Charlotte Business Journal
July 9, 2021
By Collin Huguley
Accesso is partnering with Proffitt Dixon Partners on a 200-unit, age-restricted apartment complex off Providence Road.
One of the owners of the Innovation Park office park in University Research Park is venturing into the multifamily market. Charlotte is one of the places where that new line of business is being launched.
Accesso, a Florida-based real estate investment manager, has launched a multifamily division that will begin with two apartment projects in the Carolinas. The company is partnering with Charlotte-based Proffitt Dixon Partners on both projects, one in Lower South End.
Alan Garzon, Accesso’s director of investor relations, will lead the new division. The company will look to build on its existing presence in Charlotte in other sectors. Accesso paid $270 million for Innovation Park in 2019.
“I think that Charlotte has been on our radar for a while now,” Garzon said. “We actually closed on Innovation Park, I think it was two years ago, and we’ve been very happy with that acquisition and with that property. So, it is a market that has a lot of attraction.”
The Charlotte apartment project being planned with Proffitt Dixon will be on Providence Road and include age-restricted housing. The project calls for an active adult community of 200 units. Proffitt Dixon acquired the property for the project last year for $11.2 million. Garzon said the development of the project will take around two years.
Garzon said Proffitt Dixon is an ideal partner because of its strong track record in the area with multifamily projects. The company was already planning the Providence Road project when Accesso got involved, he said. Accesso has been targeting properties for its multifamily division since early 2020.
“It was the right partner, the right opportunity,” Garzon said of the Charlotte project. “We’ve been in conversations for a while now trying to do something together. We were talking during Covid and they had this opportunity and we liked it a lot.”
Accesso’s second apartment project with Proffitt Dixon will be in Greer, South Carolina, and include 264 garden-style units.
Garzon said Accesso’s multifamily division will be focused in the Sun Belt, with future projects in Charlotte certainly a possibility.
“If we find the right opportunity again in Charlotte, we will happily go in again because it is already a market that we like and that we trust,” Garzon said. “We really think that Charlotte is going to thrive the next three, five and seven years.”