Why this national real estate firm is making a big bet on Charlotte

CHARLOTTE — Amid the uncertainty that’s served as the theme of this year, a national commercial real estate firm feels good about its big bet on the Queen City.

San Francisco-based Shorenstein has $9 billion in assets and 23 million square feet of mostly office space across the U.S. Much of its portfolio is in major gateway cities but the firm has recently become a bigger player in secondary markets, including Charlotte.

It’s in a joint venture with ATCO Properties at the massive Camp North End adaptive-reuse project north of uptown and mapping out, with Stiles Corp., a 23-story office tower next to the Lynx East/West Station in South End. In University City, Shorenstein closed on the former Flextronics campus, at 6800 Solectron Drive, where it’s beginning an overhaul to create 21st-century office space.

Matt Knisely, managing director of Shorenstein’s East investment group, is based in the firm’s New York office but — pre-COVID-19 — spent much of his time flying down to Charlotte. Knisely, who has been with Shorenstein since 2006, is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, negotiating and closing capital transactions on the East Coast for the firm.

He has been intimately involved with all three investments Shorenstein now has here in the Queen City.

The Charlotte Business Journal caught up with Knisely recently about why Shorenstein is investing millions in Charlotte, its three local projects and how Covid-19 has impacted its deals.

Find out what Knisely said during the interview here.

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