Raleigh’s office market is the strongest it’s been in years, with employment and corporate investments continuing to climb throughout the Triangle region. A current lull in the delivery of new construction and the market’s increased popularity have created a space crunch for Class A office space, especially for tenants seeking large blocks. While a good amount of new construction started or continued in 2015, there’s still a gap in “move-in ready” space. Vacancy fell from 11.7 percent in the second quarter to 11.2 percent in the third quarter, causing rent growth for Class A space. Direct asking rent increased from $23.81 per square foot in the second quarter to $24.14 per square foot in the third quarter and is expected to continue to increase until delivery of new construction picks up, which will likely be mid-2016/early 2017. The market has definitely shifted in favor of the landlord, and concessions that were made during the recession have fallen off as owners no longer have to offer them to secure tenants. Desire for Class A space in the Triangle has pushed pre-leasing rental rates to a historic high north of $33 per square foot — and they are likely go higher before …
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — CBRE has arranged the $33.8 million sale of Fairview Center, two office buildings totaling 183,654 square feet. The properties are located at 6230 and 6302 Fairview Road in Charlotte’s SouthPark submarket. Atlanta-based Fairlead Commercial Real Estate purchased the assets from Beacon Partners. Fairview Center’s tenant roster includes McAngus Goudelock & Courie, United States Secret Service and ZAPATA. Patrick Gildea and Anne Vulcano of CBRE represented Beacon Partners in the transaction.
A rebounding economy and robust population growth are driving strong fundamentals across all segments of Raleigh-Durham’s commercial real estate industry. The region added 30,105 jobs during the 12 months ending September 2015, a growth rate of 3.1 percent. Users of all product types are facing rising occupancy costs and fierce competition for quality space. The Raleigh-Durham industrial market experienced positive net absorption of 721,185 square feet through the first three quarters of 2015, marking the sector’s fifth consecutive year of expansion. Increased tenant demand, combined with a lack of new construction, has driven vacancy back to pre-recession levels. Overall vacancy for warehouse and flex space ended the third quarter at 7.5 percent, down by 130 basis points year-over-year. Warehouse vacancy fell by 160 basis points to 6 percent during the same period and is down from a cyclical high of 10.2 percent. Flex vacancy ended the third quarter at 11 percent, down by 60 basis points year-over-year and from a cyclical high of 16.5 percent. Leasing activity has been broad based, driven primarily by organic growth in the region’s existing tenant base. Among the industries fueling the largest transactions are third-party logistics, e-commerce, manufacturing and housing and construction. Finally back …
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Preiss Co. has acquired Campus Edge, a 546-bed student housing community located near the North Carolina State University campus in Raleigh. Preiss plans to begin a $2.2 million renovation on the property this year, which should be complete by fall 2017. The community consists of 13 two- and three-story, garden-style buildings with furnished and unfurnished units. Property amenities include a computer lab, resort-style swimming pool, fitness center, tanning bed, volleyball and basketball courts, dog park, clubhouse with a game room and a car wash area. The community’s furnished units, which comprise roughly 88 percent of inventory, feature nine-foot ceilings, patios or balconies, appliances, full-sized washers and dryers, private bathrooms, walk-in closets, monitored intrusion alarms, extended basic cable and high-speed Internet.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, acting on behalf of an institutional client, and Spectrum Properties plan to build a 17-story, 217-room lifestyle hotel at the corner of Third and Church streets in Uptown Charlotte. Kimpton Hotels, which was purchased by Intercontinental Hotels Group in 2015, will manage the hotel. Cornerstone and Spectrum expect to deliver the hotel by October 2017. The asset will feature a fitness center and 9,200 square feet of flexible meeting space, including a 4,000-square-foot ballroom and five conference rooms. The hotel will also include a signature 180-seat restaurant and a partially open-air, 7,500-square-foot, 160-seat rooftop lounge that overlooks Romare Bearden Park. The hotel will complement the previously announced 300 South Tryon, a 25-story, 600,000-square-foot office building at Third and Tryon streets.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Unison Realty Partners has purchased Johnston Road Plaza, a 79,508-square-foot grocery-anchored shopping center in Charlotte, for $15.3 million. The Boston-based firm purchased the asset from Westwood Financial. Berkeley Capital Advisors brokered the transaction. The 16-store shopping center was 98 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as Food Lion and Goodwill.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Joubran Commercial Properties (JCP) has brokered the $2.6 million sale of a 2.4-acre parking lot and 5,500-square-foot restaurant building in downtown Greensboro. JJ Joubran of JCP represented the Atlanta-based buyer, Buckhead Investments LLC, in the transaction. Rich Mossman of CBRE | Triad represented the seller.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Cousins Properties Inc. plans to develop Dimensional Fund Advisors’ new 229,000-square-foot regional headquarters in Charlotte. The Class A office building will be located on a 2.3-acre site in Charlotte’s South End. The project is a 50/50 joint venture between Cousins and Dimensional. Construction is anticipated to begin in the fourth quarter, and delivery is slated for the fourth quarter of 2018. Dimensional signed a 15-year lease to occupy 100 percent of the building upon completion.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In one of the largest office building transactions ever in North Carolina, Starwood Capital and Vision Properties have sold One Wells Fargo Center in Charlotte’s central business district for $284 million. According to the Charlotte Observer, the buyer was a limited liability company tied to Dennis Troesh, a Nevada businessman who founded a concrete company in the 1970s that was later acquired by Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Materials Corp. Starwood and Vision purchased the building in 2013 for $245 million. One Wells Fargo Center opened in 1988 and is located at 301 S. College St. The 42-story tower, which spans more than 1 million square feet, is home to a mix of financial, legal and real estate firms. One Wells Fargo Center serves as the East Coast headquarters for Wells Fargo, the largest bank in the world in terms of market capitalization. The building was 98 percent occupied at the time of sale. The building features amenities such as covered parking, two restaurants, the Childress Klein YMCA, a coffee shop and a dry cleaner. It also serves as one of only two downtown buildings with direct access to the LYNX public transportation system. One Wells Fargo Center is on …
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — As part of the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, Wexford Science+Technology, a BioMed Realty company, plans to redevelop two-thirds of the Bailey Power Plant in Winston-Salem. The $40 million project is Phase I in the redevelopment of the entire plant, which ceased operations almost 20 years ago. Phase I includes the redeveloping of the plant’s main building and most of the surrounding grounds, including the iconic chimney stacks. Wexford will convert the five-story main building into 110,800 square feet of office, entertainment, retail and common space. Wake Forest Innovation Quarter plans to work with additional developers to repurpose two smaller buildings, the Morris Building and Building 23-1, on the southeast and southwest corners of the property. The city of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County have each agreed to provide $3 million through a combination of public infrastructure and economic assistance reimbursements, and Wexford will also utilize historic tax credits for the project. R.J. Reynolds donated the Bailey Power Plant lot and all structures on it to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in 2010, along with approximately $2 million for environmental abatement work, which was completed in 2013. Construction is expected to begin this spring. Portions of the main building …