Don’t look now, but Mecklenburg County’s closure of Memorial Stadium for a study of its repair needs may be the beginning of the end of the Works Progress Administration relic.

It is no secret that the Uptown crowd has wanted to turn the site into something other than a sprawling stone amphitheater surrounded by a sea of asphalt. Not very New Urbanist-Smart Growthy. CPCC has lusted over adjacent lots for years. And it is no secret that Park & Rec does not exactly enjoy being responsible for the hulk.

So. It would not surprise if this study produces some huge repair-needs number, a number so big the county is “forced” to permanently mothball the structure and begin tearing up the parking lots around it. Then the work would begin on massaging the stadium’s historical designation so that parts could be “repurposed” without actually tearing the whole thing down.

As always, I love to be wrong.