Banks in downtown Raleigh?

[DwnTwnRaleighGuy]

First it was First Citizens Bank, then US Bank & Trust, then Merill Lynch, then Bank of America, and now it's SunTrust Bank,(just confirmed by Triangle Business Journal). Downtown Raleigh is just not where financial institutions choose to locate when they want to be in Raleigh or the Triangle. Instead it's most likely the North Hills area...is there anything that anyone can do that would make downtown Raleigh more appealing for these types of financial firms?

[Spatula]

Suntrust just came downtown literally 2 years ago. Why are they leaving?

[Atowwn]

Banks like other businesses sometimes cluster togather. I don't see an issue. Btw I can't remember the company's name. But a company moved out of The Captrust building for the BOA building downtown recently. 

 

Downtown is is high tech and state government. Midtown(north hills) seems to be turning into a financial district. I for one don't have an issue with that. 

To all the North Hills haters. What's good for one area us good for the other. Not to mention the entire city. Both areas are coming along quite nicely.  

[bj-26]

 

Maybe when some of these projects that have been planned for years actually get built a bank may move downtown. Mr. Kane is a go getter and doesn't drag his feet getting things done.

[ctl]

I spoke with someone at Merrill who wondered what the manager of Wells Fargo Capitol Center has in mind. http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/real-estate-news/article50073180.html, http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/real-estate/2015/12/highbrook-ny-buys-wells-fargo-tower-raleigh-nc.html

That said, NH is closer to many Merrill customers than downtown, and NH is at least as accessible to customers in other Wake County muncipalities. 

FWIW Atlanta saw a similar migration of retail financial institutions from downtown to Buckhead. 

[DwnTwnRaleighGuy]

I've heard the argument before regarding "NH being closer to clients". I would add that for wrong or right, NH is closer to the more "wealthy" clients. Who knows, maybe we'll get a bank that specializes in servicing more wealthy "Tech" customers? Sad to play that game but downtown Raleigh has to have a more diversified employeer base...IMHO. 

[RALNATIVE]

Unfortunately, most banks are no longer considering themselves as banks. They commonly like to refer to themselves as "financial centers," especially Bank of America. The retail banking component of their business is shrinking; therefore the need for traditional branches is shrinking. Modern financial centers prefer to locate where the money is, just as DwnTwnRaleighGuy has pointed out, and North Hills is right in the thick of it for Raleigh.

[RaleighHeelsfan]

North Hills &&^%(ucks. If you like dead end streets...generic buildings...yuppies...it's the place for you. I will stay downtown!

14 hours ago, RALNATIVE said:

Unfortunately, most banks are no longer considering themselves as banks. They commonly like to refer to themselves as "financial centers," especially Bank of America. The retail banking component of their business is shrinking; therefore the need for traditional branches is shrinking. Modern financial centers prefer to locate where the money is, just as DwnTwnRaleighGuy has pointed out, and North Hills is right in the thick of it for Raleigh.

 

[Rufus]

I say let North Hills have the banks.  They haven't exactly been the best community partners.  And there are still some financial operations downtown with BB&T and Capital Bank.  I'd rather the banks choose bland NH than any further out in the burbs.  Plus, most bank buildings offer little to no real street presence aside from being fortresses of the rich.  I think downtown is doing just fine as a creative hub for tech, advertising, architecture, etc.  

[Jones_]

In a related observation, I noticed a new bank going into the Alexander Building across from Times. Forgot the name, but I got the feeling it was a brand new bank. 

[orulz]

Eh. The more I think about it, I really don't have a problem with North Hills becoming a second urban center for Raleigh, even if that takes some current tenants away from downtown. As Raleigh grows, there will be plenty of demand for downtown space as well.

I would, however, like to see some opportunity for other developers to get involved in the action. If everything in the entire district is always developed only by Kane, that seems like too much of a monoculture. Don't get me wrong here, Kane is a very capable developer, and he has been selling off some of the properties after they are developed, which does diversify things somewhat, but I won't consider it a true urban center unless/until other developers get in on the action, because that would increase the diversity and improve the quality of the final product. I'm not necessarily saying that Kane should sell off some of the parcels he already owns in North Hills, though that would be OK with me; I'd just at least like to see other developers get involved in building stuff nearby, be it down the street on St Albans or across the beltline on Computer Drive, or to the north along Six Forks or Camelot.

[RaleighHeelsfan]

The problem is, North Hills does not even seem urban! It is suburban in style. I would support North Hills if the layout was cool and there was potential for it to turn into a really cool spot one day. North Hills will never be nothing but crap. The nerve for anyone to even call that place "Midtown" It will never be a midtown. Only the city of Raleigh would consider that a mid town. UGGG

[ctl]

People will never agree on semantics. NH is similar to Atlanta's Buckhead of the 1970s, with the same start (merely an outdoor shopping center at the edge of civilization when it opened). Forty years later, nobody in downtown Atlanta is laughing at Buckhead anymore.

[RaleighHeelsfan]

Where can North Hills even really expand though?

31 minutes ago, ctl said:

People will never agree on semantics. NH is similar to Atlanta's Buckhead of the 1970s, with the same start (merely an outdoor shopping center at the edge of civilization when it opened). Forty years later, nobody in downtown Atlanta is laughing at Buckhead anymore.

 

[orulz]

43 minutes ago, RaleighHeelsfan said:

Where can North Hills even really expand though?

Plenty of room for expansion. Computer Drive/Barrett Drive area; east along St Albans; north along Six Forks... Inevitably some of the SFH neighborhoods nearby, such as Dartmouth Drive, will consider selling out...

[ctl]

Exactly. Buckhead began as a residential community with light retail. One by one, the property owners sold out and the area was intensively redeveloped. Same thing could happen at NH. Or Crabtree. 

[Green_man]

Straying off topic, but North Hills is basically high density suburban.  Ask yourself if you ever see anyone walking across Six Forks or even Lassiter Mill Rd.  Every single trip is car dependent.  Heck, the backside of the buildings are facing the main roads!  Compare this to an urban environment where pedestrians are priority and service entrances are hidden off of the main roads.  North Hills is basically shaping up as three separate districts.  If you are coming from the original district and needed to go into the Bank of America building, where is the entrance?  Its like they assume that everyone is going to drive and park in the deck to enter the building.

[Jones_]

6 hours ago, orulz said:

Eh. The more I think about it, I really don't have a problem with North Hills becoming a second urban center for Raleigh, even if that takes some current tenants away from downtown. As Raleigh grows, there will be plenty of demand for downtown space as well.

I would, however, like to see some opportunity for other developers to get involved in the action. If everything in the entire district is always developed only by Kane, that seems like too much of a monoculture. Don't get me wrong here, Kane is a very capable developer, and he has been selling off some of the properties after they are developed, which does diversify things somewhat, but I won't consider it a true urban center unless/until other developers get in on the action, because that would increase the diversity and improve the quality of the final product. I'm not necessarily saying that Kane should sell off some of the parcels he already owns in North Hills, though that would be OK with me; I'd just at least like to see other developers get involved in building stuff nearby, be it down the street on St Albans or across the beltline on Computer Drive, or to the north along Six Forks or Camelot.

Since our downtown is physically small, yeah our density will need to exist in other places too. The whole Browning/Computer drive area seems like its ripe for redevelopment and could possibly be connected across the beltline to the Quail Hollow/St Albans area as part of a massive reorientation of the lots and streets. 

EDIT: Whoops....reading farther down I see you already covered this

[Spatula]

North Hills is not an office park. Urbanity is not a black and white dichotomy. They'll put in a pedestrian bridge across Six Forks at some point. It's not as urban and walkable as downtown or even five points, but it's more urban than the strip malls and RTP campuses that this area is unfortunately known for. One could plausibly live in North Hills and ride mass transit. One could also plausibly do all their shopping where they lived. It's a nice node of density to have in North Raleigh, and over time I expect it will transform into something with more character.

 

 

[DwnTwnRaleighGuy]

According to TBJ, downtown Raleigh is now losing the headquarters for Capital Bank to Charlotte....

[Euphorius]

The N&O article made it sound like that is just a possibility. It says that another possibility would be having their HQ split between the two cities. http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article55804495.html

[bj-26]

It doesn't sound very promising for Raleigh. They'll probably move to Charlotte and build a 50 story building uptown.

[Jones_]

My money is on them leaving their name on and regional staff in 333 Corporate Plaza here and moving HQ staff to Charlotte and building say 20-25 stories there. I don't know jack about the banking industry but this smells like the cresting into big time for these guys finally and Charlotte is indeed big time in banking and has all the perks those white shirt types like, such as Panthers and Hornets skyboxes. 

Edit: Plus this

[Euphorius]

I hadn't read that TBJ article. Yeah, it sounds like they will be moving.

[DwnTwnRaleighGuy]

Raleigh loosing yet another financial firm...Wall Street Journal reports that First National Bank to purchase Yadkin Financial of Raleigh. More details to be released Thursday! :-(