Coliseum Bidder Ups Ante

The bidding process on the sale of the Charlotte Coliseum has been reopened, triggered by a $20 million offer for the now-dormant North Carolina arena.

Comstock Partners of Reston, Va., submitted the bid on the 154-acre property November 28th, causing the deadline to be extended to December 13th.

The company plans to tear down the arena and build a mixed-use complex of residential, retail stores and offices in its place.

The Coliseum is the former home of the city’s original National Basketball League team, the Hornets. The team moved to New Orleans in 2002 and the NBA later granted an expansion franchise which plays in the new Charlotte Bobcats Arena.

Money raised from the sale of the Coliseum will help pay for the Bobcats Arena.

If another firm ups Comstock’s price by 5 percent or more, bidding will be extended again.

Previous bidders for the property were Atlanta-based Pope & Land, which offered $19 million, and Crescent Resources, a development arm of Duke Energy Corp., which opened bidding at $16.5 million.