One of the most recognizable buildings in Charlotte's central business district is under new ownership.
Packard Place, at 222 S. Church St., has sold for $15.4 million to an affiliate of Chicago-based Northpond Partners. Local entrepreneurs Dan and Sara Roselli purchased the 95,000-square-foot building in 2010 for $3.3 million, according to Mecklenburg County real estate records.
The Rosellis, operating as Packard Place Properties, will keep a minority stake in the 0.64-acre property. They sold off 0.26 acres of the original property to a Greystar affiliate in 2014 for $2.4 million, clearing the way for Ascent Uptown, a 33-story luxury apartment tower.
Northpond Partners also owns Latta Arcade, a 23,000-square-foot, mixed-use property on South Tryon Street.
Packard Place was about 60% occupied at the time of sale, according to Trinity Partners, which will manage it. The building houses a mixture of workspace for startups and retail tenants, including Ink N Ivy and Not Just Coffee. Other tenants include the Arts & Science Council, Insight Enterprises and the U.S. Marshals.
The ground floor has been home to the Garage@PackardPlace, a nonprofit space for coworking and community events. More than 3,000 events have been held there — and about 40,000 pints of beer served.
The Rosellis estimate they have invested more than $1.7 million into the Garage@PackardPlace, which will transition into the RevTech Labs Foundation. A portion of the tenants' rent was reinvested into the space over the years. Packard Place will keep its name, Dan Roselli said.
Roselli noted all of the local and national coworking options in Charlotte that didn't exist when he bought the building.
"Being the owner of the physical space isn't as important as it was 11 years ago," Roselli said. "It's always been great for community, but it's never been the fanciest place. ... I think they're really going to help it shine."
Northpond said improvements will start later this year and wrap up in the second quarter of 2022. It is working with architecture firm, Gensler, on common-area renovations, which could include a lobby.
Some of Charlotte's startup success stories got their start in Packard Place. Those include Sunlight Financial, now with more than $4 billion in loans funded; Tresata, one of this area's four unicorns; and DealCloud, which was acquired by Intapp in 2018, to name a few.
Roselli said the building will continue to be a spot that encourages innovation and entrepreneurship. The booming real estate market made it a good time to sell. He said that additional capital can also be reinvested into RevTech Labs, allowing for more funding rounds, program investments, staff and resources for the Venture 135 conference.
Dunn Mileham and David Morris of Trinity Partners handled the transaction on behalf of Packard Place Properties.
