Regular readers will know that The River District is a 1400 acre development just across the Catawba River from Gaston County. It is also just west of the the Charlotte Douglas Airport.
Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte have committed $95 million to help build a tennis complex in the River district to bring the Western & Southern Open professional tennis tournament to Charlotte.
Why does this matter to Gaston County? Because it would literally be right next door. Money for our restaurants, hotels, and more. Plus, how cool would it be to have a tennis tournament 10 minutes away?
The fly in in the ointment? There may be a couple. First, it looks like the State General Assembly will include incentives for the tennis complex, but will they, and for how much?
Second, Cincinnati is pulling out the stops to keep the tournament. They had a noticeable increase in attendance this year, and in July, the Ohio Governor approved a budget that included $22.5 million commitment to the tournament.
So we’ll see….we are keeping our fingers crossed!
