State of the Market Sizzles
Charlotte’s on the verge of a full-blown commercial real estate boom (start practicing your dealmaking handshake in the mirror), so we're bringing a panel of experts to the Omni Charlotte June 17 for Bisnow’s fourth annual Charlotte State of the Market to give us the lowdown. (Sign up now.)
For one thing, infill mixed-use is becoming a leading growth generator for Charlotte, Lord Aeck Sargent principal Mark Lange, who’s one of our panelists, tells us. Most of the LAS' Charlotte projects involve infill locations, Mark says, but they aren’t all strictly residential. “In Charlotte, almost all our recent efforts include significant retail, along with office and hotel components,” he explains. “These mixed-use developments would represent tremendous growth generators in any major city.”
Mark says that three LAS projects are adjacent to LYNX stations, one is along an upcoming streetcar line, and two others are in Dilworth adjacent to Uptown. For many years, Charlotte has represented a leading edge of thoughtful city planning, he adds, and that careful visioneering is now stimulating growth along transit-oriented corridors centered on Uptown. (Slow and steady doesn't just win the race... it makes it easier to run the race over and over again.)
Crescent Communities recently released revised plans for its mixed-use Tyron Place development, which will include office and hotel components, plus street-level retail on a three-acre site in Uptown. So far, the exact size of the property hasn’t been pinned down, with estimates of 500k SF to 1M SF. (They like to keep us guessing.) Crescent regional director of the Southeast Benjamin Collins will be at our event to tell us more about the project.
NAI Southern Real Estate SVP of corporate services Scott Davies, also a panelist, tells us that investor interest in Charlotte commercial properties is strong and getting stronger. Also, the prospects for commercial real estate growth in greater Charlotte are strong enough that local real estate companies are staffing up to take advantage of them. Recently NAI Southern brought Scott on board, from a five-year stint at B of A.
Charlotte’s growth is also stimulating local hotel development. This week Hilton opened a 117-suite Homewood Suites by Hilton in Ballantyne, its fourth Homewood property in the Charlotte market. GM Kevin Paden explains that the location is strong for both business and leisure travelers, since it’s within walking distance to the Ballantyne Corporate Park and various shopping and dining options in Toringdon Circle and Ballantyne Village (and you can also sneak away to the U.S. National Whitewater Center when all those meetings get too boring). Sign up for our event now.
