Owning Air – Air Rights 101

Who You Missed:

Moderator – David Jones – Partner at Troutman Sanders

Panelists – Fred Klein III – Partner at Childress Klein, Laura Smith – Executive Vice President at Foundation of the Carolinas & Doug Stephan – Principal at Vision Ventures

What You Missed:

• FAST FACTS

  • Air Rights Transactions have gone on in Charlotte for at least 25 years

  • Air Rights Transactions are vertical subdivisions, dividing properties up and down instead of from right to left.

  • Air Rights Transactions are extremely complex not only from a legal perspective, but also when it comes to structure and engineering.

• Projects

  • Carolina Theatre at Tryon and Sixth Streets (Laura Smith)

    • Requires four elements of condominium rights for uses within the project above the planned restoration of the 36,000 square foot theater.

  • The Mint Museum at 500 South Tryon Street (Fred Klein III)

    • Next phase of development that has happened over the last decade

    • Foresight of Wachovia/Wells Fargo was enormously helpful in helping this project come to fruition.

    • Air Rights above the Mint were purchased for $18.1M

    • Great lengths were gone to, including agreeing to not swing cranes over the trading floors at Wells Fargo during the building process.

  • The Epicentre (Doug Stephan)

    • Legal Battles over Air Rights went on for a lengthy period.

    • Separate development rights were created for condominium agreements

    • The economy and lack of parking were major roadblocks in this project.

    • Eventually the project became two limited service hotels, under construction now.