By Elise Franco, Staff Writer, Charlotte Business Journal
Detroit real estate firm Crestlight Capital plans to spend more than $20 million to make over one of SouthPark’s most recognizable properties.
Crestlight paid $192.5 million for SouthPark Towers at 6000 and 6100 Fairview roads in May 2022, and later announced plans to renovate and update the property’s outdated amenities, lobbies and shared spaces. The first major change, however, was a new name for the 25-year-old office development.
John Coury, Crestlight chief operating officer, said the property, built in 1998, is now called Towers at SouthPark.
“It’s been viewed a lot of the time as two separate towers, so we really wanted to make it more like a cohesive campus and connect the buildings,” he said. “The entire path of travel from the time you’re pulling in, parking your car and going to your space will all feel new and inviting.”
Construction is underway now, and Coury said renovations are expected to wrap up in the second quarter of next year. Tenants will see the transformation happen in real time, he said. The lobbies of both buildings have been completely gutted and will be expanded and retrofitted with larger windows, soft woods, neutral colors and modern finishes.
“The lobbies, especially in 6100, were all dark granite with sharp corners that almost made it feel disinviting, like a fortress,” Coury said. “Redline’s view was to cut that all out and make it glass and all flat and higher, so we took out a bunch of columns and made everything higher. It doesn’t even look like the same entrance.”
A new 4,000-square-foot tenant lounge on the second floor of building 6100 will include a 30-plus person conference and training room, board rooms, common areas and coffee bar. The renovated fitness center in building 6000 will be 1,500 square feet with new showers and upgraded equipment.
Charlotte-based Redline Design Group is the project architect; Charlotte-based Barringer Construction is the general contractor; and Charlotte-based DPR Design did the exterior design.
“With Redline’s initial plans, my first comment to the team was that there’s no chance we’re going to be able to do any of that because it’ll be way out of budget,” Coury said. “Low and behold, we got Barringer involved and priced it, and it wasn’t nearly as expensive as we thought it would be.”
The Towers at SouthPark, which total about 526,600 square feet, are close to 80% leased. CBRE’s Stephanie Spivey said the brokerage has executed more than 70,000 square feet of leasing in 2023. Spivey, CBRE advisory and transaction services, investor leasing, said about 42,000 square feet were new deals and expansions. About 27,000 square feet were lease renewals.
“We’ve been gangbusters here at the building,” she said. “SouthPark is one of (CBRE’s) hottest submarkets, as far as the overall market goes, but at this asset specifically we’ve done more than 70,000 square feet of deals, which is huge.”
Crestlight is already thinking about what future development at the property could look like. In July 2022, the firm filed a rezoning petition with the city of Charlotte that, if approved, would allow for more than 150,000 square feet of mixed-use development on the site.
The original site plan calls for up to 300 multifamily units and nearly 40,000 square feet of retail space, as well as the potential for additional office. Coury said that project is still in the pipeline, and Crestlight is working with various parties to ensure the plans are fleshed out. The rezoning request will eventually appear on city council’s agenda, first for a public hearing and then for a council vote.
“We’re still working with zoning to figure out what the highest and best uses are,” Coury said. “There’s inherent land value on the site given its location.”
