Trinity Capital Advisors Announces New Partner in Ally Center Recapitalization
November 1, 2011
Charlotte, NC – November 1, 2011 – Trinity Capital Advisors announced today that it has a new partner in Ally Center, a 15-story, 365,000 SF downtown Charlotte office tower. Principal Real Estate Investors acquired an interest in Ally Center, replacing Buchanan Street Partners as Trinity Capital’s previous partner in the asset.
Buchanan Street Partners needed to exit its investment in Ally Center as a result of California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS – one of Buchanan’s fund investors) decision to liquidate all of its value-add and opportunistic investments across the United States. Trinity Capital sought and found a new partner in Principal, based in Des Moines, Iowa.
“Principal is obviously one of the top institutional investors in the United States, and their interest in Ally Center just reinforces what we already know – that this is a top-quality asset in a thriving downtown environment,” said Gary Chesson, Trinity Capital principal. “Ally Center is in the middle of great amenities; downtown’s newest restaurants, a fully-occupied Catalyst residential tower, two museums, the Knight theatre, and the most exciting amenity of all – our new city park that will be right next door,” Chesson continued.
In Charlotte, Principal Real Estate Investors owns Piedmont Town Center, a mixed use Class A office, retail and multi-family development in SouthPark. In Raleigh the firm owns a substantial office portfolio in Imperial Center. “The Ally Center investment with its urban location, high quality construction, and LEED certification at a basis below reproduction cost makes it a sound fit with the respective fund’s strategy,” commented Jim Halliwell, Managing Director with Principal Real Estate Investors. “With our various clients and funds, we have historically done well investing in well-located, high-quality office properties in the Raleigh and Charlotte markets; these regions have demonstrated solid employment and population growth.”
Trinity Partners, sister company of Trinity Capital, will continue to lease and manage Ally Center, located at 440 South Church Street. The building is North Carolina’s first LEED Gold Certified Core and Shell building. Current tenants include Ally Bank and architecture, engineering, and consulting firm HDR.
Principal Real Estate Investors manages or subadvises $37.3 billion in commercial real estate assets. The firm’s real estate capabilities include both public and private equity and debt investment alternatives. Principal Real Estate Investors is the dedicated real estate group of Principal Global Investors, a diversified asset management organization and a member of the Principal Financial Group.
