Hornets Hold Ceremonial Topping Off Ceremony for the Novant Health Performance Center

The Charlotte Hornets organization celebrated the completion of the Novant Health Performance Center’s structural framework on Monday with a special Topping Off Ceremony to commemorate the major construction milestone.

The event saw the final beam on display for those in attendance to sign before it was raised and secured in place to honor all of those who brought this project to life.

Final Beam Placed for the Novant Health Performance Center | Ashley Stroehlein

Following the ceremony owners Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin spoke about the new facility, the team’s 2025-26 season and more.

Rick Schnall on seeing the NHPC come to fruition: It's a big deal. Facilities are an important part of being the premiere franchise we want to be. Our goal was to build the best practice facility in the league. As you can see, it's hard to see what's going to be on the inside, but this has been a labor of love for us and our whole staff. It's exciting, we love celebrating successes and to be on schedule and to have this constructed and financed and have the partners we do, it's worth celebrating.

Rick Schnall on a potential “Hive District”: We don't have a name yet. We do like Hive District. We also don't have all the pieces in place for it to be successful. What I would say is, great cities deserve a great downtown or uptown in Charlotte. We are not real estate developers, but we do envision being part of that progression. Part of being premier is having an environment where, when fans come to Spectrum Center, they also have great places to go before and after games or concerts. This city needs more housing, better restaurants, and retail, and we hope to be part of that.

Charlotte Hornets new training facility — Hornets NHPC Topping Off Ceremony | Ashley Stroehlein

Rick Schnall on the team’s progress this year vs. their expectations: I think we have high expectations of ourselves and what we do, but we were ahead of expectations this season and the team came together more quickly than we had expectations that we would be competitive. Obviously, from the beginning of the year, when we started winning, we were among the best teams in the league. We're really happy that we are where we are, so I'd say we're ahead of where we thought we would be, but we're certainly not complacent.

Gabe Plotkin on the pressure to build on this season: I think we're always feeling pressure in the sense of we have really high expectations. One of the great things we've learned this year, we had a great draft and you saw the impact that had. You saw a togetherness and teamwork. I think our staff, which we've always felt great about, even the year before when it may not have shown up in terms of wins and losses, but it was meaningful. So to know the foundation that we have built and how that translated already in terms of wins. I was reading today, our net margin differential from year over year was the most ever in the history of the NBA. So not only were the wins 25 more wins, but this team went from losing games by a lot of points to winning games by a lot of points. That's a great sign of what's to come, but it means the foundation is set. There's always pressure. We have high expectations and we're not there yet.

Gabe Plotkin on where the team is in terms of progress: Yeah, I mean, I think where we are is kind of where we ended in a sense. Like, you know, we've gone from, you know, kind of a forgotten team, with not a clear path and culture, to a team with a really strong foundation, to a team that, you know, won 44 games, but also didn't actually make the playoffs. And so, you know, we're one of the youngest teams in the league. We have a ton of picks, and it's our job to kind of figure out how we go from here to take it to that next level. The minute the season ends, you feel bad for a day or two, and also really good in many respects. But then it's like, how do we continue to get better? And that's really what our focus is.

Rick Schnall on the Hornets being in the playoffs a year from now: I certainly hope so. You can't be great if you don't make the playoffs.

Gabe Plotkin on his biggest memory from this season: The biggest individual memory was that last play where Miles and Brandon chased down that shot, and everyone falling on each other. But really it was the togetherness, the resilience, and the competitiveness. Looking up and seeing 18,000-plus fans when two years ago it might have been 6,000—it was an awesome moment. The fans made our arena a real challenge for other teams. That game represented what we're trying to build, and the way the city and the Carolinas fell in love with that team is something real and tangible. That final home game really encapsulated it all.

The state-of-the-art training and performance facility is scheduled to open in the spring of 2027.

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