Bon Secours Wellness Arena
Bon Secours Wellness Arena in 2016.
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| Location | 650 North Academy Street Greenville, South Carolina 29601 |
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| Coordinates | 34°51′10″N 82°23′29″W / 34.852789°N 82.391458°WCoordinates: 34°51′10″N 82°23′29″W / 34.852789°N 82.391458°W |
| Owner | Greenville Arena District |
| Operator | Greenville Arena District |
| Capacity | Hockey: 13,707 Basketball: 14,897 Concert (Center Stage): 16,400 Concert (End Stage): 11,000-14,000 |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | March 7, 1996 |
| Opened | September 3, 1998 |
| Construction cost | $63 million ($92.6 million in 2017 dollars) |
| Architect | Odell Associates AMI Associates |
| Project manager | International Facilities Group, LLC. |
| Structural engineer | Geiger Engineers PC |
| General contractor | Fluor Daniel |
| Tenants | |
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Greenville Road Warriors/Swamp Rabbits (ECHL) (2010–present) Greenville Force (SIFL) (2009–2010) Greenville Grrrowl (ECHL) (1998–2006) Carolina Rhinos (AF2) (2000–2002) Greenville Groove (NBA D-League) (2001–2003) Clemson Tigers men's basketball (NCAA) (2015–2016) |
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The Bon Secours Wellness Arena (formerly the Bi-Lo Center) is an arena located in downtown Greenville, South Carolina that is used for concerts, football, and hockey. The arena is currently used by the Greenville Swamp Rabbits of the ECHL. Due to the length of the official name, the arena is popularly known as "The Well".
The Bon Secours Wellness Arena was built in 1998 at a cost of US$63 million, under its former name of Bi-Lo Center, to replace Greenville's outdated and under-repaired Greenville Memorial Auditorium, which was imploded on September 20, 1997 on a site located across the street from the new arena. The arena naming rights were purchased by Dutch grocer Ahold, then-owner of BI-LO, which had been founded in nearby Mauldin and was still based there at the time. When it was built, it passed Columbia's Carolina Coliseum as the largest arena in the state of South Carolina, a distinction it held until 2002, when the Colonial Center was built in Columbia.
Its second sporting event took place on September 26, 1998 between the Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers.
As a concert venue, the Bon Secours Wellness Arena can seat between 11,000 and 15,951 spectators, depending on the positioning of the stage. The arena features 30 luxury suites and 840 club seats.
The arena floor measures 113 feet (34 m) wide by 229 feet (70 m) long. There are 7,472 seats in the upper bowl and 4,809 permanent seats and 1,290 retractable seats in the lower bowl.
The Bon Secours Wellness Arena hosted the Southern Conference men's basketball tournament in 2000 and 2001, as well as first and second round games during the 2002 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. However, the NCAA then implemented a policy to not hold tournament games in either South Carolina or Mississippi, following a recommendation from the NAACP that was intended to call attention to the Confederate flag on display next to a monument on the grounds of the South Carolina State House. As a result, the Bon Secours Wellness Arena has not hosted an NCAA Tournament game since 2002. College basketball made its return to Greenville in 2005, when the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament was played at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena, due to an emergency situation. Philips Arena in Atlanta was the scheduled site for the tournament, but it backed out in the summer of 2004 because of logistics, following plans for the 54th NHL All-Star Game which was to be held just six weeks before the 2005 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament. Once the plans were announced, the SEC had moved that tournament to Greenville, again garnering considerable protest from the NAACP. Even with the 2004–05 NHL lockout, the SEC kept the tournament in Greenville, which is 140 miles (230 km) northeast of Atlanta.
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