HFF Arranges $350M in Financing for High-Profile Deal

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Ballantyne Corporate Park, Boyle Building

Charlotte, N.C.—Holliday Fenoglio Fowler’s name will go down in history in North Carolina for having played a supporting role in what is being widely touted as the largest single real estate transaction in the state—ever. HFF orchestrated a $350 million financing package on behalf of Northwood Investors, which recently purchased a portfolio accounting for the greater part of the 535-acre Ballantyne Corporate Park in Charlotte. According to an announcement from Northwood’s legal advisor on the transaction, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, Northwood paid The Bissell Cos. Inc. more than $1 billion for the mixed-use collection of assets.

Northwood walked away with 35 office buildings totaling 4.2 million square feet; four hotels encompassing an aggregate 588 guestrooms; 400,000 square feet of retail space; a golf course; and precious undeveloped land. “Acquiring such a diverse portfolio with the breadth of Ballantyne Corporate Park is a generational opportunity, unprecedented in the state of North Carolina and one of the largest real estate trades ever in the Southeast,” Travis Anderson, senior managing director with HFF, said in a prepared statement.

The financing bundle HFF put together for Northwood consists of three separate loans. Two life companies provided a fixed-rate loan on a group of 13 office properties totaling 1.8 million square feet and featuring a tenant roster graced by the likes of MetLife, healthcare improvement company Premier Inc., which occupies square footage in the Boyd Building, and Wells Fargo, which inked a lease of the new 287,500-squre-foot Brigham Building in October 2016. HFF also secured two bank loans for two of the mixed-use campus’s hotels, The Ballantyne—a Luxury Collection Hotel Charlotte, and Aloft Charlotte Ballantyne. Northwood assumed existing debt on the park’s remaining properties.

“By having the ability to control the second largest sub-market outside of Charlotte’s CBD coupled with additional development potential, Northwood is extremely well positioned to improve upon the legacy of Ballantyne while delivering exceptional returns for its investors,” Anderson said. Northwood won’t have to go it alone in this endeavor, as a Bissell team will stay on to assist in the maintenance and further development of the park.

The Northwood loan package isn’t HFF’s first big-ticket financing deal of the year. In February, the commercial real estate and capital markets services provider landed $388.4 million in combined financing for a 2,152-unit multifamily portfolio owned by Lyon Living.

Image courtesy of HFF