Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers Announces New Charlotte Office Building

25-Story Office Building to be Built at the Corner of Tryon and Third Street in Uptown Charlotte--Babson Capital Management to be Anchor Tenant

Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, on behalf of one of its institutional investor clients, has announced the development of a 25-story Class-A office building named 300 South Tryon to be constructed at the corner of Tryon and Third Street in Uptown Charlotte. Groundbreaking is set for the fall of 2014, and construction is scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2017. Babson Capital Management will be the anchor tenant in the new office building, and the firm plans to relocate its existing Charlotte operations from the Duke Energy Center once construction is complete. The building will achieve LEED Gold Certification, reflecting the city's strong commitment to sustainable design, and include a state-of-the-art water management system, significant use of sustainable materials during construction, energy efficient use of natural daylight to complement interior lighting, recycling areas within the building and preferred parking with charging stations for low emission vehicles.

"We are excited to move forward with the development of 300 South Tryon Street and to once again partner with Spectrum Properties to develop this high quality office building," said Mike Zammitti, Managing Director at Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers. "We believe the property is well-positioned to create value for our investors, and are proud to have already secured such a strong tenant in Babson Capital."

"The Babson team is excited to be partnering with our affiliate Cornerstone and with Spectrum to bring a first class office complex to the heart of Charlotte, " said Tom Finke, Babson's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "The expansion of our Charlotte office is an important part of our growth strategy, and establishing tenancy in 300 South Tryon Street will ensure our long-term facility needs are met."

Triangle's commercial real estate industry riding five-year highs

North Carolina - The Triangle commercial real estate market finished out the first quarter 2014 in a much better position than it’s seen in the last five years, according to results from the first quarter 2014 SPACE survey report that will publish May 2 in Triangle Business Journal.

Overall vacancy for office buildings in Wake, Durham and Orange counties fell to 15.7 percent overall in the first quarter, the market’s lowest vacancy rate since late 2008, and down from 16.2 percent in the fourth quarter 2013.

The more highly coveted Class A office buildings dropped to a 10.3 percent vacancy rate from a rate of 11.9 percent in the fourth quarter.

The highlight of the quarter was theLenovo technology company’s negotiated deal in March to lease both of the vacated Ericsson buildings on Development Drive in Research Triangle Park, effectively erasing 455,000 square feet of vacant office space in the region.

It’s the first time since the late 1990s that the RTP submarket has had a Class A vacancy rate in the single digits with a rate under 8 percent, says Ed Pulliam of CBRE-Raleigh and a member of the SPACE committee.

“These are really telling numbers for our office market,” he says.

However, the expiration of FHI’s 147,000-square-foot lease at Headquarters Park in Durham, after FHI relocated to a new building in downtown Durham, leveled the absorption numbers a bit in the first quarter.

Strong activity in the Triangle office market trickled into the flex, warehouse and retail leasing markets, which also posted positive data trends in the first quarter.

GROUNDFLOOR Emerges To Disrupt $240 Billion Commercial Real Estate Finance Market

Summary:  North Carolina crowd-sourcing startup GROUNDFLOOR closed round one funding.  This new company connects real estate entrepreneurs directly to otherwise depositors, who are looking for a better return on their savings.

Battle-Tested Team Closes Initial Seed Funding to Open Access to Direct Real Estate Investing

Raleigh --(Digital Journal)--
GROUNDFLOOR, a progressive real estate crowdfunding startup based in the Triangle, announces the initial close of its first round of funding led by investors Bandwidth Labs and the American Underground. Harnessing the breadth and scale of the Web, the company connects independent real estate entrepreneurs with early-stage loans funded online by mass-market savers and investors. The seed capital will allow GROUNDFLOOR to bring a series of pilot projects to market in late 2013 and early 2014.

"The Web has a message for Wall Street," says Brian Dally, Co-Founder and CEO of GROUNDFLOOR. "Real estate innovators and doers frustrated with the bank underwriting status quo are ready to be unleashed. Banding together, depositors and self-directed investors can do everything traditional lenders do, but better—to the benefit of a broader base of people well beyond accredited investors and powerful incumbent financial institutions."

Leadership and Advisory Board
Co-founders Dally and Nick Bhargava built GROUNDFLOOR on a common interest in commercializing radical technologies designed to disrupt entrenched incumbents. John Austin introduced the duo in October 2012 through NC IDEA's Groundwork Labs. Dally, a 15-year veteran of technology startups based in Silicon Valley, Boston and London, most recently engineered the launch of Bandwidth.com's Republic Wireless, a provider that successfully battled the big four cellphone carriers to enter the smartphone service market. Bhargava lends expertise in securities law innovation earned during his role in developing Title III of the JOBS Act, in which he fought to ease securities regulations for unaccredited investors and bring the concept of equity crowdfunding to the mainstream.

The company also announces the addition of new advisory board members including Michael Goodmon, Vice President of Real Estate for Capitol Broadcasting; Jason Widen, a real estate developer and Executive Director and Co-Founder of HQ Raleigh; and Chris Matton, a prominent figure in the Triangle angel investor community and General Counsel at Bandwidth.com.

"Bandwidth has a culture of taking on big challenges and supporting people we believe in," says Scott Barstow, Head of Bandwidth Labs. "GROUNDFLOOR is a huge idea and we are proud to back Brian and his team, as well as creating opportunities for entrepreneurship to grow here in the Triangle."

About GROUNDFLOOR
Based in the North Carolina Triangle, GROUNDFLOOR champions democracy, transparency, speed, efficiency and freedom as the path to building a new kind of finance. The company harnesses the breadth and scale of the Web to disrupt antiquated black-box models of financing asset-backed transactions. The innovative GROUNDFLOOR platform reduces dependence upon large financial institutions and accredited investors, while making direct real estate investing a viable addition to any savings and investment portfolio.
http://www.groundfloor.us/press