News
IS CHARLOTTE BACK? (Part 1)
August 8, 2012
| Panelists at our second annual State of the Market said they?d give the Queen City a solid ?7? when asked how the region?s commercial real estate economy is doing. (However, we hear some badminton players advised them to aim low, so the recovery will seem like a 10 by the next round.) | ||
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| 275 came to the Ritz Carlton Friday morning for networking, news, and nosh (great bagels and chocolate croissants, btw). Frankly, this picture makes it look like a recovery is in full swing. | ||
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| Grandbridge regional chief Mike Ortlip said he?d even give the region an 8-and-a-half, though he said in doing so he felt like a Russian judge (then worried aloud that the reference might date him). He said lender ?personalities? change during the year, that they're wondering how much lower cap rates can go and how much higher can rents can go for multifamily, and that they learned from the recession they need to capitalize rationally at the front end so one day they can exit at the back end. | ||
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| Goldman Sachs Commercial Mortgage Capital's Rod Reppe, regional director for the eastern US, came in from Dallas. He has done a lot of lending in the Carolinas and said in valuing deals his biggest metric these days is debt yield, so everything is cash flow driven, meaning whether to do things is also based on cap rates. He says Goldman has been active where banks and life companies don't go, and they love both the Carolinas and commercial real estate—a much better investment these days than Treasuries. | ||
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| Bryan Kane of private equity firm Federal Capital Partners runs the Carolinas for them and came in from Raleigh. He's doing a lot of multifamily, via mezz, preferred equity, JVs, and senior bridge loans. He says they've learned from the recession to be diligent about fundamentals. | ||
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| Reznick's Marshall Phillips was the Bob Costas of the morning, displaying the technical mastery for which our sponsor is known in the real estate world—and is going to get even better known: It's merging with JH Cohn of New York and will soon be the 11th largest accounting firm in the US. (Just like the Olympics, with its time-delayed coverage, stay tuned for exciting results of the second panel of the morning in our next issue.) | ||
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| In the audience: Parmenter Realty Partners Southeast managing principal John Davidson, right, came up from Atlanta for the event now that his firm is active again in Charlotte. Last month it closed on the purchase from B of A of the Fifth Third Center, the trophy 30 stories on North Tryon, home to Capital Grille, for which JLL SVPs Charley Leavitt and Charles Jonas, symbolically backing John up in the picture, are ace brokers. | ||
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| Our sponsor Parmenter has been around 20 years, manages 9M SF, and has recently raised more than $300M and is looking for opportunities. It's one of the great owners of the Southeast, known for building value and focus on sustainability. With a recent consolidation of Wells Fargo into other space, 111k feet on floors 20 to 24 of the Fifth Third Center has become available for the first time to new tenants, representing what many believe to be the highest quality ?upper elevator? offering in the city. More info, click here. |
