Commercial Confidential: Toringdon Office Park buildings 1, 2, 6 and 8

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Editor’s note: “Commercial Confidential” is a Mecklenburg Times profile of a commercial property in the Charlotte area. 

Over the past six months, Charlotte-based Trinity Capital Advisors and two other companies have jointly bought four of six office buildings in Toringdon Office Park in south Charlotte.

Some, like Ross Howard, a Charlotte-based research analyst with Jones Lang LaSalle, say the asking price, roughly $40 million, was low and that’s probably what attracted Trinity and its partners.

“The owner of those buildings was in financial trouble, so they were able to get a good deal on the buildings,” he said.

The seller is an affiliate of New York-based Madison International Realty. The two other buildings, Toringdon 3 and 5, are owned by Miami Beach, Fla.-based LNR Partners.

But Rhea Greene said Trinity was looking at more than the price tag.

Greene, partner and leasing director for Trinity Partners, a sister company to TCA, said the company considers south Charlotte to be a growing market.

“South Charlotte, in general, has been very attractive to employers,” Greene said. “Whether it’s from housing, to the school systems, to the quality of office spaces down there, we feel it’s  important to have product in that market, because it’s one of the top three to four markets in Charlotte.”

Not far away from the four office buildings, though, is Ballantyne Corporate Park, a 535-acre behemoth of an office park that is on the minds of Trinity and the other new owners, Madison and San Francisco-based Stockbridge Capital Group.

“Creating a sense of place and a sense of community, like Ballantyne has, is something they want to do,” Greene said. “Just improving the overall feel and experience of the park.”

To accomplish that, the four buildings’ new owners are planning more green space, meeting areas and walking trails in Toringdon, Greene said.

“A lot of that feel can be created through green space,” she said. “And that’s what we’re working toward.”

GUION can be reached at [email protected], (704) 817-1344 or on Twitter at @paytonguion.

Where: Intersection of Johnston Road and Toringdon Way

Square feet: 362,000 square feet

Year built: Toringdon 1, 2001; Toringdon 2, 2003; Toringdon 6, 2006; Toringdon 8, 2008

Developer: Raleigh-based Lichtin Corp.

Owners: Madison International Realty, Stockbridge Capital Group and Trinity Capital Advisors

Leasing company: Trinity Partners

Lease rates: $22.50 to $23.50 a square foot

Vacancy rate: Toringdon 1, 27 percent; Toringdon 2, fully occupied; Toringdon 6, 15 percent; Toringdon 8, 15 percent

Major tenants (approximate square feet occupied): Ally Financial (26,000, Toringdon 1); Verizon Wireless (26,000, Torringdon 8); Crown Castle International (25,000, Toringdon 6); Coats (25,000, Toringdon 2); Metso Power (25,000, Toringdon 2)

Did you know? In addition to the four buildings at Toringdon, Trinity Capital Advisors and the other two owners also own 12 acres in the office park. Greene said Trinity plans to build a hotel and at least one other office building on that property.