Convention Center team continues fast, precise execution of recovery efforts
The Raleigh Convention Center is entering the next phase of fire recovery. Starting on March 25th, the new permanent cooling elements will arrive to replace the temporary equipment the facility had been using in the wake of the fire. A crane will return to McDowell Street the week of April 1st to load this new equipment onto the roof. Lane closures on McDowell are anticipated for the first week of April. During this timeframe, pieces of the venue’s permanent kitchen will be restored as the convention center transitions back to regular operations from the mobile kitchen in Red Hat Amphitheater that has served guests since January.
This is the continuation of a highly precise, collaborative operation to reactivate the venue fully for event planners, attendees, and the downtown Raleigh community. Convention center leadership has been adaptable and innovative in this situation, finding creative solutions to the complicated problems posed by this fire. These solutions have allowed the convention center to welcome nearly 85,000 guests in the first quarter of 2026 while also managing this fire recovery efforts, and major construction projects for three of the Convention and Performing Arts Complex venues.
“This group of people is incredible, they have worked non-stop to deliver results and solve problems since the December 1st fire.” said Kerry Painter, Executive Director of the Raleigh Convention and Performing Arts Complex. “And to not only get us back to a place where we’re having these huge events with tens of thousands of people, but to do that while our Complex is getting bigger and better is a statement about what a tremendous team we have here.”
As March concludes, the final meals will be prepped from the mobile kitchen. The Mobile Event Solutions team will remove the mobile kitchen from Red Hat Amphitheater, taking the equipment to its next exciting destination. The convention center’s culinary partner Sodexo Live! has executed well from this temporary kitchen and is grateful to be back into the facility kitchen after serving over 89,000 meals and over 100,000 desserts from the mobile kitchen. The mobile kitchen will be moved out by the end of the month to make room for preparations Red Hat Amphitheater to welcome the band Bush for the first concert of the season on April 14th.
For ongoing updates on this phase, please visit RaleighConvention.com or follow the Raleigh Convention Center on social media.
