Shopping center sale benefits students
Students at Wake Forest University, Queens University of Charlotte and Wingate University will benefit from the sale of Park Road Shopping Center in Charlotte, N.C. Edens & Avant, one of the nation’s leading retail real estate owners and developers, announced today that it has purchased the shopping center from the three universities. Mr. Porter Byrum donated the shopping center to the institutions in June. Wake Forest will receive in excess of $40 million from the sale; Queens and Wingate will receive in excess of $20 million each.
First opened in 1956, Park Road Shopping Center was the first open air shopping center in Charlotte and the largest of its kind between Washington D.C. and Atlanta. Purchased by Mr. Byrum in 1967, Park Road has enjoyed virtually 100 percent occupancy for the last 44 years and has enjoyed unparalleled community support in an often-volatile retail market.
“I am extremely grateful for the friendship and generosity Mr. Byrum has shown to Wake Forest over the years,” said Wake Forest President Nathan Hatch. “Our students are the beneficiaries of both Mr. Byrum’s successful career and his principle-driven life. His beliefs that perseverance can overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, that education equals opportunity, and that helping others is the key to a meaningful and well-lived life, should be a model for future generations.”
