Charlotte developer pays $27M for rare Cool Springs development site
January 7, 2016
Nashville Business Journal
by Adam Sichko
On the third try, one of the few remaining development sites in the Cool Springs commercial hub has gained a new owner.
For $27 million cash, an affiliate of Northwood Investors LLC purchased a 45-acre property named Northside at McEwen on Jan. 6. The land is located across from the Whole Foods on West McEwen Drive. The seller was Denver-based Amstar, which had been trying to sell the site since summer 2014. Two prior suitors dropped their purchase contracts.
The deal means a joint venture partnership named Northwood Ravin LLC now takes the reins of likely the largest of the dwindling number of development sites in Cool Springs— which itself is located in the fastest-growing county in the entire state and well-established as a favorite address for corporate and regional headquarters.
The vacant land is entitled for up to 840,000 square feet of commercial space (both office and retail), as well as up to 580 residential units and up to 150 hotel rooms. As it creates plans for the site, Northwood Ravin could seek to change those caps, a step the city of Franklin would need to approve.
David Ravin, president of Charlotte-based Northwood Ravin, said he expects construction to be underway later this year. Ravin said he’s already receiving inquiries from prospective office and retail tenants.
“We aren’t folks who land-bank, so we want to get underway fairly quickly,” Ravin told me. “It will probably look very similar to what’s been approved, but we’ll probably look to modify those entitlements, based on the market.”
It’s too early to have a gauge on the potential project’s overall price tag, Ravin said.
“We don’t want to underdevelop right out of the gate and do it all at a low density that people may regret in the future. But we also don’t want to be so ambitious that we’re out there building ahead of market demand,” Ravin added.
Northwood Ravin tends to specialize in multifamily development (think apartments and condos), but also has experience with the mixed-use format that Northside at McEwen presents.
One example: Northwood Ravin is developing apartments within Boyle Investment Co.’s Capitol View project planned in the North Gulch, on Charlotte Avenue. Northwood Ravin also has active mixed-use projects in Raleigh, N.C., and Durham, N.C., Ravin said.
I asked Ravin if Boyle, which is one of Middle Tennessee’s largest real estate companies, is involved in this project. Ravin said he’s in talks with several groups to join the project.
“You really need, at least initially, one group to move it forward. You need simplicity at the beginning, and then begin to work into the details,” Ravin said.
Amstar previously had been under contract to sell the site to Cincinnati-based North American Properties Inc., and then Charlotte-based Crescent Communities. Both deals fell through, most recently in mid-2015.
The Northwood Ravin joint venture has existed for four years. Ravin said his company’s joint venture with Northwood means he has development, construction and management capabilities all in-house, in a variety of types of real estate product.
“Others have had (this site) and couldn’t figure out a way to do it. We have the ability and expertise to look at the whole project and not just individual components, and that may have been what tripped up other groups,” Ravin said. “You really need to underwrite the entire opportunity.
“We remain very selective in the opportunities we pursue. Obviously, we like Cool Springs. We like everything that’s gone on in and around that site,” Ravin added.