A prominent 23-story South End tower was listed for sale. Is a deal coming soon?
.jpg "About 2,000 employees will be hired to work at Lowe’s tech center hub office at Design Center Tower at 100 W. Worthington Ave. in South End.")
A major office brokerage firm listed the 23-story Lowe’s Design Center Tower for sale, but declined to provide many more details ahead of any potential sale.
JLL typically does not comment on deals before they’re completed, spokeswoman Kristen Murphy told the Observer Wednesday. A listing that recently appeared online, first reported by Axios Charlotte, was no longer available as of this week.
That could mean a deal is nearing closure. It was not immediately clear when the building was initially listed, and JLL declined to comment on price or address questions about any bidders.
The flyer detailing the sale did not mention any price for the 358,000-square-foot building at 100 West Worthington Ave. in South End.
In 2019, Lowe’s announced it had selected Charlotte for a 2,000-employee global tech hub. The company’s sign went up on the building in early August, but a decision to bring employees back to the office has been delayed until 2022, the Observer has previously reported.
Since Lowe’s leases space in the building, any potential sale will not impact the company’s plans to have workers there, company spokesman Steve Salazar told the Observer. Lowe’s has a 15-year lease on the building.
“Every floor is a ‘top floor’,” the flyer reads in part. JLL emphasized the building’s proximity to restaurants, retail, apartments and public transit in the booming South End area. Ryan Clutter and Chris Lingerfelt with JLL both have the Lowe’s listing.
The tower was a joint venture between Childress Klein and Ram Realty Advisors. Officials with those companies could not be reached for comment.
What a sale could mean for the area
Over the past 15 years or so, the area around the city’s central business district has roughly doubled its office space, going from 15 million square feet to more than 33 million, said Michael Smith, CEO of Charlotte Center City Partners. The group advocates and promotes uptown, South End and the area just west of Interstate 277.
That creation of office space correlates to job growth, Smith said. There was $1.4 billion worth of transactions of office sales in the third quarter of this year, according to Smith.
That was the highest quarterly total dating back to 2000. Charlotte also has ranked in recent years in the top five in the country for having one of the most active absorption rates, or leasing of new office space, Smith said.
He said the sale of new buildings isn’t uncommon and comes down to decisions about capital. It also comes down to the type of developer — some want to hold on to an office building for the long term. Others like to develop, stabilize and sell the building to use that capital elsewhere.
Transactions of buildings also means fresh capital and fresh ideas coming into the community, Smith said.
“Growth can be criticized,” he said. “But the truth is it is growth and job growth that drives the health and vitality of any community.”
