A Rochester, New York-based architecture and engineering firm has officially entered the Charlotte market with the recent opening of its Camp North End office.
Passero Associates held a grand-opening event for that office at 1824 Statesville Ave. — its 10th location in the U.S. — on Oct. 28. The firm occupies 2,632 square feet in the adaptive-reuse development, where it is part of Camp North End’s Boileryard.
The Charlotte office is slated to have 15 to 18 employees over the next few years, senior project architect and local office manager Jeremy White told CBJ. The staff will include architecture, structural and civil professionals.
Passero’s new office uses repurposed building materials from around the site including wood, steel and siding.
“Charlotte has been a target location for Passero as it is strategically located within range of Passero’s other East Coast locations and its corporate headquarters in Rochester, NY,” White said. “With the extensive growth in the Charlotte area in both residential and commercial real estate, Passero saw Charlotte as an excellent opportunity to expand its work in multifamily and student housing.”
White said Passero is partnering with local developers on new multifamily and commercial projects in the market. The firm is active in North Carolina, including in the Raleigh and Greensboro markets.
“Because of the strategic location for our Charlotte office within the Camp North End community, we are using local talent from places like Northwest School of the Arts to continue the artistic synergy into our space by having the students do a full scale three-wall mural to celebrate the history of Camp North End while showcasing the forward direction of Passero in our Charlotte office,” White said in a press release.
Founded in 1972, Passero is a full-service professional consulting firm providing services that span planning, engineering, architectural design, structural, surveying, sustainability, and 3D visualization, among others. It has more than 100 employees throughout the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest.
White was joined by Jess Sudol, Passero president, and Tommy Mann, Camp North End development director, in giving remarks at the grand-opening event.
“With their commitment to adaptive reuse, sustainable construction methods and creating dynamic environments, Camp North End is an ideal place for Passero’s first offices in Charlotte,” Mann said.
Passero joins several other office tenants at Camp North End such as Aon, Centene Corp., CloudGenera, Pine Gate Renewables, Hygge, Mign, Rachel Sutherland and Communications and Junior Achievement of Central Carolinas.
New York-based ATCO Properties & Management and Shorenstein out of San Francisco are behind Camp North End, which encompasses 75 acres and millions of square feet of warehouse space. It is being retrofit into new commercial space in phases.