Business Today :: Business Intelligence: Serving business owners in Cabarrus, Lake Norman, University City
Business Intelligence: Serving the Golden Crescent, including Lake Norman, Cabarrus and University City  
Bits & Briefs

Meetings aim to ease regulatory burden, stimulate jobs

Business owners are encouraged to share ideas of potential changes to Cabarrus County regulations during three "listening" sessions this month. The goal is to identify regulatory changes that may help increase employment and job growth. Organized by the Cabarrus County Council for a Sustainable Local Economy recommendations will be forwarded to the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners. The three forums all start at 6:30 pm: Feb. 16, Kannapolis Train Station, 201 S. Main Street, Kannapolis; Feb. 23, Vintage Motorclub, 325 McGill Avenue, Concord; Feb. 28, Buddy’s Restaurant, 1470 S. Main Street, Mt. Pleasant. Comments may be emailed to regulatory@cabarruscounty.us. The Cabarrus County Council for a Sustainable Local Economy was established by the Cabarrus Board of County Commissioners and charged with performing research and analysis, educating the community, developing strategies and making policy recommendations that encourages entrepreneurship and supports local, independently owned businesses. More info: Shannon Johnson, 704-920-2181.

Dealership changes hands

Feb. 2 Hendrick Automotive Group has purchased Tim Marburger Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Concord for an undisclosed amount. Wes Watkins is the executive manager of the dealership which has been renamed Hendrick Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Concord.

Chateau Lyon now $5.9M
Jan. 27 The cost to live in an authentic French chateau will now set you back $5.9 million, not $8 million. The luxurious lakefront home in Mooresville, built by the former owner of Boyles Furniture for upwards of $22 million, is listed by Debbie Monroe and Amber Garchar of Lake Norman Realty. Like a lot of homes in all price ranges, this one is bank-owned. To see the brochure, click here.


Job fair seeks to help soldiers

Jan. 25 A "Hiring Our Heroes Job Fair," designed to help military personnel adjust to civilian life, will be Feb. 13 from 9 a.m. to noon at Embassy Suites in Concord. 
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Bentley to run for 4th term

Jan. 25 Karen Bentley, a business-friendly representative on the Meck County Board, will run again.
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LKN Chamber chair charts new course for 2012

Jan. 24 John Bradford, the owner of Park Avenue Properties in Cornelius, has been named business person of the year by the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce.

VIDEO: Salzman Speaks Out

Bradford, who is also a member of the town board in Cornelius, received the award at the chamber’s annual dinner last week. Matthew Hayes, principal at North Mecklenburg High School, received the Duke Energy Citizenship and Service Award , while David F. Peete, the principal planner for Huntersville, was named volunteer of the Year.

The new chairman of the chamber, Jack Salzman, president of Lake Norman Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram, said the chamber would focus on “customer relations” with members and former members to ensure that all see value in their membership. Emphasizing that the chamber’s board of directors would “not be a puppet board,” Salzman stated: “In every thing we do as a board our focus must be always to benefit our community where we live, work and play.”

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Financial advisor has raised $30K in bid for Senate
ANERALLA

Jan. 21 N.C. Senate hopeful John Aneralla, a conservative Republican who has lined up endorsements from Cornelius Town Commissioners Lynette Rinker, Chuck Travis and Dave Gilroy, reports that he has $30,000 in his campaign treasury.

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Cato fellow to discuss rail

Jan. 21 The Town of Cornelius will host a special meeting 9 am Wednesday, Feb. 8 in the Community Room of Town Hall to hear an analysis of the Red Line by a senior fellow of the Cato Institute, a Libertarian think tank in Raleigh. Randal O’Toole will discuss the business/finance plan behind the proposed 25-mile freight-commuter line between Mooresville and Charlotte.

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News from the Golden Crescent

Business plan competition

A business plan competition sponsored by the Centralina Workforce Development Board, Greater Statesville Chamber of Commerce, Iredell County, Mitchell Community College, Mooresville-South Iredell Chamber of Commerce, Mountain State University, the Small Business Center and the Small Business and Technology Development Center is getting under way in Iredell County. Meetings will be held in the Continuing Education Center Auditorium at 701 W. Front Street in Statesville.  There will be hands-on workshops for participants to develop and assemble a complete business plan.  More info: Suzanne Wallace 704-878-3227

Red Line discussion at LKN Chamber

The Lake Norman Chamber will host a presentation on the Red Line by the consultants from Parsons Brinkerhoff and Jeff Hare, Cornelius Commissioner and chairman of the Cornelius Red Line Task Force. The session starts at 8 a.m. Jan. 27 on the second floor of the chamber building on West Catawba in Cornelius.
Small Business Toolbox

February 2012

Small Business Toolbox Feature

Author and motivational speaker, Nathan Jamail, reminds us not every hire is the right hire and not every job is the right job, but accepting a bad decision is wrong — for everyone involved.
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February 2011

Savvy Business Owner
DeMAO

Sherre teaches us the most effective business owners know how to get things done beyond the confines of their minds and their capabilities. As a result, they make more effective decisions and take more effective action when choices need to be made. Make 2012 the year you become a manager of your destiny.
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February 2011

Seller's Market
KANE
Cheryl Kane teches us that time allocation, prioritizing how time is used, and controlling access to your time for specific efforts are all necessary to efficiently and effectively use your most rare and valuable asset: time.
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Commercial lease rates: Off 20 percent from last year

Golden Crescent is stronger than much of the rest of the country
Medical Mobilities has leased the old PSNC building on Church Street. It had been vacant for years. The tenant can purchase the building for $1.05 million in the next two years.

The “coming wave” of commercial real estate defaults will affect the national economy, with office condos, office buildings and even malls going into the tank. Everybody’s talking about it, but will it happen here? Or, is it a case of the national media pushing too hard on a vulnerable subject?

There is indeed a Congressional Oversight Panel focusing on corporate and commercial real estate lending and how toxic loans could affect the financial system and the economy. Some international banking analysts are saying the extent of the toxicity is on the order of hundreds of billions of dollars. It will take years to work them out.

Is the Golden Crescent commercial real estate market in terrible shape? Probably not, according to local brokers. While the market is weaker than last year, the leasing business is suddenly brisk, with considerable activity in the past month.

Sales are another matter. Tighter lending rules for anything other than owner occupied properties has largely staunched sales activity. Sales levels are as low as anytime during the past 25 years, says Tom McMahon, managing director of Sperry Van Ness/McMahon & Associates in Cornelius.

 
McMAHON

“Leasing activity is back to a pace that we were doing prior to the slowdown last year. Our leasing activity is extremely strong right now. With that being said, landlords are making concessions, rates are trending lower, but people are occupying space and that’s what’s important,” McMahon says.

This is a good time for small business owners to evaluate their space needs and look for potentially more economical space and larger spaces at the same price. After all, that’s what the big guys are doing.

The question is whether we’re at the bottom, months away, or, perhaps, in a trough that will linger for months on into years requiring a more thorough restructuring of the financial system.

 
GAITHER

Agreeing that business is picking up, broker Bill Gaither at Newport Properties in Mooresville, says tenants seem less likely to make a long-term commitment. “From my perspective, there is continuing weakness in the retail and office sectors. Lease rates seem to be firming, as lack of funding has virtually eliminated new product in the market, but lease terms are getting shorter,” Gaither says. Industrial andflex space is gaining some traction.

Jerry Furr, a broker with NAI Southern Real Estate in Mooresville, says the market has indeed bottomed out and, at the very least, stabilized.

But there is a long way to go before he will call this a good market. “There has to be a demand for goods and products which will bring the jobs back, which in turn will create a need for offices and warehouse; for people to work in and store the goods and products.  I don’t see that part of the economy coming back for possibly a year or longer,” Furr says.

 
FURR

Still, his phone has been ringing more consistently in recent weeks.  Customers and clients are looking for the best lease rate and sales price knowing that there is a lot of inventory on the market. “So I believe rates may continue to come down for a while until the absorption time of the available space becomes much less,” Furr states, explaining that he often urges landlords to keep cutting prices until the space moves.

In Cabarrus County

Broker Carter Critz with Weichert Properties/Craven Commercial said he is seeing an upswing in owner-occupied office properties in Concord.

CRITZ

He scored a major coup in the leasing, with an option to buy, of the old PSNC building at the intersection of Davidson Drive and Church Street on the west side of Concord. The 15,000 square foot building has sat empty for years, after PSNC moved to space on Concord Parkway. The building was gussied up—red stripe and all—to be a First Charter office, but First Charter went ahead and built a landmark office building a block away, right at the northern gateway to Church Street, only to be acquired by Fifth Third.

The building, which is owned by C.M. Black Construction, rented for $4.80 per square foot modified gross lease. Tenant Medical Mobilities has an option to purchase the distinctive property at $1.05 million in the next two years.

“I am getting a lot of leasing calls in general and many of those are interested in lease/option scenarios,” Critz says. “I am also seeing that landlords would rather fill a vacancy at a discount to a financially strong tenant as opposed to holding out for a higher rate and ending up with a tenant that won’t pay rent.”

 
RINKER

All in all, the commercial market in Cabarrus County shows signs of stabilizing. Activity continues to improve in the retail and industrial flex space markets. Leases have been signed for small office space as well. Rates for lease properties continue to be more negotiable and concessions for the right tenant are being offered, according Bill Rinker, owner of Rinker Commercial Properties based in Concord.

“Overall, the commercial market is looking toward improvement as the year progresses,” Rinker said.

 

 

A commercial sampler: Recent leases and sales

Concord
Tenant: Radio Free Cabarrus, broadcasting
Location: 310 Church St. N., Hidden Plaza
Size: 1,000 square feet, office space
Broker: Bill Rinker, Rinker Commercial Properties

Tenant: Medical Mobilities, electric scooters to elderly/disabled
Location: 809 Church St.
Size: 15,000 square foot, office/retail property, $4.80SF modified gross lease, option to purchase at $1.05 million in next two years
Broker: Carter Critz, Weichert Realtors/Craven Commercial

Tenant: Harvest Home Healthcare
Location: 919 Union St. S, Downtown
Size: 700 square feet, office space
Broker: Bill Rinker, Rinker Commercial Properties

Tenant:  O’Dalys Bakery
Location: Parkway Plaza, 1096 Concord Pkwy
Size: 2,400 square feet, retail space, $10 square foot base rent plus $2.50SF for CAM on a NNN lease, five years
Broker: Carter Critz, Weichert Realtors/Craven Commercial

Tenant: Crowson Law Firm
Location:109 Church St.
Size: 1,364 square feet, offices, $13.20 per square foot
Broker: Ed McAfee, Locus Real Estate Advisors (dual agent)

Tenant: Certified Nursing Assistant, training
Location: Lorenz Architecture Building, Cabarrus Avenue
Size: 1,000 square feet, $12 per square foot
Brokers: Leasing, Ed McAfee, Locus Real Estate Advisors; Listing, Zac Moretz, Locus

Cornelius
Tenant: Sinister Skate Shop / Skate Shop
Location: Shops On The Green 20930 Torrence Chapel Road
Size: 1222 square feet, retail lease
Listing Agent: Melissa Winter, Newport Properties Commercial Division

Tenant: Green Star Home Loans
Location: Suite 202 Johnsbury Square, West Catawba Ave.
Size: 2,300 square feet, offices
Brokers: Tom McMahon and Tim Caryl, Sperry Van Ness/McMahon & Associates

Tenant: Capital Creek Development
Location: Suite #201 Johnsbury Square, West Catawba Ave.
Size: 2000 square feet, offices
Brokers: Tim Caryl and Tom McMahon, Sperry Van Ness/McMahon & Associates

Tenant: Scardaci Construction
Location: Lakeshore Marketplace, West Catawba Avenue
Size: 1,000 square feet, $15.06 per square foot
Brokers: Leasing: Ed McAfee, Locus Real Estate Advisors; Listing, Sergio Solano, Allen Tate

Davidson
Tenant: Christopher Kemp, CPA
Location: South Main Square, Main Street Davidson
Size: 1,485 square feet
Broker: Rose & Assoc. Southeast Inc.

Kannapolis
Tenant: Brent F. King, attorney
Location: ReMax Gold Plaza
Size: Key man office, $595 a month
Broker: Ed McAfee, Locus Realty Advisors

Mooresville
Buyer: IOMAX, a computer consulting and technology company
Location: Top floor of RiverPark Bulding
Size: 5,500 square feet, corporate headquarters for southeast.
Brokers: Listing agent, Carrie Taylor, ReMax; selling agent, Tami Little of SouthMark Properties

Tenant: Michael York Appraisal Co.
Location: Brawley Commons Shopping Center, 631-504 Brawley School Rd, e
Size: 620 square feet, offices
Brokers: Tom McMahon / Tim Caryl, Sperry Van Ness/McMahon & Associates

Tenant: Short Fry Grill
Location: Parkway Plaza , 694 Brawley School Rd Parkway Plaza Suites B&C
Size: 3,000 square feet, restaurant
Brokers: Tom McMahon / Tim Caryl, Sperry Van Ness/McMahon & Associates

Tenant: Jeff Hammond, retail store
Location: 144 Talbert, in Talbert Point Business Park
Size: 3,800 square feet
Broker: Bill Gaither, Newport Properties Commercial Division
Guest Opinion

University Research Park remains a bright spot

Guest
Opinion

MARY HOPPER

By Mary Hopper

The University Research Park (URP) remains a bright spot in office activity in the Northeast submarket. Located at Harris Boulevard and I-85, the 2000-acre park has a 45-year history of fostering cutting edge technology dating back to its early days when IBM was making ATMs there and Verbatim was producing floppy discs. Its growth came in spurts over the years, with First Union’s CIC complex and TIAA CREF as two of its past wins.

The latest uptick began in 2008 when SPEED renovated a former Verbatim building to become home to a state of the art, all-digital TV network. The motorsports channel now reaches 84 million homes in North America with additional worldwide distribution. The pace continued with David Bowles’ 2009 acquisition of the 70,000 square foot Louis Rose building that had housed IBM and then First Union Mortgage. Bowles used his skills to create Environmental Way as one of the region’s first LEED Platinum buildings and a workplace laboratory of sustainable systems and design.
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Hot Properties

Hot Properties Jan. 2012
Mooresville: This home on Easton Dr. in Mooresville sold for $880,000

In Mooresville

A house at 171 Easton Drive in The Point has sold for $880,000 after being listed by Doris Nash of Ivester Jackson Distinctive Properties at $929,900 two months ago.
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Opinion

Charitable giving, economic development, Red Line Q&A

By Dave Yochum

New statistics from the N.C. Secretary of State indicate North Carolinians gave less to charity in 2011 than 2010. However, the same report also indicates people supported the non-profits that got better returns.
The Charitable Solicitation Licensing Division Annual Report says that charities licensed by the state collected $26.7 million from North Carolinians during the 12-month period.

The 2010-2011 report shows that of the money collected, $13.2 million went directly to the charities for which the fund-raising campaigns were being conducted. That’s a 49.46 percent return to the charities for each dollar donated.
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On the Record (register to access)

Homes sales: Feb. 2012

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Foreclosures: Feb. 2012

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New corporations: Feb. 2012

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