The Ghazi Co. is the developer for downtown Charlotte, N.C.’s EpiCentre, a 300,000-square-foot retail, restaurant and entertainment space, which includes luxury condos and lodging.

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Not every business has the opportunity to work on a “once in a lifetime opportunity,” but that is exactly what Afshin Ghazi believes he has with EpiCentre, a mixed-use development in Charlotte, N.C. “It’s not every day you come across a property that encompasses an entire city block in a metropolis like Charlotte,” The Ghazi Co. president says. “One side is flanked by Bank of America’s headquarters and the other side is the [National Basketball Association’s] Charlotte Bobcats’ arena.

“Also, it is connected to the main stop of the new multibillion-dollar light rail project in Charlotte, which will make it Grand Central Station.” The Ghazi Co. is the developer for the EpiCentre, which is a $350 million development that is five years in the making. The project consists of 1.8 million square feet at the site of the old convention center.

EpiCentre will boast more than 300,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space, 414 luxury condominiums and a 176-room “aloft” hotel by Starwood.

Ghazi took time to speak with U.S. Business Review recently about his company’s role in the project, the amenities EpiCentre will offer and what The Ghazi Co. has planned for the future.

U.S. Business Review: What type of entertainment will be available in the EpiCentre?

Afshin Ghazi: It will range from Strike City Bowling to EpiCentre Theaters, which will be a high-end theater. Also, we’ll have the restaurant/lounge Mez. It’s just a matter of bringing tier-1 entertainment to a second-tier city. Charlotte is already on its way to becoming a world-class city, so this is icing on the cake of the downtown area.

USBR: What do you mean by an “aloft” hotel?

AG: Our hotel is the first Starwood W Aloft announced in this country, and it will probably be the first or second one to open. W Aloft is similar to a W, but without the full services of a W. It brings everything together normally in a W, but we provide the amenities for the hotel guests, so there is no need for them to add their own component.

USBR: What have been some challenges of the project so far?

AG: When you get out of tier-1 cities with a project as complex as this, there is a lot of education that goes along with it, as well as cooperation. Managing that process is one of the hardest things, as well as the legal side of incorporating a hotel, a residential tower, restaurants and retail all within one city block.

USBR: How are you working through this?

AG: You hire the best, and you lay out the template of what is required. You set expectations on the front-end and manage your way through the process. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, but you need the intellectual knowledge to get through the process and the system.

Financing of this magnitude is also extremely difficult, and it will be more difficult in the future due to financing constraints in the marketplace today. We self-finance and provide 100 percent of our own equity in our projects.

USBR: How has everyone – including the contractors, yourselves, engineers, subs, etc. – stayed in touch and coordinated?

AG: E-mail is a wonderful thing. We set up electronic servers to track all the latest drawings and data so if people are coming into the project midstream or in the beginning or in the end, we point them to a Web site or a server where they can download the information they need to get themselves up to speed.

USBR: What has your company learned from EpiCentre that you can apply to future work?

AG: We strive to stay on the cutting-edge of development. When we feel like everyone is doing the same thing we’re doing, it is time to do something else. Barriers of entry for the EpiCentre were enormous. The intellectual knowledge needed to pull the project off was even bigger. We find niches in the marketplace to repeat and duplicate the great business model we have for development.
We will focus on second-tier cities to take our expertise and knowledge and better every community we walk into.

Trying New Things
Founded in 1993, The Ghazi Co. takes pride in remaining on the cutting edge of real estate development. The company efforts to stay from the conventional doctrines of design, it says.