Jump to content

Truist - New HQ (BB&T-SunTrust Merger)


dubone

Recommended Posts

45 minutes ago, NYtoCLT said:

The deal won't close until 4th quarter and any major building could be a couple years after that given that they each have some existing space.  It could coincide time-wise with the building of Gateway station pretty perfectly.  On top of being a new development that they could anchor it could be a symbolic move because train lines run to both Atlanta and WS.

 

Both Atlanta and Charlotte are extremely car dependent but the distance is kind of the perfect distance for a train ride (annoyingly long to drive, but too close for plane).  For people coming in for the day or for 2 days, being right where the train gets in could be a draw.  

I'd say Amtrak will have about zero influence on their decision due to the poor frequencies and inadequate service by Amtrak. Basing your office location in the hopes Amtrak becomes a reasonable means of transportation might be a bit optimistic. Being in a good location within Uptown for walk ability and transit access for your Charlotte based employees would be far wiser. 

Currently there is one train bound for Atlanta each day from Charlotte. The departure time??? 2:45AM...... and it takes 5.5 hours (about twice as long as a flight would take including arriving at airport 1 hour 15 mins early). 
Charlotte to Winston-Salem requires a connection to a bus and total trip time ranges from around 2 hours to 5 hours depending on which departing train you have from Charlotte. It is a 1 hour 20 minute drive on this route. In addition, people starting a business trip often leave directly from home, meaning they may never even come Uptown on travel days. For anybody living north of Uptown for example, driving from Davidson to Uptown to catch the train to Greensboro and subsequent bus to Winston-Salem will add a ton of time to a trip versus just driving. 

Given that people traveling for business are often more senior in the organization, they will likely be driving or flying between sites. They aren't going to tolerate the lack of frequency and slow speeds at Amtrak. They can grab at 6AM flight from CLT to ATL, have meetings, and be back in Charlotte for dinner if flying. That isn't an option with Amtrak service. 

Edited by CLT2014
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites


35 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

I'd say Amtrak will have about zero influence on their decision due to the poor frequencies and inadequate service by Amtrak. Basing your office location in the hopes Amtrak becomes a reasonable means of transportation might be a bit optimistic. Being in a good location within Uptown for walk ability and transit access for your Charlotte based employees would be far wiser. 

Currently there is one train bound for Atlanta each day from Charlotte. The departure time??? 2:45AM...... and it takes 5.5 hours (about twice as long as a flight would take including arriving at airport 1 hour 15 mins early). 
Charlotte to Winston-Salem requires a connection to a bus and total trip time ranges from around 2 hours to 5 hours depending on which departing train you have from Charlotte. It is a 1 hour 20 minute drive on this route. In addition, people starting a business trip often leave directly from home, meaning they may never even come Uptown on travel days. For anybody living north of Uptown for example, driving from Davidson to Uptown to catch the train to Greensboro and subsequent bus to Winston-Salem will add a ton of time to a trip versus just driving. 

Given that people traveling for business are often more senior in the organization, they will likely be driving or flying between sites. They aren't going to tolerate the lack of frequency and slow speeds at Amtrak. They can grab at 6AM flight from CLT to ATL, have meetings, and be back in Charlotte for dinner if flying. That isn't an option with Amtrak service. 

There is no debating that Amtrak right now is not worth riding between CLT and ATL.  Part of that is location though.  The Amtrak station in CLT is not only inconvenient, it also makes Penn Station look like Grand Central.  There might be a push to increase service with Gateway opening and (at some point) a push to upgrade tracks to allow for faster/more direct service.  

I think the move would be largely symbolic but also given how long term CRE decisions are, it could be done with an eye toward the future.  The state of Amtrak today is not necessarily the state of Amtrak in 10-20 years.

Also, regardless of Gateway's access to trains.  It is in a growing part of Uptown close to RB Park and a lot of other amenities and will likely be getting built at exactly the time the bank is looking for a location for its headquarters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

I’d say the silver line makes Gateway a viable place for SunBBB. 

And it makes me feel better about the silver lines prospects if SunBBB did locate at gateway 

Right, the silver line going directly to the airport would allow people coming in on business from the airport to easily get to the office.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

another story on the merger they have a nice map of the where the branches are and the biggest overlaps are in GA, Carolinas and VA it seems.

http://rebusinessonline.com/bbt-suntrust-agree-to-merge-in-66b-deal-creating-sixth-largest-u-s-bank/

I never realized how many SunTrust were in DC until this merger was announced. BB&T is also huge in DC. Was just thinking how many branches will be cut in DC. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Atlanta Business Chronicle has an article about the merger talking about the $100 million innovation center that will be in Charlotte.

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2019/02/12/suntrust-bb-t-to-spend-100-million-on.html?ana=e_ae_set1&s=article_du&ed=2019-02-12&u=oAaDx%2B74FoP4qOJ%2By4AU6dhJPpc&t=1550002418&j=86629061

sounds like it may be made up of some transfers from Atlanta.   anyway this is not a woe is me article. 

I'd want to transfer to Charlotte from Atlanta simply not to have to deal with that traffic.  Commuting from Myers Park or SouthPark to Uptown would be much nicer than commuting from Alpharetta or Roswell (let alone areas further out) to Atl.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

I'd want to transfer to Charlotte from Atlanta simply not to have to deal with that traffic.  Commuting from Myers Park or SouthPark to Uptown would be much nicer than commuting from Alpharetta or Roswell (let alone areas further out) to Atl.

 

You would hate the traffic in NYC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, CLT704 said:

If they're spending $100 million on their innovation center, which I imagine will be in their HQ building, they're gonna be sinking a lot of money into whatever is planned. I think a brand new building is likely based on that figure for an innovation center alone.

This might be semantics, but I think the article says $100M on technology and innovation in general, not necessarily on the technology and innovation center.  Am I interpreting that incorrectly?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, CLT2014 said:

Technically Charlotte became #2 by assets of banks headquartered there in the Fall of 2018 again (due to Wells asset cap). This new bank HQ will make it hard for San Fran to jump to #2 again for a while though.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/banking/article221589840.html
 

Dang, I really thought we were still #3 :tw_lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is an unpopular but true opinion    

 

I’Ll share my opinion in a month when I’m in Atlanta next, but I’m sitting in traffic right now in Brooklyn and it’s not fun. Drivers here are aggressive, risk takers, so I dunno which I’d prefer. I can say on bad days it takes me up to 45 min to go the 3.5 miles to my office by car. It’s 31 min by subway (17 min of which is walking), 17 min by bicycle and 1 hr and 10 min on foot.  Should note that when I drove to work on MLK Day (used Car2go, the temperature was 3 degrees) and it only took 11 min. So 34 extra min on an exceptionally busy day to go 3.5 miles

 

I’ve been trapped in traffic at 4am

 

I’ve gotten to an airplane door as it closed after leaving my house 3 hours before the flight to get to LGA 8 miles away.

 

Been stranded on a highway during the marathon st least twice.

 

 

Now back on topic

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

I’Ll share my opinion in a month when I’m in Atlanta next, but I’m sitting in traffic right now in Brooklyn and it’s not fun. Drivers here are aggressive, risk takers, so I dunno which I’d prefer. I can say on bad days it takes me up to 45 min to go the 3.5 miles to my office by car. It’s 31 min by subway (17 min of which is walking), 17 min by bicycle and 1 hr and 10 min on foot.  Should note that when I drove to work on MLK Day (used Car2go, the temperature was 3 degrees) and it only took 11 min. So 34 extra min on an exceptionally busy day to go 3.5 miles

 

I’ve been trapped in traffic at 4am

 

I’ve gotten to an airplane door as it closed after leaving my house 3 hours before the flight to get to LGA 8 miles away.

 

Been stranded on a highway during the marathon st least twice.

 

 

Now back on topic

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

 

This reads like a Stephen King novel

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

I’d say the silver line makes Gateway a viable place for SunBBB. 

And it makes me feel better about the silver lines prospects if SunBBB did locate at gateway 

Nah if the silver line is gonna have a part in the location decision it will be 9th street station.  99 year land lease (at a reasonable rate not the $1 per year of the panthers stadium) in exchange for a covered connection between the Blue Line 9th St station and a Silver Line College St station.  And maybe a 20 year tax incentive on the building as long as the HQ remains there.  

Even if Gateway had the Red Line I'm not sure it could actually compete with 9th st station.  If it were the commuter train hub, then yeah probably it could compete.  But the city and MSA haven't even thought about expanded commuter rail service yet.  

Edited by DEnd
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, DEnd said:

Nah if the silver line is gonna have a part in the location decision it will be 9th street station.  99 year land lease (at a reasonable rate not the $1 per year of the panthers stadium) in exchange for a covered connection between the Blue Line 9th St station and a Silver Line College St station.  And maybe a 20 year tax incentive on the building as long as the HQ remains there.  

Even if Gateway had the Red Line I'm not sure it could actually compete with 9th st station.  If it were the commuter train hub, then yeah probably it could compete.  But the city and MSA haven't even thought about expanded commuter rail service yet.  

Ok. 

 

Let me restate that. I think the gateway site is more viable of a location for SunBBT with the silver line than without the silver line (and gold line for that matter). 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.