Charlotte to spend $33M on Hornets' arena

The city of Charlotte is prepared to spend $27.5 million in capital improvements for Time Warner Cable Arena, as well as 10 years’ worth of annual payments of $600,000 for ongoing maintenance.

The Charlotte Hornets and the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority asked the city earlier this year for nearly $48 million in arena improvements, many of which the city and the team said are part of a 2003 operating agreement that requires the 9-year-old building to be among the National Basketball Association’s most modern.

The city said some of the improvements fell under a category of having to be up to current “NBA Standard.”