No one knows, of course, what the loss of Wachovia bank from Charlotte will mean long-term. Will it stop the tower under construction? I think that’s unlikely. But an oversupply of office space may cause uptown rents to sink. Call it “affordable housing for offices.”
(Note, Wachovia Corp. will remain headquartered here, but it won’t own the retail bank.)
Here’s one early assessment, from UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute director Jeff Michael:
“It just seems to me, as someone who gets paid in part to observe Charlotte and its progress, that something significant and historic just happened here about which we can’t even begin to predict the consequences.“On the one hand, we may have just witnessed the beginning of the end of Charlotte’s upward trajectory, or alternatively, we may be getting ready to see just how resilient this city really is. Either way, it’s going to be a major story that unfolds over many years, and not just over the next six months.”
Lots of us are wondering whether that huge 48-story Wachovia office tower under construction will ever be finished. I bet it is.
Here’s what we know:
- Of its 1.5 million square feet, the bank was to have taken about half.
- Duke Energy is the second largest tenant of the 48-story building, leasing about 240,000 square feet
- In June the bank announced Deloitte LLP, the accounting and consulting firm, would lease about 82,000 square feet – third largest tenant.
- Wake Forest’s Babcock Graduate School of Management is another anchor tenant.
- In June, Wachovia said the building was fully leased.