Charlotte Business Journal
By Elise Franco
October 18, 2024
Florida-based Accesso Partners is nearing the end of an $8 million capital investment project at a University City office development.
Accesso began renovations at Innovation Park on IBM Drive in July and recently wrapped a large portion of the work there, said Abbey Rowsey, Accesso managing director, portfolio management. Rowsey said the capital improvement project was designed by Gensler to help retain current tenants and drive new ones to the property.
Work included an overhaul of Innovation Park’s atrium from a standard lobby space to a “dynamic gathering place” that has coworking areas, quiet work spaces, a gaming hub and a pop-up lounge that can be arranged to accommodate different events and activities, Rowsey said. It also included expanded outdoor space, which she said was a highly requested tenant amenity.
Construction on a new, centralized conference center will begin in November and deliver before the end of the year. Rowsey said the amenity will be built to fit 150 people and have multiple breakout areas as well as a bistro that offers daily food options.
“What we asked Gensler to do is give us things we can implement quickly and that allow people to see and feel the difference in the campus,” she said. “It was really a question of, ‘How can we do this to make this place feel alive again and get the tenants out of their offices and into the common areas?'”
Accesso and Swiss investment firm Partners Group purchased the 1.8 million-square-foot office park for $270 million in 2019. The park spans 12 buildings across more than 200 acres and was originally built for IBM in the 1980s. Its tenant roster includes The Imagine Group, TTI Floor Care North America, Wells Fargo, Chime Solutions and Barrday.
Rowsey said Accesso did not acquire the property with the intention of making these changes, but an occupancy loss of nearly 40% due to Covid forced the firm to take stock of what Innovation Park had to offer. She said planning the renovations gave Accesso the opportunity to rethink the campus and how it can attract the right tenants that will stay long term.
“It’s no secret that (the property), when Accesso purchased it, was 98% occupied and now we’re in the (65% range), and that is directly related to back office downsizes,” she said. “It’s happened over the course of several years, and of course, we knew it was coming when tenants began to exercise early termination options.”