Creative offices in a trendy section of Charlotte back on the block
A creative-office building in Charlotte that’s almost fully occupied is on the market with bids expected to come in at $54 million.
The 106,000 sq ft building at 1213 West Morehead Street, dubbed the Refinery, was completed in 2019 with high-end finishes that have helped push occupancy to 99%. A sale at the anticipated valuation of $509/sq ft would produce a 7.25% initial annual yield.
CBRE is marketing the five-story property on behalf of the owner, a venture of Northridge Capital and a wealthy foreign family. Washington-based Northridge developed the building with Insite Properties of Charlotte. The property was recapitalized in a 2021 deal that valued it at $55.3 million. The size of the stake that Northridge retained could not be learned.
Borrowing costs have spiked since, depressing valuations and pushing up capitalization rates. Still, investors increasingly are leaning back into the office sector, particularly for highquality properties with stable rent rolls.
Tenants at Refinery include coworking space provider Venture X, insurance brokerage HUB International, Pinnacle Bank and infrastructure engineering firm WK Dickson. The building also includes street-level retail space.
Refinery has a brick, glass and steel facade, and a landscaped rooftop deck.
It is in FreeMoreWest, a neighborhood that borders the central business district, South End and Midtown. Its former mills and warehouses have been converted in recent years to boutique offices, trendy shops, breweries and restaurants after a light-rail line connecting to the South End opened in 2007.
