A Salute to the Armed Forces


in Fayetteville 

Fayetteville, NC 

With Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base just outside of the city, the 

United States Armed Forces are an important part of the community in 

Fayetteville, North Carolina. As part of a comprehensive redevelopment 

vision, the City of Fayetteville has worked with its citizens, as well as with 

state and federal partners, to leverage millions toward revitalizing the area 

while at the same time paying tribute to the military. 

In the 1970s, Fayetteville fell victim to the growing trend of urban and suburban 

sprawl, with businesses, manufacturers, and residents moving further and 

further outside the city’s core. Downtown Fayetteville continued to deteriorate 

until it lay virtually abandoned. Vacant car lots, gas stations, and empty, decaying 

buildings created eyesores while a former manufactured gas plant site was 

left vacant and environmentally contaminated. By the early 1990s, the city’s 

future looked grim, with little hope for economic or aesthetic revitalization. 

In 1997, EPA awarded Fayetteville a Brownfields Assessment Pilot grant of 

$200,000 to help determine the extent of contamination at the city’s idle and 

underused properties, known as “brownfields.” The Assessment Pilot funded 

a site inventory effort that identified an area of former car lots and gas stations 

as a brownfield with redevelopment potential. The city then purchased the 

site for $2 million as the location of a new Airborne and Special Operations 

Museum (ASOM). An environmental assessment of the area revealed 

hydrocarbons, petroleum, and asbestos, and several underground storage tanks 

were identified. The ASOM Foundation provided the $500,000 necessary for 

cleanup, and the site was restored to a condition safe on which to rebuild. 

Prior to the city’s purchase of the site, the Airborne and Special Operations 

Museum had been planned to be built at Fort Bragg. But as Craig Hampton, 

Brownfields Coordinator for the Fayetteville Pilot, explained, “Diligent work 

by the City Manager and the City Council—in cooperation with government 

agencies and individual citizens—moved [the museum] downtown.” Funding 

for the $22.5 million museum began to accumulate back in 1992, when Congress 

awarded a $4 million grant to the ASOM Foundation. The State of North 

Carolina and the City of Fayetteville followed, with the state contributing $4 

million and the city contributing a $3 million grant and a $4.5 million loan to the 

continued �

The Airborne and


Special Operations Museum.


JUST THE FACTS:


•	 The Fayetteville Pilot funded a site 

inventory effort that identified an area 

of former car lots and gas stations as a 

brownfield with redevelopment 

potential. 

•	 After the city purchased the site as the 

location of the new Airborne and Special 

Operations Museum (ASOM), the 

ASOM Foundation provided the 

necessary cleanup funding. 

•	 Contributions from hundreds of 

thousands of private citizens, businesses 

and military association, the North 

Carolina General Assembly, and 

Cumberland County helped fund the 

museum project. 

•	 Approximately 500,000 people have 

visited the museum since its opening in 

August 2000, and more than 300,000 

visitors are expected annually. 

Fayetteville built the Airborne 

and Special Operations Museum 

on a former brownfield to help 

revitalize its downtown area 

while paying tribute to the 

military that has been an integral 

part of the community. 
Aerial view of the Airborne and 

Special Operations Museum. 

Fayetteville brownfield prior to 

construction of the Airborne and Special 

Operations Museum. 

CONTACTS 

For more information contact 

Craig Hampton at (910) 433-1786 

or via email at champton@ci.fay.nc.us 

Or visit EPA’s Brownfields Web site at: 

http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ 

Foundation. taff support for the ASOM effort was partially funded by the Brownfields Assessment Pilot, 

while additional funding for the museum was donated in large part by hundreds of thousands 

of private citizens, businesses and military associations, the North Carolina General 

Assembly, and Cumberland County. 

After more than 10 years since the project’s inception, and hundreds of dedicated 

volunteers working thousands of hours, the museum opened on August 16, 

2000. Army’s museum system, the five-story, 59,000-squarefoot Airborne and Special Operations Museum is dedicated to honoring Army 

airborne and special operations units dating back to 1940 and to educating the 

public about these special forces. 

500,000 people visiting from every state and as 

many as 70 foreign countries, and more than 

300,000 visitors are expected to come each 

year. The museum employs 17 people and 

supports nearly 100 volunteers. 

clothing and gear worn and used by soldiers to a wall lined with 

plaques for Congressional Medal of Honor recipients who were 

assigned to airborne or special operations units. Also featured is 

a motion-simulating theater that gives visitors a more realistic sense 

of the sights, sounds, and movements that the special forces 

encounter during combat. 

The Airborne and Special Operations Museum project is just one 

part of Fayetteville’s “Renaissance Plan,” a comprehensive 

redevelopment plan that will provide a foundation for growth and development throughout the city. The 

Plan’s other projects include a linear park along Cross Creek with pathways and bike trails 

connecting throughout the city, a performing arts complex, and a new amphitheater. 

The amphitheater will be built on part of the former manufactured gas plant site, 

which was purchased by the city in the 1980s to build a parking facility. , 

the site’s environmental contamination halted construction plans. Two of the 

former owners of the property, Carolina Power & Light, and North Carolina 

Natural Gas, paid close to $3 million for the site’s cleanup. 

companies together are providing $2.5 million that the city will use to develop the 

amphitheater. The structure is projected to be complete in the summer of 2004. 

Through its redevelopment efforts, the City of Fayetteville has successfully honored 

the country’s military forces while creating cooperative partnerships among its citizens, 

businesses, and government agencies of all levels. As Craig Hampton proudly states, 

the various projects and successful efforts “speak to the spirit of all the people involved.” 

The city’s collaborative revitalization efforts resulted in Fayetteville’s designation by the National Civic 

League as “An All-American City” in 2001. 

S

Part of the U.S. 

The museum has attracted approximately 

Exhibits range from 

Initially

In addition, the two 

Brownfields Success Story Solid Waste EPA 500-F-03-017 

Fayetteville, North Carolina and Emergency May 2003 

Response (5105) www.epa.gov/brownfields/