Uptown Charlotte’s EpiCentre entertainment complex has been put up for sale, according to a listing by the real estate firm offering it to potential buyers.
The Dallas office of commercial real estate firm HFF is offering the 305,000-square-foot complex for sale, according to HFF’s website. Uptown boosters have viewed the complex as a key to drawing visitors to the center city.
A summary of the offering says HFF has been exclusively retained to handle the sale. The summary describes it as “an opportunity to acquire an iconic, strong performing asset.”
It doesn’t, however, specify an asking price.
The brokers listed on the project couldn’t be reached for comment. The owners, the Blue Air investment group, also couldn’t be reached late Wednesday.
The summary says $23 million has been invested in the five-building complex in the past two years. It says the complex is 94 percent leased, and adds that 70 percent of its rental revenue comes from its 16 restaurants.
The brokers suggest there is “significant potential” for buyers to enhance revenue with digital signage, naming rights and “parking revenue enhancement,” among other things.
The decision to sell the EpiCentre comes after an extensive renovation effort aimed partly at shifting the complex’s nightspot reputation and drawing a more diverse clientele, including families.
A year ago, the owners were in the midst of giving the property an extensive makeover. They announced a variety of new tenants, including Studio Movie Grill, Hibachi Grill, an Italian restaurant called La Tagliatela and a music spot, Tin Roof.
It wasn’t immediately clear Wednesday if the potential sale will have any impact on the businesses currently at the complex.
The decision to sell the complex represents the latest chapter in its long-running ownership saga.
After the original developer, Afshin Ghazi, lost control of the complex during a foreclosure, the Blue Air group in 2010 bought the complex’s $94 million construction loan.
Years of legal battles followed. Ghazi eventually signed over most of the EpiCentre, and a federal judge in 2012 ordered him to sign documents giving up all his remaining ownership in the complex.