Abacus’ Switch Yard Wins Top Adaptive Reuse Project of The Year

Abacus Capital is pleased to announce that its Switch Yard creative office asset was recently awarded the Top Adaptive Reuse redevelopment project in Charlotte for the year 2022 by the Charlotte Business Journal.

The Switch Yard is a two-building, 96,000 SF trophy-quality adaptive reuse creative office redevelopment project located in the Freight District neighborhood of Charlotte’s FreeMoreWest/Midtown submarket. The first phase of the project, 925 Tuck, is 100% leased while the second phase, 1001 Tuck, is scheduled to deliver in early 2023.

Notably, the Switch Yard is the first structure-parked creative office asset in the Freight District and boasts a 10k SF tenant amenity deck and observatory, elements that help differentiate the project and position it as one of the best-in-class creative office projects in the emerging Freight District creative commercial neighborhood.

“Abacus is grateful for the Switch Yard to be recognized by the Charlotte Business Journal as the 2022 Heavy Hitter award winner in the Adaptive Reuse category,” said managing partner Wes McAdams. “This project is special to me for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the great team we assembled and the way that team has executed around this opportunity. I couldn’t be prouder of this group, this project and this outcome.”

Over the course of the design and development process Abacus was able to reclaim over 50 structural steel beams from the original buildings and reincorporated them throughout the redeveloped project in various places such as seating, art, signage and landscape elements boosting the project’s ESG impact while also creating an authentic and curated creative environment for Switch Yard’s tenant roster that currently includes such leading creative class tenants as Redline Design Group, Birdseye Renewable Energy and Office Works.

The Switch Yard is part of Abacus’ 132,000 SF Freight District Portfolio which includes the Wray Ward Headquarters building, which also won the 2021 Top Adaptive Reuse project award from the Charlotte Business Journal.

Abacus’ capital partners on its Freight District Portfolio are Stockbridge and Big Cypress Capital. The design team for the Switch Yard was led by award-winning architecture firm Redline Design Group as well as civil engineers the McAdams Company. Wimco Corporation is the General Contractor building the Switch Yard and Colony Commercial served as construction manager. CBRE’s Joe Franco and Kris Westmoreland lease the Switch Yard while Foundry Commercial serves as property manager.

ABOUT ABACUS CAPITAL

Abacus Capital is a multi-strategy tactical real estate opportunity investor focused on the acquisition and development of differentiated commercial real estate in growth markets across the southeastern United States. Recognized as one of the fastest growing real estate investment managers in the Charlotte market, Abacus’ mission is to identify investment opportunities that we believe offer our investors the most compelling risk-adjusted returns in dynamic capital markets environments. The principals of Abacus Capital have over 25 years of real estate investing experience and have acquired or developed nearly 16.5M square feet of commercial real estate with a total capitalization in excess of $3.1B.

ABOUT BIG CYPRESS CAPITAL’S HEADWATERS STRATEGIC OPERATOR PLATFORM

Big Cypress Capital’s Headwaters Strategic Operator Platform aims to develop the next generation of real estatemanagersanddeployinvestmentcapitalthroughstrategicjointventures. LeadersfromBigCypress work closely with strategic operators, acting as mentors and advisors to ensure the incorporation of best‐ in‐class practices.

ABOUT STOCKBRIDGE

Stockbridge is a private equity real estate investment management firm led by veteran industry professionals. The firm’s portfolio comprises assets across the investment risk spectrum, including core, value-added and opportunistic strategies. Stockbridge and its affiliates have approximately $32.8 billion of assets under management (as of June 30, 2022) spanning all major real estate property types, and certain specialty property types, throughout the United States.