Gama Goat Building. Image courtesy of CommercialEdge
Engineering and planning firm Bolton & Menk has signed a 24,600-square-foot lease at the Class A Gama Goat Building in Charlotte, N.C. Lincoln Harris brokered the deal on behalf of the tenant, while Trinity Partners facilitated the deal for the owners, ATCO Properties & Management and Shorenstein Properties.
The tenant will relocate its Southeast headquarters to the 140,000-square-foot historic building that is part of Camp North End, a 76-acre adaptive reuse campus in the city’s North End Smart District. The 11-year lease takes the total occupied space at the development to 250,000 square feet. Camp North End has 300,000 square feet of space lined up for work, art, dining, entertainment, recreation, and community development, as well as an additional 1.5 million square feet planned.
Bolton & Menk will be relocating from 200 South Tryon St. to the Camp North End building, where more than 50 employees are expected to start working in mid-2023. The company will occupy a custom-built space in the northern section of the property and will handle the design of its new headquarters.
In 2021, Bolton & Menk acquired Charlotte-based ColeJenest & Stone, resulting in a need for a bigger footprint in the metro. The new tenant joins the building’s existing roster, including Google Fiber and Kingsmen Software—which have recently signed leases at the Gama Goat Building—Centene Corp., Ally Financial, AON and CloudGenera.
Senior Vice President Marshall Williamson led the Lincoln Harris team representing the tenant in the lease signing, while Managing Partner Rhea Greene, Partner Jennifer Kurz and Director Chase Merkel of Trinity Partners negotiated the deal for the landlord.
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According to a recent CommercialEdge report, the Southern states registered high vacancy rates as of December 2022. Still, Charlotte had the lowest rate across the most significant metros in the region, with a 13.2 percent vacancy. According to the same report, while the national outlook is unclear, the Sunbelt is still experiencing strong growth in its office employment.
Part of a larger community
The Gama Goat Building, which underwent a significant redevelopment by ATCO and Shorenstein, opened in the summer of 2020. Originally an industrial structure, the property served the U.S. Army until the 1960s as an assemblage site for Gama Goat military vehicles. Located at 1701 N. Graham St., the office property is less than 3 miles from downtown Charlotte and 11 miles from Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
The historic property sits within Camp North End’s Keswick District, where other businesses like CloudGenera, Rent EBoards Charlotte, YVY Fitness, Windy O’Connor Art + Home, along with food stalls such as Bleu Barn North End, La Caseta, Plant Joy and SARU, also reside.
