DNC = Did no commerce

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CHARLOTTE – Charles Jonas and his team at Jones Lang LaSalle were ready to show some uptown real estate.

For the most part, however, buyers and sellers had to wait while history walked the streets of the Queen City.

“Our ability to get to some of our buildings is lacking,” Jonas said Thursday as Charlotte’s business activity stalled because of preparations for President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. “I think all in all, there have been very few showings going on in uptown.”

Jonas, senior vice president of JLL’s agency leasing group in Charlotte, said the company did its best to continue operating normally.

“We did show some space in uptown earlier (in the) week, but that was Tuesday,” the convention’s kickoff day, Jonas said. “By the time Wednesday rolled around, nobody was trying to look at space. They could have, though.”

JLL represents Fifth Third Center in uptown, which was available for showings all week, though Jonas said there wasn’t much interest. Even the parking deck was available for use.

Other real estate professionals in the city were facing the same limitations, as fences, barricades, makeshift TV studios, traffic, crowds, visiting dignitaries and stern-faced police made business-as-usual anything but during the convention.

“People are not trying to schedule real estate tours,” Barry Fabyan, senior vice president for Charlotte-based The Bissell Cos., said while the convention was still percolating. “We have had some showings. If someone wants to see some space, and we can get a time scheduled, we will. But people really aren’t asking for tours.”

Bissell’s ability to show space at its marquee properties in Ballantyne Corporate Park also was thwarted by the fact that Obama was staying nearby in the Ballantyne area of Charlotte.

Both Jonas and Fabyan said they were not surprised that the convention’s presence was disrupting business in uptown.

“Everyone knew this was coming up, so people have planned ahead for it,” Fabyan said. “We are doing more work by email or by phone collecting data.”

Despite the lack of showing and selling, Jonas perceived an advantage.

“The long-term impact will be tremendous,” Jonas said. “Anytime you can get international media in town for four days looking at Charlotte — where it is and what is going on — it is a good thing. When that story gets told, it will pique the interests of business.”

On the residential side of the Charlotte real estate scene, Dennis Marsoun had to put business on hold as well.

When Marsoun signed up to volunteer for the DNC a few months ago, he said he was looking forward to serving the city, being part of a moment in time and maybe — just maybe — doing a little networking to promote his Charlotte real estate business, Church Street Realty.

But that’s not how things worked out.

“I haven’t really done anything related to real estate at all,” Marsoun said Wednesday afternoon from his post inside the Residence Inn at 404 S. Mint St. “But this has been an interesting experience.”

Marsoun, who lives in Charlotte, served as a hotel captain at the Residence Inn, temporary home of the delegation from Colorado. He said his duties were a lot like that of a concierge, helping delegates figure out how to get to the convention center, Time Warner Cable Arena or suggesting restaurants or places to go for other diversions.

Marsoun said he had enjoyed his work as a volunteer, even if it meant abandoning his real estate business for a week.

He said there’d be plenty of time for that later — after history passed through Charlotte.

BAUGHMAN can be reached at [email protected] or  (704) 247-2911. Follow him on Twitter @scottmecktimes.