$28M Asheville downtown deal: Ga. firm buys 15 structures, Jackson Building

Joel Burgess | The Citizen-Times

Show Caption Hide Caption $28 million deal for downtown Asheville buildings A Georgia investment company has paid $28.3 million for 15 structures in some of the most prominent locations of downtown Asheville.

ASHEVILLE - A Georgia investment company has bought a large swath of downtown, paying $28.3 million for 15 structures south of Pack Square including the historic Jackson Building.

Pack Square Property, a limited liability company registered in Delaware, was the official buyer, but the organization behind it is Wicker Park Capital Management, a Savannah, Georgia-based investment company. The deal was completed Friday, according to Buncombe County records.

An email and call to Wicker Park co-founder Blake Berg were not returned Wednesday.

The sellers, a collection of seven investors including former fast-food executive Steve McManus, cleared $13.3 million after buying the properties for $15 million in 2004, according to county register of deeds records. Most of the investors were part of Pack Square Investors LLC.

"We got a good return on the investment, and we were very fortunate over the period of time we had the property," said McManus of Charleston, South Carolina.

The property is split into seven "tracts" that occupy some of downtown's most prominent spaces to the southeast, south and southwest of the city's central Pack Square. Many buildings are from the early 20th century and helped establish the look of the modern downtown. The properties are:

Five buildings across from Pack Square to the south and southwest. The most famous is the Jackson Building — the region's first skyscraper built in 1924 with a spirelike appearance and adornments of gargoyles. Other structures include the building once hosting Blue Ridge Savings Bank owned by former congressman Charles Taylor and the Legal Building, which houses the French Broad Chocolate Lounge.

Two buildings on the east side of Biltmore Avenue, including current homes of Marble Slab Creamery and White Duck Taco. A breezeway between the two eateries leads to Diana Wortham Theatre.

A six-building block on the southwest corner of Patton and Biltmore avenues. Tenants include Posana Restaurant, The Noodle Shop, Bomba and Salsas.

A long-term lease for the parking garage bordering Biltmore as well as Eagle and South Market streets. This includes several retail spots along Eagle in part of downtown historically occupied by African-American businesses.

A 0.08-acre empty lot at the northwest corner of Eagle and South Market.

The two remaining tracts cover the Jackson Building annex and other easements.

McManus, an investor in the failed pre-recession Biltmore Avenue hotel project, The Ellington, said the partners sold the tracts because the investors were aging and the timing seemed right with the market.

The seven sellers include four from the Charleston area, one from Asheville, one from Greensboro and one from Montana, he said.

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"We had numerous offers. We liked the group we picked because we thought that they could take the property and spend some additional capital on the it and keep it historical."

Posana owner Peter Pollay learned Wednesday from the Citizen-Times about the price of the sale.

"That is unbelievable. That is a big amount of money. And very important buildings for downtown," said Pollay, who left real estate to open the gluten-free farm-to-table restaurant in 2009.

Pollay said McManus had been "wonderful as a landlord." He said a property management group brought in by the new owners told him things would stay largely the same.

"They told me they are going to keep everything as is ... and be really supportive of all the businesses."

Pollay said he was concerned in general that as the buyers of downtown property continue to pay higher prices, they will look to raise rents to cover their loans, possibly forcing out tenants.

"It's outrageous what is happening in the real estate market here," he said.

The purchasing company bears the name of the Chicago neighborhood where in 2012 it bought six condominiums from a bankrupt development for $265,000 a unit, selling them for $425,000 a unit two years later, according to Crain's Chicago Business.

Based in Savannah, Wicker Park also has offices in Coral Gables, Florida, its website says.

"The principals of WPCM have been involved with over $6.7 billion of real estate transactions," the website says. "These investments span the continental United States and vary by product type and risk profile. While WPCM seeks to invest opportunistically in all property types, the company's primary focus is multifamily and retail assets."

The Asheville purchase seems in line with other recent company transactions.

In 2014, Wicker Park bought a mixed-use apartment and commercial development in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, for $38 million, according to the Birmingham Business Journal.

In June 2016, the company paid $22.6 million for an apartment complex in Madison, Alabama, according to AL.com.