still) only separated by a street or a highway and a few sidewalks – I mean, it is part of campus – it just has never had any amenity infrastructure, other than dormitories, to tie it together. So we see it as a wonderful opportunity to do something grand, for the renovation and for the campus in general.
All (the specifics) are yet to be developed, of course: these (are just) renderings and concepts, it’s for other people to determine exactly what the right facilities are. But you could start with a few simple items – like food service. You’ve got hundreds of people at the hospital, hundreds of students at Kenan-Flagler, (and) 5,000 students living in the dormitories, and they virtually have no access to a (nearby) student store or food service.
And let me quickly add: you still have the issue of the stewardship of the resources of the university. It’s pretty well established that a brand new standalone arena, in Carolina North or anywhere, would push a billion dollars. Well, if you’re going to commit a billion dollars, we are saying, “let’s spend $300 million roughly to do a grand renovation of the Smith Center, and then spend the (rest) to bring those services – not only for game day, but also (to) embrace the whole South Campus.”
KECK: Who was involved in the making of what you’ve got right now as the proposal?
CARTER: Our committee funded that out of private donations, and we retained some outside firms, and we took ideas from the Carolina North concepts…but we took it several steps further. The Carolina North (proposal) addresses transitional populations, people attending an event, but you also (have to) address people who reside there. There’s a proposal to add 5,000 more undergraduate students over the next 10 years, and they’re going to have to have support services. And I don’t think you want to put them three or four or five miles away from campus. Then you got to get into busing and transportation.
KECK: It sounds like you’re saying you want UNC to do (all this) on South Campus instead of Carolina North? I feel like the reaction from UNC is going to be, “we’re definitely (building these things) at Carolina North, with or without the arena.”
CARTER: We are very in favor of the buildout of Carolina North. It’s been a vision for years, to be a research and academic and a housing and affordable housing community. We are absolutely behind that agenda. We support the chancellor and administration in that visionary agenda, we see it as a wonderful, wonderful opportunity. It could set UNC apart nationally in many ways. We have no negative feelings about the build out of Carolina North – we (only) do about putting an arena there.
KECK: So the buildout, the hotel, the retail, the housing, the everything – that’s a both-and, not an either-or?
CARTER: Yeah.
Members of the Carolina North Stakeholder Advisory Committee take a tour of several areas potentially included in the Carolina North project by bus and on foot on July 27, 2026. The 31-member Stakeholder Advisory Committee provides feedback on the Carolina North vision: how the University aligns access, innovation and community integration in ways that reflect both its public mission and the realities of a rapidly growing region. (Photo via Rob Holliday/UNC-Chapel Hill)
KECK: You sent the letter out to Chancellor Roberts this week – was there a thought about the strategy on the timing? Like, why this week versus before or after?
CARTER: We feel like we have been patient, awaiting the chancellor to address the issue and not just table the issue. What does it mean to say ‘all options are still on the table’? There was an initial discussion that we were pausing (the conversation) while we hired a basketball coach. Okay. Over, done. (And) I think we did a great job there. But we just feel like there’s been enough dead air. We think it’s time for the chancellor to accept our invitation and say, “Let’s move forward in the way 40,000 people are saying, and let’s say that an arena at Carolina North is no longer on the table.”
KECK: Anything else you want to say about the campaign?
CARTER: We would like to see collaborative effort to come together. We aren’t saying these conceptual renderings are the absolute way it needs to be. It’s a place for thinking to start. It’s a place for creativity to start…
Our committee continues not to understand why, after all this research and time, and committee after committee being formed – I mean, the chancellor’s formed player committees, student committees, booster committees, and more recently, an at large committee where he appointed every member of it – and moving the arena to Carolina North has (never) been supported. And we are a bit baffled why, after all (that), that we’re still here. I guess that’s one reason when you ask me ‘why now’ – we just think it’s time to move forward. The information’s there and the research has been done. And we, again, invite the chancellor and the athletic department and everyone to join in and embrace this, and let’s move forward.
Rusty Carter (right) with 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck. (Photo by the Chapel Hill Media Group.)
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