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

[KJHburg]

13 minutes ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

SunTrust previously occupied (I believe, could be wrong) one of Charlotte’s remaining 1920’s buildings with the gold/(bronze?) doors with intricate inlay work a block off the square. (I’ll take a pic in the morning)

 

They did they consolidated their offices to southpark and that building Tryon Plaza is where Chase Bank is going into with a branch. 

[U_R_]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

do you realize almost every major city in the southeast from Richmond to Miami to Nashville has both BB&T and SunTrust buildings.  (side by side in many cities including Knoxville and Richmond) 

Charlotte's low profile SunTrust building in Southpark area means no duplication here really.  Uptown is another story as Truist is the largest tenant in both Hearst Tower and BB&T Center new names a coming! 

Ditto...I'll be very interested in how the new Truist will brand in ATL considering they both have very high profile buildings (BB&T at AS with great views from the Connector) (Suntrust has Atlanta Financial Center, their tower DT,  a ball park).  Idk about the situation in Charlotte, but I am glad they Cousins got a juicy lease agreement from them with option to buy.

[KJHburg]

6 minutes ago, Ric0_0 said:

Ditto...I'll be very interested in how the new Truist will brand in ATL considering they both have very high profile buildings (BB&T at AS with great views from the Connector) (Suntrust has Atlanta Financial Center, their tower DT,  a ball park).  Idk about the situation in Charlotte, but I am glad they Cousins got a juicy lease agreement from them with option to buy.

In terms of their Atlanta offices I would keep Sun Trust downtown and that BB&T building on 75/85 connector in Atlantic Station as the visibility is fantastic.   Plus keep the Buckhead Atlanta Financial Center office atop GA 400.  

[atlrvr]

FWIW.... Cousins said on their last earnings call they expect Truist to exercise their purchase option on the Hearst Tower in the first half of next year.

[QCxpat]

Links to stories in both the Charlotte Ledger and CBJ today (Wednesday 11/20/2019)

(1) "Feds Sign off on $66 Billion BB&T-Sun Trust Merger"

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/11/19/feds-sign-off-on-66-billion-bb-t-suntrust-merger.html

(2) "New Record: Hearst Tower expected to sell for $455.5 M"

https://charlotteledger.substack.com/

Edited November 20, 2019 by QCxpat

[Madison Parkitect]

Can we expect to see a huge gross Truist logo on the Hearst in the future? I hope not.

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

12 hours ago, KJHburg said:

In terms of their Atlanta offices I would keep Sun Trust downtown and that BB&T building on 75/85 connector in Atlantic Station as the visibility is fantastic.   Plus keep the Buckhead Atlanta Financial Center office atop GA 400.  

I'm not sure that their buckhead location will remain. Many of the Robinson Humphrey employees have already moved to midtown Atlanta and have been offered relocation packages to Charlotte, which many will start moving in March.

[atlrvr]

3 hours ago, CarolinaDaydreamin said:

I'm not sure that their buckhead location will remain. Many of the Robinson Humphrey employees have already moved to midtown Atlanta and have been offered relocation packages to Charlotte, which many will start moving in March.

So, despite them saying that Corp and Inv. Banking would be based in Atlanta, you're saying those people are getting relo-ed to Charlotte?  That's good for Charlotte as the RH division would be some of the highest salary jobs.

3 hours ago, CarolinaDaydreamin said:

 

 

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

1 hour ago, atlrvr said:

So, despite them saying that Corp and Inv. Banking would be based in Atlanta, you're saying those people are getting relo-ed to Charlotte?  That's good for Charlotte as the RH division would be some of the highest salary jobs.

I know that Investment Banking jobs have moved to Charlotte or are moving to Charlotte from the Buckhead location. I'm not sure if that means the whole IB unit moves, but I know of multiple important employees will be moving.

[KJHburg]

Truist Bank has lots of decisions about office space to deal with in the next few years and it will causes great ripples in Atlanta and many other southern cities where both banks are located.  

[J-Rob]

32 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Truist Bank has lots of decisions about office space to deal with in the next few years and it will causes great ripples in Atlanta and many other southern cities where both banks are located.  

Not to mention the Charlotte ripples.  The downstream impact from Truist taking Hearst tower as BofA was moving to a new tower across town may have ripples for years to come.   Even though everyone, myself included, was looking for a (new) signature tower, this might have been best case scenario to eat a huge chunk of empty space in an existing signature tower.  Plus, I am sure we will see a new tower or two for Truist (technology center and organic growth over time).  I also heard they may have people working from home for a while because they don't have all the space they need yet.

[atlrvr]

Cousins Properties announced this morning that Truist will definitively buy the Hearst Tower in March for $456mm.  This was expected, but now confirmed.  The good news is this puts a lot of cash in Cousins pockets, and they've been vocal about finding additional development opportunities here.

[TheOneRJ]

^ also renaming tower to Truist Center and adding exterior signage to the top. 

Edited December 11, 2019 by TheOneRJ

[Mgelbach]

I wonder if they'll also be more open to changing the lighting colors up top. I swear even the original BOA tower changes their lights more often.

[KJHburg]

having a lunch with someone the other day whose brother works for Truist Bank the legacy BB&T folks are definitely calling the shots.  One exec moved from Buckhead to Myers Park and another sold a $2 M home in Winston to move here.  These people moving to the HQ are really the top earners in the bank for sure.  Also I noticed most of the new market leaders named have been BB&T folks in Raleigh, Tampa etc with an exception in Atlanta which named a SunTrust person.

Good news on the purchase and both legacy banks liked to owned their real estate.    In terms of Charlotte market,  I am sure Truist will not renew most leases at the current Hearst Tower thus creating demand for space in other buildings.  Much like Wells has done with 3 Wells Fargo and the Duke Energy Center and BofA with the Bank of America Corporate Center and 1 BAC on N College.  

Truist owns the 2 buildings out at LakePointe near Sealed Air HQ  and their biggest leases in Charlotte other than that are the SunTrust office at Sharon Square but that office is not really that big and the 100K space they have in BB&T Center they just renewed for 10 years.  They may use that as swing space until other tenants leave Hearst and I would expect they would keep that in the meantime.   Many more decisions to be made in Atlanta of course where they lease a lot of space in addition to owning the SunTrust Center downtown.  

[J-Rob]

28 minutes ago, TheOneRJ said:

and adding exterior signage to the top

The thought of logistically being responsible for adding signage to the top of an existing high rise gives me heebie jeebies (yes that is the technical term) just thinking about it.

[Madison Parkitect]

35 minutes ago, TheOneRJ said:

^ also renaming tower to Truist Center and adding exterior signage to the top. 

This is the bad news I wasn't hoping for... The tower is iconic enough, signage could ruin the top of it.

[KJHburg]

Here is the Biz Journal article about the sale which is the largest office building transaction in NC (not a record for $ per sq ft but total transaction size)

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/12/11/truist-to-purchase-hearst-tower-in-q1-rename.html

Look for US Bank, Pricewaterhouse Cooper, Dixon Hughes and others  to look for new homes as their leases expire. 

and given Cousins is the current owner of Hearst Truist tower until March and owner of BofA Plaza which will have a major hole to fill watch US Bank! 

Edited December 11, 2019 by KJHburg

[NOLA2CLT]

Wife's cousin is a VP at Sun Trust...lucky for us were having dinner tonight...so ill see what news I can dig up from him.  

[A2.]

2 hours ago, Madison Parkitect said:

This is the bad news I wasn't hoping for... The tower is iconic enough, signage could ruin the top of it.

100% agree. Keep that building beautiful and don’t dirty it with any signage with the exception of maybe above the lobby entrances. 

Most all iconic towers don’t have a company’s name on the top. We have plenty of signage on other towers and adding any atop this beautiful structure would look out of place in my opinion.

A2

Edited December 11, 2019 by A2.

[joenc]

"The Truist name at the top of this signature building will help to signify our beginning and demonstrates our commitment to the Queen City," Chairman and CEO Kelly King said in a statement.

Does that actually mean on the physical building?

EDIT

Did a Google Search and BB&T does put their name on all of the buildings.

Hopefully they choose a good logo. 

Edited December 11, 2019 by joenc

[turbocraig]

4 hours ago, Mgelbach said:

I wonder if they'll also be more open to changing the lighting colors up top. I swear even the original BOA tower changes their lights more often.

I hope they take the opportunity to fix the architectural lighting at that top of the building.  They must have had two sets of electricians working from two different electrical plans when they installed the crown lighting.  They are not symmetrical on any side.  It’s always bugged me.  And of all buildings, they should add up lighting at the lower corners to highlight the flares.  I always thought that was a lost opportunity. 

[NOLA2CLT]

15 minutes ago, joenc said:

"The Truist name at the top of this signature building will help to signify our beginning and demonstrates our commitment to the Queen City," Chairman and CEO Kelly King said in a statement.

Does that actually mean on the physical building?

EDIT

Did a Google Search and BB&T does put their name on all of the buildings.

Hopefully they choose a good logo. 

Yes a good logo...maybe a giant T would be welcoming...we could call it the Mr T building...i like that...I think it would add a nice bling to the city

[DMann]

I pity the poor fool that doesn't bank there!

[CLT>]

If they do, they'll likely want to make it big and have to apply for a rezoning like wework did. Just make sure to keep an eye  out, and make a big stink about it at the public meeting. FYI, no one showed up to any of the meetings  for the wework signage.