By Ashley Fahey – Real Estate Editor, Charlotte Business Journal
Feb 25, 2020
A solar development company based in Asheville with a local office will be relocating in the coming months.
Pine Gate Renewables has signed a 5,532-square-foot lease at 301 Camp Road, within the substantial Camp North End adaptive-reuse project. The company’s current Charlotte office is on West Summit Avenue, near the Gold District. PGR will take occupancy at Camp North End on March 2.
PGR originates, develops, finances and operates utility-scale solar farms, with 400-plus megawatts of solar sites across the U.S. and more than 5 gigawatts of solar projects in the pipeline.
The move to Camp North End will allow the company to further expand in Charlotte, with an expectation of doubling its staff here over the next two to three years. PGR employs 15 in Charlotte today but the company is “actively hiring” for several positions and expects to place some hires in Charlotte, a spokeswoman said.
James Luster, founder and chief operating officer of PGR, said in a statement the new location will give the company “much-needed space” to grow.
“As a firm focused on renewable energy generation in the U.S., we were looking for office space that was nontraditional and dynamic with its own kind of energy and culture to it,” Luster said. “We loved the fact that we could walk to restaurants, shops and local breweries just steps away from our desks. It represents our company culture perfectly, and we’re beyond excited to be a part of this incredible redevelopment.”
Camp North End is a significant overhaul of former warehouses north of uptown, between Seversville Avenue and North Graham Street. The project is led by New York-based ATCO Properties & Management, in partnership with Shorenstein Properties out of San Francisco.
Other recent deals with office and retail tenants at Camp North End include CloudGenera, Good Postage, That’s Novel Books and bloc.
Jessica Brown, David Dorsch and Grant Keyes at Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord in the transaction. John Christenbury and Christianna Williams of Cushman & Wakefield represented Pine Gate Renewables