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03/15/10 - BECO Management Buys Meridian Corporate Center |
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A Rockville, Md.-based firm that specializes in distressed commercial properties has purchased the Meridian Corporate Center in Charlotte’s University City for $42 million, and it is setting up a new division that will be based at the office park.
BECO Management bought the troubled 1.9 million-square-foot development from Hartford Financial Services Group, which took back the property in July in lieu of foreclosure.
The 12-building complex had been valued at more than $150 million. In 2008, the previous owner, an affiliate of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, defaulted on a $120 million loan it obtained to refinance the property.
The deal was a cash transaction, and BECO plans to invest an additional $25 million as part of a “first phase of the revitalization” of the property.
BECO was founded in 1986. It specializes in the acquisition, ownership, leasing and management of formerly distressed commercial properties. The company owns and manages more than 3.5 million square feet of commercial property in the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area. This is its first investment outside that market.
The firm says it has identified a number of ways to improve the Charlotte property, including signs, parking and a general facelift. It is soliciting ideas from current tenants and members of the local brokerage community.
Meridian Corporate Center sits on a 200-acre site that was developed for IBM Corp. when it located to Charlotte in 1979. The center offers some of the largest blocks of contiguous space in the Charlotte market, ranging from 150,000 to 500,000 square feet.
In conjunction with its purchase of Meridian Corporate Center, BECO is forming BECO South, a division that will explore investment opportunities throughout the region. Epstein is moving to Charlotte to manage the new operation, which will be based in Meridian Corporate Center.
Cassidy Turley, formerly known as Colliers Pinkard, brokered the sale to BECO and will continue as leasing agent for the property. The center has 700,000 square feet under lease. Tenants include Areva, Hewitt Associates, Wainwright Industries, Viance Engineering, Strayer University, Enterprise Leasing Co.-Southeast and IBM.
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