Centro Railyard apartments, 'micro' retail acquired by Collett Capital, Spaulding & Slye Investments

A boutique apartment development with ground-floor retail space in red-hot South End has been sold.

Centro Railyard, which includes 91 apartments and 12,991 square feet of retail, was acquired by Collett Capital and equity partner Spaulding & Slye Investments for $30.2 million, according to Mecklenburg County real estate records. The firms purchased Centro Railyard from its developers, a joint venture of Charlotte-based Ascent Real Estate Capital and Centro Cityworks.

Collett is a locally based private equity real estate firm and Spaulding & Slye, headquartered in Boston, is an investment company that's a subsidiary of JLL (NYSE: JLL).

The Centro Railyard apartments, which are smaller-than-average units for Charlotte, are a mix of studios and one and two bedrooms. The property is at 1425 Winnifred St., behind The RailYard office development, which was acquired in late 2020 by Cousins Properties for $201 million.

Tenants at Centro Railyard's "micro" retail space include olpr. Leather Goods Co., The Cactus Club, CLT Boutique, Glory Days Apparel, You Got Swank, Five13 Studio and The Brown Sugar Collab. Each retail space measures between 400 and 1,500 square feet.

At the time of the sale, the retail space was 100% leased and the apartments just shy of that, according to JLL, which brokered the deal. Delivery and lease-up occurred during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Centro Cityworks and Ascent Real Estate Capital are under construction on a similar project in the Wilmore neighborhood, called Centro Square. That project will include 132 apartments and 7,300 square feet of retail space, adjacent to an office building by Beacon Partners.