SPECTRUM LEASING ONE INDEPENDENCE CENTER

Ownership at another Charlotte office tower has switched leasing brokerages.

Local commercial real estate developer Crescent Communities recently chose The Spectrum Cos. to take over office leasing at One Independence Center, at 101 N. Tryon St. in uptown. The brokerage team of Virginia Luther, Spectrum managing director, and Dillard Williams, senior director of leasing, are leading those efforts.

Stream Realty Partners previously handled office leasing at One Independence.

In August, Stream took over leasing at 550 South, a 20-story, 395,000-square-foot tower at 550 S. Caldwell St. in uptown. In early September, Trinity Partners took over leasing at 110 East, a 24-story, 370,000-square-foot tower at 110 East Blvd. in South End.

Luther said Spectrum inherited some in-progress renewals and new lease deals at One Independence.

"It’s exciting to come into it having some momentum like that," she said. "We plan to move from that into looking for our (new) anchor and some larger users."

Law firm Robinson Bradshaw will vacate the top five floors there early next year when it moves into its new space at Legacy Union 6Hundred. Luther said that move creates an opportunity for a larger company looking to anchor a high-profile uptown property.

"We’ll get the top of the building back in the spring and have the ability to do an anchor that can take the corner of Trade and Tryon," she said. "It's a big opportunity for (a company) looking to put their name on the top of the building."

Luther said two full floors of speculative suite space — about 48,000 square feet — are under construction now. The floors are set to deliver by the end of the year. Currently, One Independence has spec suites available ranging from 2,500 to 9,000 square feet, she said.

Crescent and Nuveen Real Estate acquired the 20-story tower in 2019 for $132.3 million.

Charlotte-based Crescent has spent the last four years revamping One Independence Center, built in 1983. Crescent invested about $25 million in lobby renovations, the addition of outdoor seating and the repositioning of retail space. It also added Monarch Market, an $18 million, 18,000-square-foot food hall that opened in November.

One Independence is currently about 65% occupied, according to data from CoStar. Current tenants include Stays by Walker, Bank of London, Stratascale, Genesis10 and Chernoff Newman.

"This building was built in the '80s, and (Crescent and Nuveen) have already spent a bunch of money on the bottom floor to really activate Trade and Tryon, so they understand that people are the best amenity you can have," Luther said. "Now it's looking at how we entice a big company to move their headquarters here and be at the top."

Luther added, "This is not one of the uptown buildings that are distressed, and it’s a different opportunity to commit to a building where they know ownership is invested."

Spectrum is also the office brokerage for Crescent and Nuveen's planned office tower at East Carson Boulevard and South Tryon Street in South End. The 31-story, mixed-use tower called Carson & Tryon, is expected to include nearly 560,000 square feet of office space, 10,000 square feet of retail space, 200 Novel-branded apartments and a 200-room boutique hotel.

Construction has been delayed due to difficult market conditions. Crescent and Nuveen do not yet have a start date for the project. Luther said Spectrum has been working on preleasing but could not confirm any potential tenants for the tower.