Premier Moves Headquarters to South Charlotte

Premier Moving HQ to Charlotte, Healthcare Alliance Signs for 262,000 SF in Charlotte, Announces 300 New Jobs

Article By Andrew Deichler, October 27, 2009

Premier Inc. is moving its corporate headquarters to Charlotte, NC, signing a 15-year lease at the Boyle Building in the Ballantyne Corporate Park. Occupancy is slated for February 2011.

A leading healthcare alliance of hospitals and other medical providers, Premier is taking the entire 10-story, 262,000-square-foot office building at 13034 Ballantyne Corporate Place. Bissell Development delivered the Class A property at the end of last year.

Blair Bryan, Jeff Harper and Eric Parris with Jones Lang LaSalle represented Premier in the transaction. Barry Fabyan, Charley Leavitt, Jenny Dykstra and Edward Curran with Bissell Cos. represented the landlord, in-house.

Premier is relocating from an 18,390-square-foot space at 12255 El Camino Real in San Diego. The organization already has quite a presence in Charlotte, occupying the 175,000-square-foot Corporate Center One in the Lakepointe Corporate Center. Premier also has offices in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Investing $17.7 million, Premier plans to create approximately 300 jobs at the new location over a five-year period, while keeping the 750 employees it already has in the region. If it does so, the healthcare alliance could be eligible for about $4.1 million in incentives from state officials.

According to a statement by the office of North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue, the proposed jobs would have an average salary of $69,400 per year, not including benefits. That is about $20,000 more than the Mecklenburg County annual average.

Premier's lease ends a 21-month search for a new location that would meet its space requirements and reaffirm its commitment to Charlotte. The organization's predecessor, SunHealth, was founded in Charlotte in 1969. The current Premier alliance was formed in 1996.

"Healthcare is large and growing as an economic force here in Charlotte," said Michael C. Tarwater, CEO of the Carolinas HealthCare System, Charlotte’s largest employer and a member/owner of Premier. "Premier is a key partner in this growth, and their presence here is a great feather in the cap of our entire region."

About 90 North Carolina hospitals are members of the alliance, including Carolinas HealthCare System and Gaston Memorial Hospital, both in Charlotte. Premier has helped these hospitals to save more than $164 million since 2004. Additionally, 19 North Carolina hospitals have received $3 million for improving patient care through a program run by Premier and Medicare.

"Considering our existing presence and past history in the area, it is a natural fit for Premier to be headquartered in Charlotte," said Susan DeVore, president and CEO of Premier.