To conclude the 19th, and final, farewell tour of Harrelson Hall Sunday, the NC State Union Activities Board, Student Government and Wake County Alumni Association hosted a concert open to the public on the Brickyard featuring the American rock band Mötley Crüe.
There were approximately 1,000 people in attendance at the concert, according to Rodney Rollen, president of the Concert and Entertainment committee of UAB. Rollen said UAB was lucky to book Mötley Crüe, as they just announced its most recent reunion, since they needed the money.
Although Mötley Crüe decided to retire in 2015, the band explained they wanted to “rock one more final tour in 2016,” announcing its next, and final, comeback. The tour began in New Jersey at the start of January and will end in August in the members’ hometown of Los Angeles.
The concert took place after the official final farewell tour University Ambassadors gave. University Ambassadors gave a total of six farewell tours during the weekend and finished the final one at 7 p.m. on Sunday. The purpose of the farewell tours were to “share the history, as well as the memories, of Harrelson Hall,” according to Lila Gides, a University Ambassador and a senior studying tourism.
Each tour included a select group of 30 students, alumni and faculty that had to submit an application and a 1,000 word essay concerning why they wanted to attend the event. Gides said this was to ensure those that were the most passionate about Harrelson could see the building off.
“We know many loved and appreciated this historic academic building,” Gides said. “But it was important to the university that only the truest fans could experience the farewell tour of Harrelson, especially because its deconstruction will truly begin this summer and it will soon be demolished.”
Although the deconstruction plans for Harrelson Hall were already announced in November to create a temporary greenery instead. Live it Up! on Hillsborough Street has released a change of plans for this building. Instead of deconstructing the building, recycling its parts and creating a greenery space, Live it Up! has bought and sold the space to a hotel chain.
Chairwoman of Live it Up! Nancy Motellen said on Feb. 1 that the hotel chain Comfort Hotelz put in a bid to buy the space. Motellen also explained that NC State was not willing to sell the lot until the CEO of Comfort Hotelz, Jerald Luntz, upped the price tag by another $2 million. With that, Chancellor Randy Woodson said NC State “could not — and should not — refuse this contribution to the university.”
Beginning on June 1, the deconstruction of Harrelson Hall and the construction of Comfort Hotelz will begin. Ironically enough, Motellen said the hotel’s blueprints are also in the shape of a cylinder similar to Harrelson Hall.
“This will be a great addition to NC State and Hillsborough Street,” Motellen said. “We’ll have more tourists coming to Raleigh who want to experience the ‘college environment’ as well as alumni who want to remember what attending NC State was like. Now they’ll get to be in the center of everything on main campus.”
Woodson also said this space would allow students touring the university and NC State guests a place to stay around the center of campus. Luntz also announced that the hotel could offer space for NC State students to rent for semesters at a time.
“I’m not sure how I feel about this transformation,” said Peter Haines, a junior studying electrical engineering. “On the one hand, it’ll mean this gigantic gray building will finally disappear but on the other hand it may make things more hectic around the Brickyard. The Chick-fil-A line is already long enough at lunch time.”
Sandy O’Brien, an alumna who graduated NC State in ‘96, expressed her concern through tissues during the Mötley Crüe concert.
“I loved Harrelson Hall and this part of campus,” O’Brien said. “Now we’re just giving it away to yet another hotel complex. What does this mean for NC State? When will the changes end? We’ve already lost so much on Hillsborough Street!”
Although there are several new apartment and hotel complexes “sprouting up like weeds” on Hillsborough all at once, it will create more revenue and advances for the region, according to Motellen.
“Yes, we are encountering several changes at once, but it’s all for the improvement of Hillsborough Street,” Motellen said. “We can’t help it that those who pay the most are apartments and hotels. All we can say is ‘Hillsborough Street welcomes you,’ and wait for the change to begin.”
Mötley Crüe finished its performance at 9 p.m. with the crowd swaying candles in the air. Both Rollen and Gides said they were pleased with the turnout.
“After all of our hard work and tour arrangements, we are thankful for this turnout,” Rollen said. “We couldn’t have asked for a better band to perform and a better weekend to have tours. We will all surely miss Harrelson Hall.”
