Nascar Looking To Build New State Of The Art Facility For Its Productions Group

A NASC
SC
A
AR
R spokesperson has confirmed that they will most likely move some of their operations out of downtown Charlotte to the nearby city of Concord, North Carolina.

The move will involve the NASCAR Productions group with about 125 employees to a new 58,000 square foot technology center. The new facility will be built near the existing NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord in the West Winds Business Park near the Concord-Padgett Regional Airport.

The city of Concord is about 20 miles from downtown Charlotte and is where most NASCAR teams are located as well as Charlotte Motor Speedway.

According to reports, NASCAR will invest more than $28 million for the new technology center which will have updated technology as the sport continues to expand its coverage in the television, and digital space in the coming years.

Thursday, the Concord City Council approved incentives with a total value of $340,986 over the course of three years for the relocation.

The move to a new facility opens the question as to the future of the building they are leaving located at 550 South Caldwell Street in downtown Charlotte. The downtown 20-story building was built adjacent to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

The office tower opened in 2009, the Hall of Fame the following year, and made up what as known as “NASCAR Plaza.” The tower has changed ownership several times over the years. It was most recently purchased by Cousins Properties and leased by Foundry Commercial. Cousins rebranded it “550 South” in December of last year.

NASCAR remains one of 550 South’s largest tenants occupying part of one floor, and all the space of the top two. However, 550 South is not the only corporate space occupied by NASCAR.

The International Motorsports Center a 184,500 square feet 8-story building across from Daytona International Speedway Florida was also opened in 2009. It originally housed the headquarters for International Speedway Corporation (ISC) and NASCAR. ISC and NASCAR merged in 2019, and NASCAR still has corporate offices there along with the NASCAR owned International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) sports car racing series.

The last public acknowledgement of the lease for NASCAR at 550 South showed it ending in May of last year. Assuming the lease was extended, when it does end it will be up to NASCAR to decide if the rest of its staff will move to Concord, or if some of its operations could be consolidated with its Daytona offices.

For now, NASCAR Productions will be getting a new state of the art facility that will help the sport’s media properties maintain pace as NASCAR continues to add new audiences and grow its product. That facility should take about two years to construct and could possibly add room for expansion allowing for NASCAR to have its staff in a centralized location once more.

As for the immediate future, Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners will meet Monday and take into consideration additional incentives worth $525,687 over three years.

“NASCAR has been part of our community’s fabric for decades,” said Page Castrodale, executive director of Cabarrus Economic Development Corporation. “We are so pleased that the success they have found in Concord so far has allowed them to grow here.”