QC Capital Group has named Lee Cole as Acquisitions Lead, adding seven years of real estate acquisitions experience and more than 350 closed transactions to its team. Cole has built his career sourcing properties off-market and working directly with sellers, and he joins the acquisitions team at the firm’s Charlotte headquarters.
Who Is Lee Cole?
Lee Cole is a real estate acquisitions professional whose experience runs from single-family investing through commercial real estate. QC Capital Group announced his appointment on November 6, 2026, describing the addition as a way to strengthen its acquisition and development team as the firm expands its platform of essential businesses across the Southeast.
350 transactions, closed one at a time
More than 350 closed transactions over seven years works out to an average of about 50 a year. Single-family deals are generally smaller and faster than commercial ones, so that count is not a measure of dollar volume. What it does measure is repetition: finding an owner, pricing the asset, negotiating terms, and getting to the closing table, hundreds of times over.
Founding The Rosewood Investment Group
From 2020 to 2026, Cole founded and led The Rosewood Investment Group, an investment firm specializing in direct-to-seller acquisitions and creative financing structures. Direct-to-seller means a buyer reaches a property owner without going through a listing. Creative financing refers to deal structures beyond a conventional bank loan, such as seller financing, which can help a transaction work for both sides when a standard loan would not.
Industrial and auto-use work at Matthews
Cole also served as an Associate in the industrial practice at Matthews, advising owners, investors, and owner-users on industrial and auto-use properties across the Charlotte market. Those property types sit close to home for QC Capital, whose real asset strategies include flex industrial real estate and a car care portfolio of express car washes and quick-lube centers.
What Cole Will Do at QC Capital
Cole will focus on sourcing and underwriting acquisitions across the firm’s active fund strategies. In practice, that covers both ends of the deal process: finding opportunities, then testing whether they hold up.
“Lee brings exactly the kind of experience our acquisition platform runs on – deep off-market sourcing relationships and a track record built deal by deal,” said Chris Salerno, Founder and CEO of QC Capital Group. “His seven years across single-family and commercial acquisitions, and his relationships throughout the Southeast, strengthen our ability to find and close the right opportunities for our investors.”
Feeding a selective filter
Sourcing carries particular weight at a firm that says no as often as QC Capital does. The firm’s stated practice is to move forward on only about 2% of the opportunities it evaluates, or roughly 2 of every 100. A filter that tight depends on the pool of deals in front of it. The wider and more original that pool is, the more likely it is that something clears the bar without the bar having to move.
An active stretch for the platform
The appointment comes during a busy period for the firm. Since late September, QC Capital has:
- launched Cruz Express Oil, extending its car care platform into quick-lube service
- closed on a three-building flex portfolio in Mooresville, North Carolina
- announced the 12th AquaShine Express location, scheduled to open in Winter Haven, Florida, on December 4
- promoted Chris Stevens to Chief Operating Officer of AquaShine Express and Cruz Express Oil
- expanded QC Healthcare with the national launch of My Adult Doctor
Why Off-Market Sourcing Matters to Investors
Off-market sourcing matters because it changes how a deal begins. An off-market acquisition is a purchase negotiated directly with an owner before the property is broadly marketed for sale. Compared with a listed sale, the buyer may face fewer competing bidders and have more room to shape terms, though neither outcome is assured.
| Dimension | Off-market acquisition | Broadly marketed sale |
|---|---|---|
| How the deal surfaces | Direct outreach and owner relationships | Listing, broker offering, or auction process |
| Buyer competition | Often limited to one or a few parties | Often multiple bidders on a set timeline |
| Price discovery | Set by negotiation and the buyer’s own analysis | Tested by competing offers |
| Terms and timing | More room to tailor to the seller’s needs | Usually framed by the seller’s process |
| Information available | May require more work to assemble | Often packaged in an offering memorandum |
| Main risk | Overpaying without a market check | Bidding up to win a contested deal |
Off-market does not automatically mean a better price
A deal that avoids a bidding process also avoids the market check that comes with one. Without competing offers, the discipline has to come from the buyer’s own underwriting, which is the analysis of a property’s income, costs, and risks used to decide what it is worth. A seller who skips a listing may also know exactly what the property could bring. Treat “off-market” as a description of where a deal came from, not as evidence of its quality.
What to ask any sponsor about deal flow
If you are evaluating a private fund, sourcing is a fair topic for diligence. Ask where recent deals came from, how many opportunities the sponsor reviewed for each one it closed, and who is responsible for underwriting. Ask for examples of deals the sponsor passed on and why. For the broader diligence process, read QC Capital’s guide on how to evaluate a real estate sponsor.
The QC Capital approach to acquisitions
QC Capital focuses on essential businesses and functional real estate in Southeast markets, and it maintains a significant GP commitment, meaning the sponsor invests its own capital alongside investors, in every acquisition. For flex industrial, the firm publishes its target profile on its acquisition criteria page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is QC Capital Group’s new Acquisitions Lead?
Lee Cole joined QC Capital Group as Acquisitions Lead, as announced on November 6, 2026. He brings seven years of real estate acquisitions experience and more than 350 closed transactions across single-family and commercial real estate.
What will Lee Cole focus on at QC Capital?
Cole will focus on sourcing and underwriting acquisitions across the firm’s active fund strategies, working with the acquisitions team at QC Capital’s Charlotte headquarters.
What is an off-market real estate acquisition?
An off-market acquisition is a purchase negotiated directly with an owner before the property is broadly marketed for sale. It can reduce competition and allow more flexible terms, but it also removes the price check that competing bids provide.
Does this appointment change QC Capital’s acquisition criteria?
The announcement does not describe any change to the firm’s criteria. It describes the appointment as strengthening the firm’s ability to find and close opportunities.
What does QC Capital Group invest in?
QC Capital Group is a Charlotte-based alternative investment firm specializing in essential businesses, including car care portfolios, flex industrial space, and private equity offerings. Its platform includes the AquaShine Express car wash brand, Cruz Express Oil, and QC Healthcare. You can also follow the firm on LinkedIn.
If you are an accredited investor or an advisor evaluating operator-led alternative investments, QC Capital’s team can walk you through how the platform sources, underwrites, and manages its assets. Start a conversation with QC Capital. This article is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Any offering is made only to accredited investors through a confidential private placement memorandum. Private investments are speculative and illiquid and involve risk, including possible loss of principal. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and statements about business plans are forward-looking and may change.
