CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The healthcare alliance Premier has signed a lease with The Bissell Companies for 262,500 square feet of space at the Boyle Building, located in Charlotte’s Ballantyne Corporate Park. Premier will move into the building in February 2011 from a 182,000-square-foot facility in the area that has been its home for the past 10 years. The new15-year lease will relocate more than 750 area employees and the firm’s entire San Diego workforce into the office. Premier also plans to add 300 employees during the next 5 years.
The healthcare organization conducted a 21-month search in order to find the perfect place to consolidate its operations, viewing a number of Charlotte office buildings in the process. Nearby amenities — banks, daycare centers and a variety of restaurants and hotels — were one reason Ballantyne Corporate Park stood out among the other properties.
“A good quality of life is important to [Premier],” said Jeff Harper of Jones Lang LaSalle. Blair Bryan and Eric Parris, both of Jones Lang LaSalle, assisted Harper in representing Premier in the lease. The Bissell Companies represented itself in the transaction.
Finding a stable landlord who was doing well enough to be around for a while, and would be willing to meet the down market when charging rent, also was a key aspect of the deal. “They knew they were going to be somewhere for the long term,” Harper said. “So [good ownership] was important to them.”
This lease is significant in today’s slow-moving market, but unlike in other parts of the country, transactions are still happening in Charlotte. And within the area, the Ballantyne submarket seems like the place to be.
“This lease is just going to further establish Ballantyne as the leading suburban office market in the metro Charlotte area for many years to come,” he said. “They’re having the highest degree of success in good times and bad times in signing leases and expanding tenants.”
— Jon Ross