OakNorth Bank Provides $50M Loan to Onward Investors for Charlotte Office Portfolio Acquisition

OakNorth Bank Bank has provided a $50 million loan to Onward Investors to fund the acquisition and repositioning of three Class A office buildings at Coliseum Centre in Charlotte, North Carolina, the parties announced July 8, 2026.

The financing supports Onward Investors' purchase of Coliseum Centre 3, 5 and 6, a three-building portfolio totaling more than 512,000 square feet in Charlotte's airport submarket, situated less than five minutes from Charlotte Douglas International Airport. In addition to the acquisition, the loan includes funding for tenant improvements, leasing commissions and capital expenditures to support the continued repositioning of the assets.

Portfolio and Location

The three-building portfolio sits within the Coliseum Centre office park in Charlotte's airport submarket. Pricing terms for the acquisition were not publicly disclosed.

Onward Investors' Strategy

Founded in 2011, Onward Investors is a Minneapolis-based alternative investment manager focused on opportunistic real estate and credit investments. The firm targets commercial assets where active leasing, operational improvements and targeted capital investment can generate long-term value.

Jon Lanners, Managing Partner at Onward Investors, said the acquisition fits within the firm's investment approach. "Our acquisition represents exactly the type of opportunity we seek — high-quality institutional real estate in a strong market where active asset management can create significant long-term value," Lanners said. "Having successfully implemented a similar strategy within the same business park, we're excited to continue investing in the Charlotte market and delivering an outstanding experience for both existing and future tenants. OakNorth understood both our investment strategy and the opportunity from the outset, providing the speed and certainty of execution critical in today's market."

Lanners' reference to prior activity within the same business park indicates that Onward Investors has existing operational experience at Coliseum Centre, which the firm is building upon with this expanded acquisition.

OakNorth Bank's Role

OakNorth Bank, launched in September 2015, positions itself as a lender serving entrepreneur-led businesses and sponsors in the lower mid-market. The bank has provided more than $22 billion in lending across the United Kingdom and the United States, and says its credit performance places it among the top 1% of commercial banks globally.

Max Saidman, Managing Director of Debt Finance at OakNorth, said the transaction's fundamentals made it an attractive opportunity for the bank. "Onward Investors has built an impressive track record of identifying attractive value-add opportunities and successfully executing complex business plans across the US commercial real estate market," Saidman said. "The team's experience within Coliseum Centre itself, coupled with Charlotte's strong long-term economic fundamentals and the quality of the underlying asset, made this a compelling transaction for us. We look forward to supporting Onward as it continues to grow its portfolio and executing on future opportunities together."

Market Context

Charlotte's airport submarket has drawn corporate occupiers in part due to its proximity to Charlotte Douglas International Airport. The Coliseum Centre park's diverse corporate tenant base and access to transportation infrastructure were cited by both parties as factors supporting the investment thesis. Total capitalization for the transaction was not disclosed.

OakNorth is authorized by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority in the United Kingdom.