Charlotte group buying in area

Cash is king in this world of leery lenders.

And now a Charlotte investment group is positioning itself to expand its empire to the Triangle.

Trinity Capital has raised $20 million in equity that will fund acquisitions of offices, warehouses and mixed-use projects throughout the Carolinas.

It's the company's second fund, but its first to scope out the Triangle.

"We've always been interested in that market for diversification," managing partner Walker Collier says.

And that would make sense, given that Charlotte's office market is bracing itself for surprises from Bank of America, Wachovia and companies that support the financial giants.

The same issues roiling the financial world have created opportunity for Trinity.

"Due to the credit crisis, there's going to be good buying opportunities and good ways to recapitalize assets with existing owners and lenders," Collier says.

Indeed, buyers have been sidelined as lenders have begun requiring more equity from borrowers.

Through Sept. 30, investors bought only $544 million in Triangle offices, warehouses and shopping centers -- down 64 percent from last year, according to CB Richard Ellis.

And the lack of lookers has meant softer prices.

Trinity hopes to snatch offices by itself, or partner with other equity investors in as much as $300 million in assets.

The fund is hunting offices as big as 500,000 square feet or warehouses ranging from 100,000 square feet to more than 1 million square feet. It also is looking for joint ventures on mixed-use projects.

More height, but probably less hoopla, in Cameron Village: Preliminary site plans have been filed in Raleigh, outlining long-awaited plans to build the world's first two-story Chick-fil-A restaurant.

The project, pegged for the old Village Eye Care building on Cameron Street, was scheduled to open early next year. But plans were delayed in part because of its first-of-a-kind status.

The project also was expected to coincide with a stalled residential-and-retail project at Clark Avenue and Oberlin Road.

That eight-story project has been at the center of debate over dense development in and around Cameron Village.

The same factor with that project -- lack of land -- pushed the Chick-fil-A up.

The company isn't sure when it will begin the 10-month construction.

It may need to coordinate with work on a nearby parking deck and deal with some new construction challenges, says John Featherston, the chicken chain's senior director of real estate.

"It's very different," he says, "than taking an empty acre out on U.S. 1 and developing that."