ATCO Properties Forms JV for NC Adaptive Reuse

By Barbra Murray

Image credit: ATCO Properties & Management

ATCO Properties & Management has found a partner to help bring its 75-acre Camp North End redevelopment project in Charlotte to fruition. The company recently formed a joint venture with Shorenstein Properties LLC for the adaptive reuse of five structures at what will be a metamorphic mixed-use campus featuring both old and new buildings.

Camp North End is among the largest U.S. adaptive reuse endeavors presently in the works. With Shorenstein aboard as a strategic capital partner, ATCO will proceed with the conversion of certain existing buildings to creative office space and premier retail square footage featuring shops, dining options, and arts and entertainment venues.

“Employers all across the United States are looking for office environments that help them attract and retain great employees, and many people would rather be in a historic building that might have high ceilings and great light from clerestory windows than in a generic space with dropped ceilings,” Damon Hemmerdinger, co-president, ATCO Properties & Management, told Commercial Property Executive. “Until now, there have been no large buildings in Charlotte that offer that product to tenants, but Camp North End will make it possible for a company to be in Charlotte and have the kind of office they would lease in San Francisco, LA, New York, Chicago, or Atlanta.”

REINVENTING HISTORY

Camp North End started out as an industrial locale, having originally been utilized as a production site for Ford’s Model T vehicles in 1924. In the World War II years, the property was home to a U.S. Army quartermaster depot, and during the Cold War, it was converted to the Charlotte Area Munitions Plant, also known as CAMP. The ATCO joint venture will begin its work with the remaking of the Gama Goat Building at 1701 North Graham St. and a segment of the structure at 1720 Statesville Ave.

ATCO has tapped commercial real estate services firms Cushman & Wakefield and LCRE Partners to spearhead office leasing and retail leasing, respectively, at Camp North End. The joint venture expects to commence redevelopment activity upon receiving the requisite approval, with plans of wrapping up the project no later than mid-2019.

At full build-out Camp North End will feature 1.5 million square feet of office space, 280,000 square feet of retail, 1,500 multifamily units and 65,000 square feet of light industrial space. It is one of a bevy of projects underway that will change the face of Charlotte.