When the Charlotte 49ers decided to market their $70 million stadium expansion, they didn’t set up shop at the construction site. Instead, they’re heading downtown.
The university plans to open a 900-square-foot sales center in uptown Charlotte’s CO-LAB building on Ninth Street this summer—a full two years before their expanded facility will welcome fans in 2027. It’s not just convenient. It’s strategic.
We’re seeing this approach increasingly across major construction projects nationwide. Forward-thinking developers are establishing downtown sales centers years before breaking ground at actual project sites. What was once an occasional tactic has evolved into a deliberate strategy that’s changing how construction projects are marketed and sold.
But why?
The Urban Advantage
Traditional construction marketing has long relied on site visits and renderings. The problem? Undeveloped sites don’t sell premium experiences very effectively. Try convincing someone to invest six figures in a luxury suite while standing in an empty field or construction zone.
Downtown sales centers solve multiple problems simultaneously. They provide controlled environments where potential buyers can experience sophisticated presentations without hard hats. They offer accessibility to business decision-makers already working downtown. And they create a physical presence for projects that might be years from completion.
The Charlotte 49ers’ strategy illustrates this perfectly. Their stadium expansion won’t be completed until 2027, but they’re creating a tangible presence now. The sales center will showcase the planned 20% capacity increase, seven luxury suites, loge boxes, ledge seating, indoor club, and patio spaces long before a single beam is raised at Jerry Richardson Stadium.
This approach isn’t just about convenience—it fundamentally changes the psychology of the sales process.
The Psychology of Pre-Construction Sales
Construction marketing has always faced a fundamental challenge: selling something that doesn’t exist yet. Buyers struggle to envision the final product, especially when standing on undeveloped land.
Urban sales centers transform this dynamic. They create immersive environments where the abstract becomes tangible through technology, design, and strategic storytelling.
We’ve watched projects accelerate their pre-sales timelines by months using this approach. When potential investors can experience designs in comfortable, impressive surroundings, they make decisions faster.
For the Charlotte project, the downtown location creates a natural connection to the business community most likely to purchase premium seating options. Stadium luxury suites aren’t typically bought by individuals making weekend plans—they’re corporate investments made by executives who already work downtown.
Going where your buyers already are seems obvious in retail. Somehow, construction has been slow to apply this principle.
Beyond Location: Creating Experience
Modern construction sales centers are more than just downtown offices with some renderings on the wall. They’re becoming sophisticated experience centers that use technology to bridge the gap between concept and reality.
The most effective centers incorporate:
Interactive displays that allow potential buyers to customize their selections
Virtual reality stations where visitors can “walk through” spaces that don’t exist yet
Material and finish samples that bring design concepts to life
Scale models providing physical representation of the completed project
Meeting spaces designed to mimic the atmosphere of the final product
While the Charlotte 49ers haven’t released specific details about their sales center technology, the two-year pre-construction window suggests they’re investing in creating an experience that will sustain interest over time. This isn’t a temporary leasing office—it’s a long-term marketing hub.
This extended timeline approach represents another shift in construction marketing strategy.
The Long Game in Pre-Construction Sales
Construction timelines have always been lengthy. Marketing timelines haven’t always matched. The traditional approach has been to wait until construction is well underway before aggressively pursuing sales.
What we’re seeing now is strategic alignment between construction and marketing timelines, with sales efforts beginning years before completion.
The Charlotte project plans to break ground in August, but their sales center will be operational in June. This isn’t accidental timing. It reflects a sophisticated understanding of how major purchasing decisions unfold, especially for premium products like luxury suites and loge boxes.
Premium construction products often involve multiple decision-makers, budget cycles, and extensive deliberation. By establishing a sales presence early, projects can guide potential buyers through this process alongside the construction timeline rather than trying to compress decisions at the end.
The 49ers’ two-year sales window before the 2027 season aligns perfectly with corporate budget cycles. Companies making significant entertainment investments typically plan multiple fiscal years ahead. The sales center timeline accommodates this reality.
Location Within Location
Where these sales centers are positioned within downtown areas adds another layer of strategy. The CO-LAB incubator building where the 49ers are establishing their sales center isn’t just any downtown address.
Incubator and innovation spaces attract forward-thinking business leaders—precisely the audience most likely to invest in premium stadium experiences. The environment itself communicates something about the project before a potential buyer even enters the sales center.
We’ve observed other construction projects similarly choosing locations that reinforce their brand positioning. Luxury residential developments establish sales centers in high-end retail districts. Commercial developments select locations near complementary business hubs.
The physical context becomes part of the marketing message.
The Financial Equation
Of course, downtown real estate isn’t cheap. Establishing a sales center in prime urban locations requires significant investment. So what makes the math work?
For large projects like the 49ers’ $70 million expansion, the economics become clearer when you consider what’s being sold. The addition of seven luxury suites, loge boxes, and premium seating represents millions in potential revenue. Accelerating those sales even slightly justifies the urban real estate investment.
The calculation is straightforward: If a downtown presence helps sell just one additional luxury suite or a handful of premium seating packages, it pays for itself. Everything beyond that is accelerated return on investment.
Additionally, urban sales centers often serve multiple functions. They can host events, build community relationships, and generate broader project awareness beyond direct sales. The value extends beyond transaction metrics.
What we’re really seeing is a shift from viewing sales centers as cost centers to seeing them as strategic assets.
Not Just for Stadiums
While the Charlotte 49ers example highlights how sports venues are employing this strategy, the approach is spreading across construction sectors.
Mixed-use developments, master-planned communities, and commercial campuses are all establishing downtown presences before breaking ground at their actual sites. The principles transfer effectively across project types.
The common denominator is complexity and scale. Projects with long development timelines, multiple stakeholders, and premium components benefit most from this approach.
For simpler projects, traditional on-site marketing may still make sense. But as construction projects grow more ambitious and competitive, the downtown strategy offers significant advantages.
The Integration Challenge
Establishing a downtown sales center does create challenges. The primary one: ensuring consistency between the sales experience and the final delivered product.
Construction projects evolve. Designs change. Materials get substituted. Creating a sales environment that accurately represents the final product—while remaining flexible enough to accommodate inevitable changes—requires careful planning.
The most successful implementations maintain consistent communication between design teams, construction managers, and marketing staff. They build adaptability into their sales center designs from the start, anticipating potential project evolutions.
For the Charlotte project, this means creating displays that can be updated as construction progresses. Their two-year sales window virtually guarantees some aspects of the project will evolve. Planning for this reality from the beginning will prevent disconnects between what’s promised and what’s delivered.
Looking Forward
As construction marketing continues to mature, we expect to see this downtown-first approach become standard practice for major projects. The advantages are simply too compelling to ignore.
The strategy effectively addresses fundamental challenges in construction marketing: making the intangible tangible, connecting with decision-makers efficiently, and creating immersive experiences that drive faster commitment.
Smart builders aren’t just constructing physical spaces anymore—they’re constructing sales experiences that begin long before ground is broken. The Charlotte 49ers’ approach demonstrates how construction marketing is evolving from a supporting function to a strategic driver of project success.
The most interesting development may be yet to come. As more projects establish downtown presences, competition for visibility within urban centers will intensify. Construction marketing innovation won’t stop with location—it will extend to creating increasingly distinctive experiences within those locations.
The future of construction sales isn’t on construction sites. It’s downtown, years before the first shovel hits dirt. And the builders who understand this shift are positioning themselves for advantage in an increasingly competitive market.
