Carlson Real Estate swings into action to pitch space on Yorkmont

By Will Boye; Charlotte Business Journal

May 15, 2009—How do you tee up a large vacancy during a down economy?
For Chris Kirby, vice president of Carlson Real Estate Co., the answer was to don golf knickers and put on a memorable broker event at the CLT Logistics Center on Yorkmont Road.

When CEVA Logistics, a third-party logistics provider, vacated its space in the building earlier this year, Carlson was left with 72,000 square feet of industrial space near Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.

Even in a normal economy, Kirby says, it would be important to make the broker community aware of the vacancy. But when times are slow, broker outreach is even more critical.

So last Thursday Carlson put on a “brokers win” event where attendees received a free lunch and $50 gift cards just for showing up.

The firm set up a golf simulator, holding longest drive and closest-to-the-pin competitions, with the winners receiving a package of golf lessons. Carlson also held a drawing for an HDTV and Blu-Ray player. But to enter their names, attending brokers had to walk the length of the warehouse to an office where the landlord had strategically placed the drawing bowl.

Carlson is based in Minnetonka, Minn. The company entered the Charlotte market in 2006 when it purchased a portfolio of 1.1 million square feet of industrial space here. That property includes ChemWay industrial park, South Point Business Park and the Logistics Center, where Carlson owns 11 buildings totaling 588,000 square feet.

Kirby, who opened Carlson’s local office in 2007, says the firm increased its efforts and focused on reaching as many brokers as possible for the recent event.

“It’s just more important to not leave anything on the table when you’re in a slower market,” he says. “It’s like everybody else — we’re all just working a little bit harder in this environment. We’re trying to be aggressive with the brokers, we’re trying to be aggressive and creative with the tenants and we’re trying to focus quite a bit on the value proposition that we think we bring to the table.
“You can’t really do without any one of those elements.”

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Carlson Real Estate Company is an affiliate of Carlson, a global group of integrated companies providing hotel, marketing, restaurant and travel services directly to consumers, corporations and government entities. Carlson Real Estate Company is dedicated to developing long-term client relationships by operating with caring and integrity and providing innovative and accommodating solutions. Its portfolio of office and flex/industrial space concentrated in Minnesota, Arizona, and North Carolina exceeds 6 million combined square feet. For more information about Carlson Real Estate Company, visit www.carlsonrealestate.biz.