Location | Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC |
---|---|
Status | Completed |
Groundbreaking | August 4, 2017 |
Estimated completion | 2021 |
Website | legacyunioncharlotte |
Companies | |
Developer | Lincoln Harris |
Technical details | |
Buildings | Bank of America Tower, 650 South Tryon, Honeywell Tower, 600 South Tryon, and possible hotel |
Size | 10.2 acres (4.1 ha) |
Legacy Union, formerly known as 620 South Tryon, is a multi-building development currently finished in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. It broke ground on August 4, 2017, and finished in 2021. The development includes the world headquarters of Honeywell and major corporate offices for Deloitte, JLL, Bank of America, and Robinson Bradshaw. [1]
The site of the development is located on the former site of the Charlotte Observer. It is a mixed use development that spans two city blocks and is bordered by Tryon St, Stonewall St, Mint St, and Interstate 277. Lincoln Harris and Goldman Sachs purchased the 10-acre property in 2016 for a price of $37.5 million. The land was purchased in 3 transactions. The first transaction was 5 acres for $11 million which closed in April 2016. [2] The second transaction was the site of the Charlotte Observer building which was 4.1 acres for $23.1 million, the sale closed in May 2016. [2] The final transaction was for a .7 acre site that closed in September 2016. [3] In 2017 when the development was originally being discussed only the first building, the Bank of America Tower, was being discussed. [4] Demolition of the Charlotte Observer building began on August 1, 2016. [5]
The name was chosen to honor the past and celebrate Charlotte's future. The way developer Lincoln Harris intents to celebrate Charlotte future is by making the site a destination for people to gather. A pedestrian plaza connecting Tryon Street and Bank of America Stadium patterned after plazas in London, Paris, and Rome will accomplish this. Also, the developer will be including retail space and possibly a convention center hotel containing more than 1,000 rooms. [4]
Bank of America signed on as the anchor tenant is August 2017, agreeing to occupy 550,000 square feet (51,000 m2) [4] of the 841,000 square feet (78,100 m2) building. The building topped out in September 2018 [6] and delivered in August 2019. [7] Other tenants of the building include law firm Parker Poe leasing 86,000 square feet (8,000 m2) across three floors, [8] and KPMG leasing 46,000 square feet (4,300 m2) across two floors. [8] The Bank also has a retail branch accessible through the lobby of the building. [9] They began moving their employees in during August 2019 initially only into floors 14 and 15. [7] At that time the tower was 90% leased. [10] The bank employees that will occupy the building are coming from Bank of America Corporate Center and 1 Bank of America Center. The Bank stated they plan to use some of the floors as collaborative work space without assigned seating. [7] They have consolidated 2,000 employees from all over the city across 22 floors of the building. This has allowed The Bank to reduce its Charlotte real estate footprint by 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2). [11]
In August 2019, Raleigh-based Highwoods Properties agreed to purchase the tower for $436 million. [10] The deal closed in November 2019, [12] the price slightly increased to $441 million and it was a record setting sale price for the state of North Carolina until Truist Financial agreed to purchase the former Hearst Tower now Truist Center for $455 million. [9] The purchase gave Highwoods Properties their first property in the Charlotte market. [10] The property was marketed by multiple Cushman & Wakefield groups to about 50 to 75 investors worldwide that normally did not have Charlotte on their radar. [9] Selling the property was not a problem since at the time Charlotte had a growing and diverse economy. [10]
In February 2021, Highwoods Properties began to consider expanding the building by 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) to 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2). The expansion would be in the building's podium and would be used for a speculative office development. Also rooftop amenities were being considered. The goal would be to provide a variety of space usage options to meet customer demands. [13]
On June 17, 2022, architecture firm Gresham Smith announced it had signed a 10-year lease for 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) to 17,000 square feet (1,600 m2) square feet of space. Its 50 local employees moved from their former 8,000 square feet (740 m2) at Charlotte Plaza and 201 S. College St. The company began occupying the space in the spring of 2023. [14]
UNC Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flager Business School announced on July 27, 2022 it would open a Charlotte campus in the building with classes to begin in the fall semester. The school occupied temporary space on the third floor until its permanent home on the fourth floor composed of 160,000 square feet (15,000 m2) square feet was completed. Placement on the fourth floor gave the school easy access to parking and outdoor space that will be used for functions. [15]
On September 20, 2022, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced it will be moving its headquarters from Greensboro to Charlotte. The conference currently occupies a 18,500 square foot building that it owns in Greensboro. They will move into a similar amount of space in the Bank of America Tower. The conference has stated that during the current academic year they will be occupying the space and all 50 employees will be relocating to Charlotte. [16] In August 2023 the Atlantic Coast Conference held a grand opening ceremony for its new location in the building. The ceremony was attended by the ACC Commissioner, mascots from its 15 schools, Charlotte mayor Vi Lyles, local sports and business executives, and Lincoln Harris CEO Johnny Harris. [17]
The second phase of the Legacy Union development includes the 18-story, 290-ft-tall 650 South Tryon building, which includes 362,000 square feet (33,600 m2) of office space. [18] It sits on 2.2 acres of the 10 acre development and is located at the corner of Hill and South Tryon. [19] Deloitte is the anchor tenant, leasing 90,000 square feet (8,400 m2). Construction of the building began in December 2018 [18] [20] The building has 10,000 square feet (930 m2) to 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) of ground floor retail. [21]
Deloitte was previously leasing 70,000 square feet (6,500 m2) at the Duke Energy Center. In the Charlotte region, the company has 1,300 employees and is one of the Charlotte area's leading accounting firms. [18] Other tenants include property management company JLL leasing 41,000 square feet (3,800 m2), [22] New York law firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft leasing 72,000 square feet (6,700 m2) which will hold their 89 Charlotte based attorneys, [23] and Robinhood announced they will open a local office in the building to house the 289 employees they will be hiring in Charlotte by 2025. [24] [25]
In May 2022, Highwoods Properties Inc. disclosed its purchase of the building for $203 million. At the time of the deal the building was 78% occupied. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022. [26]
In August 2022 Robinhood announced it will be closing its Charlotte office and laying off all 82 local employees. This was part of a 23% company wide reduction of workers. [27] However, later in August, San Francisco based Figure Technology announced that they will be subleasing 24,000 square feet, half of Robinhood's space. 90 employees will be moving into the space once Robinhood vacates it. [28]
In late 2018, Honeywell announced it would relocate its corporate headquarters from New Jersey to Charlotte, beginning in 2019 after the company accepted $90 million of state and local incentives. [29] The company began relocating positions in July 2019. They also looked at the neighborhoods of South End and Ballantyne in Charlotte before deciding on Uptown. In June 2019, Lincoln Harris announced Honeywell will occupy 280,000 square feet (26,000 m2) in the 23-story building in the 330,000 square feet (31,000 m2) building, housing 750 employees. Honeywell will be leasing 10 floors, which is the majority of the leasable floors. The remaining floors will include ground floor retail, parking, and the lobby. [30] Construction began in October 2019 [31] with completion in 2021. [30] In October 2020 Honeywell filed a rezoning petition to put four signs on the building. [29] In August 2021 Honeywell began to occupy the building by inviting employees back to work after a long period of remote only work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of November 2021, 800 employees now occupy the building. [32] In September 2022 the building achieved LEED Gold certification. [33]
The tower will be anchored by Robinson Bradshaw, who signed a 15-year lease. The firm is one of Charlotte's largest law firms. [34] At the time of signing the lease the firm was leasing space in One Independence Center. [35] They will occupy 102,000 square feet (9,476 m2) of space over the top four floors. [36] Construction started in April 2022. [37] [38] It will be a 24 story tower with 415,000 square feet (38,555 m2) total space including 20,000 square feet (1,858 m2) of ground floor retail. [36]
The location of the building is the exact site of the former Charlotte Observer building. The former building was 361,000 square feet (33,538 m2) and it was at the corner of Stonewall St (now Brooklyn Village) and South Tryon St. The Charlotte Observer was housed there for nearly 50 years. [5]
A common parking deck providing 3,104 parking spaces with four levels of executive parking is located at 720 South Church Street. [39] [40]
Uptown Charlotte, also called Center City, is the central business district of Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. The area is split into four wards by the intersection of Trade and Tryon Streets, and bordered by Interstate 277 and Interstate 77. The area is managed and overseen by the Charlotte Central City Partners, which is one of the three Municipal Service Districts in Charlotte. Uptown Charlotte is the largest business district in Charlotte and the Carolinas.
The Truist Center is a 47-story, 659 feet (201 m) skyscraper in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. The city's third tallest building, it is located along North Tryon Street. It was opened on November 14, 2002, and was the city's second tallest building, and was known as the "Hearst Tower" until 2019. The structure is composed of a 32-story tower resting atop a 15-floor podium. During Bank of America's occupancy in the building located on the podium was a three-story trading facility designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and operated by Bank of America. The trading facility included a 6,000-square-foot (560 m2), two-story trading floor. Now the former trading floor is part of Truist's 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) technology innovation center. The building is currently the headquarters of Truist Financial, which purchased the building in March 2020.
Ballantyne is a neighborhood and developing edge city on the southside of Charlotte, North Carolina, occupying a 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) area of land adjacent to the South Carolina border. The neighborhood is home to St. Matthew Catholic Church, the largest Catholic congregation in the United States.
One Wells Fargo Center is a 588-foot (179 m) skyscraper in Charlotte, North Carolina and is the headquarters for Wells Fargo's east coast division but will leave the building by the end of 2023. Opening on September 14, 1988, it was the tallest building in North Carolina, until 1992 when it was surpassed by the Bank of America Corporate Center. The building consists of 42 floors, a connected 22-story Hilton Hotel, YMCA, parking garage, plaza, and is connected to Two Wells Fargo Center via skybridge, as part of the Overstreet Mall.
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Fifth Third Center, formally known as the IJL Financial Center and 201 North Tryon, is a 447 feet (136 m) building in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was completed in 1997, and has 30 floors. It is located at the intersection of West Fifth Street and North Tryon Street. It was designed by Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates. The building contains 697,817 square feet (65,000 m2) of rentable floor space and it includes an attached 1,030 space parking deck. In 2001 the building won the BOMA International's TOBY award for excellence in office building management and operations.
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One Independence Center is a high-rise office building located in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. It was completed in 1983 and stands at a height of 301 ft with 20 floors. It is the seventh largest building in Charlotte by leasable square feet with 565,694 square feet. It sits on the former site of the Independence Building at Charlotte's Independence Square.
200 South College is a 300-foot (91 m) high-rise in Charlotte, North Carolina. Completed in 1975, it consists of 22 floors and an 11-story parking garage. On the second floor, it is connected to neighboring buildings via skybridges, as part of the Overstreet Mall.
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Ally Charlotte Center is a 2-building development in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. The office building was officially completed on May 3, 2021, it stands at a height of 378 (115.2). Each floor has an open floor plan and averages approximately 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) in size for a total of 742,000 square feet (68,900 m2) of space which makes it the tenth largest building in Charlotte by leasable space. The site features a 381-room JW Marriott hotel including 34 suites, the first JW Marriott in North Carolina. The site also includes 25,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, and an 8-story parking garage with 1,400 parking spots.
300 South Tryon is an office high rise in Charlotte, North Carolina. With a height of 463 feet (141 m), it is the 10th tallest building in Charlotte. It was completed in 2017. Ground breaking was on December 15, 2014, and construction was completed on November 16, 2017. 300 South Tryon was built on the last available undeveloped lot on South Tryon and was the first high-rise office building in uptown Charlotte since the end of the Great Recession. The building has 638,000 square feet (59,300 m2) of space including 22,000 square of street level retail space, which makes it the 13th largest building in Charlotte by leasable space.
The Duke Energy Plaza is a 629 feet (192 m), 40 floor skyscraper in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina. Upon its completion it will become the third largest building in Charlotte by leasable square feet and serve as the corporate headquarters of Duke Energy. It will house up to 4,400 Duke Energy employees and contractors. The entire building features 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2) of space, including 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2) of retail space, a 7 floor parking garage for 1,100 vehicles, and will be a LEED-Gold Certified Class AA office tower.
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