BankTown Banking & Finance News

[KJHburg]

Now some questions about Truist and the Hearst Tower which I fully expect them to buy. What happens to US Bank which has about 80-100K sq ft in the building?  Is BofA still moving out of Bank of America Plaza?  Will US Bank move there and rename that tower US Bank Plaza?  Where will the tech center of Truist go?  I think the bulk of it will be in another building will it be new or will they back fill space lots of  space becoming available in Ally Bank bldg. on S Church St?  Could make them an anchor there and another building with their branding or do they build new on N Tryon?  Honestly I see it going elsewhere as Truist consolidates into Hearst I don't think they will have the space there. I predict quite a lot shuffling of uptown tenants in the next year or so.  

[atlrvr]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

Now some questions about Truist and the Hearst Tower which I fully expect them to buy. What happens to US Bank which has about 80-100K sq ft in the building?  Is BofA still moving out of Bank of America Plaza?  Will US Bank move there and rename that tower US Bank Plaza?  Where will the tech center of Truist go?  I think the bulk of it will be in another building will it be new or will they back fill space lots of  space becoming available in Ally Bank bldg. on S Church St?  Could make them an anchor there and another building with their branding or do they build new on N Tryon?  Honestly I see it going elsewhere as Truist consolidates into Hearst I don't think they will have the space there. I predict quite a lot shuffling of uptown tenants in the next year or so.  

BofA's 300k of space in BofA is currently being marketed for lease, available Jan 2021.  They are on floors 3-17.  Floors 18, 19, 20 are also vacant, vacated by BofA last year, so in total 360k of contiguous space available.

Rumors of unknown reliability, suggest US Bank is going there.  Cousins was asked about it on their last earnings call, and didn't provide a very bullish answer, which is unusual, in that if they were in advanced discussion, they normally indicate that without naming potential tenants.

My guess is that US Bank is seriously considering the space, but also looking at any new build options.

 

As far as Ally, one poster on here seems adamant they will keep their existing space because they will need more space than the new tower can accommodate.  Another poster insists it is being marketed broadly.  Fwiw, there is marketing materials out there but...

[KJHburg]

^  thanks and they are marketing the space according to Trinity Partners website as mentioned above.  I guess we will hear about a possible move there in the next few months if US Bank wants to go there as I think Truist will push them out of Hearst Tower for sure when their lease is up and maybe give them incentives to move even earlier.     Are BofA workers still in that space now and where are they going to new BOAT at Legacy tower? 

https://www.trinity-partners.com/listing/bank-of-america-plaza/

This building has been know as NCNB or Bank of America Plaza its entire life,  wonder will it be the new US Bank Plaza?   Would be quite a scoop for US Bank to raise their profile so much and across the street from BofA Corp. Center but the bank has not owned BofA Plaza for years.  

[KJHburg]

in other banking news JP Morgan Chase reports great success with their new markets including NC.  They only have one opened office in NC as of right now right on Franklin St in downtown Chapel Hill and one branch under way on S Tryon in the Tryon Plaza building.    From the Triangle Biz Journal

""At the conference, Piepszak called markets like Boston, D.C. and North Carolina “really, really exciting markets for us.” “It’s early days, but exceeding our expectations as we look at historical performance for new branches, so lots more to come in terms of how the returns are looking,” Piepszak said.  The bank has said it's planning to open 40 new branches in the state in the next three years.""

My thoughts since wave of New Yorkers, Jerseyites etc are moving to this state what took you so long to get here?  and people moving up from Florida where you are big too? 

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2019/12/11/jpmorgan-exec-nc-other-new-markets-are-exceeding.html

 

[J-Rob]

Another incoming Wells executive will be based in Charlotte...

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/12/16/wells-fargo-turns-to-comerica-s-c-suite-to-fill.html

[KJHburg]

JLL is projecting 11,000 jobs in Charlotte with the new Truist Bank!   This is my mind is easily the biggest job and economic development announcement this year in Charlotte when announced in February and will create demand for office space and thus eventually new buildings.  As Truist pushes other tenants out of Hearst Truist Tower they will land somewhere and the bank itself even if this number is way high will need a lot of more space. 

As we have not even heard estimates of the tech center jobs which are surely apart of this number.  

https://www.us.jll.com/en/views/how-will-the-bbt-and-suntrust-merger-impact-charlotte

[CLT_sc]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

JLL is projecting 11,000 jobs in Charlotte with the new Truist Bank!   This is my mind is easily the biggest job and economic development announcement this year in Charlotte when announced in February and will create demand for office space and thus eventually new buildings.  As Truist pushes other tenants out of Hearst Truist Tower they will land somewhere and the bank itself even if this number is way high will need a lot of more space. 

As we have not even heard estimates of the tech center jobs which are surely apart of this number.  

https://www.us.jll.com/en/views/how-will-the-bbt-and-suntrust-merger-impact-charlotte

Is this 11k direct jobs or including spin off jobs?  Either way, this type of # certainly puts pressure on Charlotte’s office inventory and may justify a new tower.   Would love to see more development north of Trade to balance out the growth, but if they want to join the S Tryon party, I’ll take that too.

[KJHburg]

51 minutes ago, CLT_sc said:

Is this 11k direct jobs or including spin off jobs?  Either way, this type of # certainly puts pressure on Charlotte’s office inventory and may justify a new tower.   Would love to see more development north of Trade to balance out the growth, but if they want to join the S Tryon party, I’ll take that too.

It seems to say the average size of the HQ city workforce for a bank of that size of the new Truist is 11000 plus.  that may take 3-5 years but I hope it happens.

 

[KJHburg]

No better way to introduce yourself to the world than the Super Bowl.  Truist Bank will work with the Miami Super Bowl committee 

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2019/12/23/truist-partners-up-with-miami-super-bowl-host.html

[TheOneRJ]

Article in the Observer regarding speculation of Wells potentially moving it’s HQ out of SF

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/banking/article238596963.html?fbclid=IwAR1ZUtVLGvK0jibd0EpRvYfEeM7g1Kfm9HvL8HjUKR7Wwj5dJ9aTY5J6OCU

[Desert Power]

34 minutes ago, TheOneRJ said:

Article in the Observer regarding speculation of Wells potentially moving it’s HQ out of SF

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/banking/article238596963.html?fbclid=IwAR1ZUtVLGvK0jibd0EpRvYfEeM7g1Kfm9HvL8HjUKR7Wwj5dJ9aTY5J6OCU

Would be surprised if that day comes, but it is a bit silly to have your HQ in a place that you do not allow people to hire in/are encouraging people to move out it.

[SydneyCarton]

58 minutes ago, TheOneRJ said:

Article in the Observer regarding speculation of Wells potentially moving it’s HQ out of SF

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/banking/article238596963.html?fbclid=IwAR1ZUtVLGvK0jibd0EpRvYfEeM7g1Kfm9HvL8HjUKR7Wwj5dJ9aTY5J6OCU

While I'd love to see Wells move its HQ from SF, if they did, I'd see it going to NY.  That's where the top talent is and wants to be.    That being said, I see WF moving more employees to the QC from SF.  I absolutely love SF, but anyone there making less than $400k/year would have a much easier and better life in the QC than in SF.

Edited December 26, 2019 by SydneyCarton

[Windsurfer]

4 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

While I'd love to see Wells move its HQ from SF, if they did, I'd see it going to NY.  That's where the top talent is and wants to be.    That being said, I see WF moving more employees to the QC from SF.  I absolutely love SF, but anyone there making less than $400k/year would have a much easier and better life in the QC than in SF.

I remember my marketing 101 professor telling the class that if you really want to make it in marketing (this was 40 years ago) you had to move to NYC.  Most of us groaned.  Do you really think that top talent really WANTS to be in NYC?

[SydneyCarton]

28 minutes ago, Windsurfer said:

I remember my marketing 101 professor telling the class that if you really want to make it in marketing (this was 40 years ago) you had to move to NYC.  Most of us groaned.  Do you really think that top talent really WANTS to be in NYC?

Without a doubt.  It's the only global city in the US, and practically everyone regards it as the world's top city along with London.  It has more billionaires than any other city in the world for a reason.  It has unparalleled museums, restaurants, shopping, culture, etc. and has the most beautiful urban areas in America by far (though SF and Boston are great too).  If you want suburban life, places like Greenwich, CT, Alpine, NJ, Saddle River, NJ, Scarsdale, NY, Rye, NY, Sands Point, NY, Purchase, NY, etc. are among the nicest in the world.  It is a mecca for the elite.

Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, etc. have recently leased around 5m sf on top of the millions they already own and lease because NY is unparalleled.

NY's uniqueness as a global city is why it gets way more tourists than any other American city, including visitors from all over the world.

I love NC, and since I'm not rich, I live a much better life here than I would in NY.  However, if I win the mega powerball, I'll move to 220 CPS, and I'll spend the winters in Miami.

Edited December 26, 2019 by SydneyCarton

[CLT2014]

The new operating committee is 5 people in NYC, 4 in SF, 2 in CLT, and 1 in Portland.

The company will deploy the current method of SF as "HQ in name only." They won't want to make NY the official HQ because only 3,700 people work for WF there and it doesn't have a strong connection to the rest of the company. It will have an ivory tower effect where management is removed from the heart of the company.

They won't want to make CLT HQ because that implies the 5 folks up in NYC should easily be able to move 1.5 hours south to the new "official HQ." They aren't interested in doing that.

If they just deploy the current method, each exec can live where they want and do what is best for their personal life. SF will remain HQ because of "history", with execs based in different cities based on where talent is located.

Edited December 26, 2019 by CLT2014

[KJHburg]

My thoughts on this is that every single NON customer facing job in California should be moved out of state.  California with its onerous workplace regulations and severe high cost of living deters growth of banking there since banking profits are made on very thin margins.  Someone is looking for 1 Million sq ft of office space in this market (not sure if Wells) but Wells has said earlier this year they need space for 2000 seats (ie jobs) in the local market.  San Fran is too far from NYC or Charlotte and the bank is now bigger east of the Mississippi than it was of course pre merger.  

Move the HQ to Charlotte in name and if some of the top execs want to work out of the NYC office so be it.  But NYC is less than 2 hours by plane to CLT rather than 5 hour flight from SFO.  I said it a long time ago to shed the image of the scandals they need to "restructure the HQ" on out of San freaking Francisco! 

[SydneyCarton]

If Wells leaves SF, I wonder if, in the words of the inimitable Tony Bennett, they would leave their hearts there.

Anyway, as noted, I can't imagine any WF employee making less than $400k/year not wanting to live in the QC.

[Windsurfer]

2 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

Without a doubt.  It's the only global city in the US, and practically everyone regards it as the world's top city along with London.  It has more billionaires than any other city in the world for a reason.  It has unparalleled museums, restaurants, shopping, culture, etc. and has the most beautiful urban areas in America by far (though SF and Boston are great too).  If you want suburban life, places like Greenwich, CT, Alpine, NJ, Saddle River, NJ, Scarsdale, NY, Rye, NY, Sands Point, NY, Purchase, NY, etc. are among the nicest in the world.  It is a mecca for the elite.

Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, etc. have recently leased around 5m sf on top of the millions they already own and lease because NY is unparalleled.

NY's uniqueness as a global city is why it gets way more tourists than any other American city, including visitors from all over the world.

I love NC, and since I'm not rich, I live a much better life here than I would in NY.  However, if I win the mega powerball, I'll move to 220 CPS, and I'll spend the winters in Miami.

Man, that's where you and I differ, but I'm probably not the "talent' these folks are attracting.  I'd head for the wilds of Montana or Panama.  To each his own. 

[kermit]

7 hours ago, Windsurfer said:

I remember my marketing 101 professor telling the class that if you really want to make it in marketing (this was 40 years ago) you had to move to NYC.  Most of us groaned.  Do you really think that top talent really WANTS to be in NYC?

I think 'want' might be the wrong word here. Talent 'needs' to be in really big places these days due to the relatively short lifespan of jobs in the digital era. Back in our day it was not unreasonable to expect to work for the same company for 20+ years. These days jobs are more project-related than career-related. In addition, the average lifespan of firms has dropped substantially in the digital age -- together this means that nobody works at the same job for long.  In this new world of employment insecurity skilled workers prefer to live in places where they are certain they can find their 2nd, 3rd and 4th jobs without having to move or be forced into a reduced wage. Often, highly-skilled folks have partners who work in the same industry which reinforces this 'winner-take all city' skilled labor clustering.   For the highly-paid skilled folks  there are huge economic advantages to being in a New York, London or San Francisco labor markets-- you can see this trend being reflected in increasing average incomes  in these places. Meanwhile the less skilled (and less well-paid) are leaving these places for the Charlotte's and Raleigh's of the world. You can see population rapidly growing in these places (here) but wages are declining on a relative basis.

Thanks to BoA, Wells, Ally and now Truist, Charlotte is a place where there are LOTS of job options if you work in the retail side of banking, but the thickness of our labor market is less impressive for other portions of finance.

Edited December 27, 2019 by kermit

[Windsurfer]

13 minutes ago, kermit said:

I think 'want' might be the wrong word here. Talent 'needs' to be in really big places these days due to the relatively short lifespan of jobs these days. Back in our day it was not unreasonable to expect to work for the same company for 20+ years. These days jobs are more project related than career-related. In addition, the average lifespan of firms has dropped substantially in the digital age. In this new world of employment insecurity skilled workers prefer to live in places where they are certain they can find their 2nd, 3rd and 4th jobs without having to move or be forced into a reduced wage. Often, highly-skilled folks have partners who work in the same industry which reinforces this 'winner-take all' skilled labor process.   For the skilled folks (who are paid like skilled folks)  there are huge economic advantages to being in a New York, London or San Francisco -- you can see this trend being reflected in increasing average incomes  in these places. Meanwhile the less skilled (and less well-paid) are leaving these places for the Charlotte's and Raleigh's of the world. 

Thanks to BoA, Wells, Ally and now Truist, Charlotte is a place where there are LOTS of job options if you work in the retail side of banking, but the thickness of our labor market is less impressive for other portions of finance.

I'd like to write a lot more about this, but I don't want to hijack the thread.  (Legacy).  But, I love this comment.  I AM an old-timer and can see it in the new and, seemingly, now standard 'project- based' learning my 7 year old has at school.  No doubt this project learning feeds into the idea of tasks and specific undertakings. 

Having had a career in a 105 year old company, and being 3rd generation myself, moving around from job to job and city to city because of different projects  would turn my life inside out.  Thanks for your comment.

[Desert Power]

6 hours ago, kermit said:

Thanks to BoA, Wells, Ally and now Truist, Charlotte is a place where there are LOTS of job options if you work in the retail side of banking, but the thickness of our labor market is less impressive for other portions of finance.

Not sure I agree.  There is a lot more to the jobs here than just retail banking.  Sure, NYC is still the place to be if you are investment banking or sales and trading.

[RiverwoodCLT]

Will Wells Fargo ever move its headquarters to Charlotte? Its CEO has options.

Since the California Gold Rush, Wells Fargo has been San Francisco’s bank. It’s history is part of California’s history. But in today’s San Francisco, Wells Fargo stands out more like a relic of history rather than a product of it.

Over the past decade, Wells Fargo’s headcount in San Francisco has stagnated, while it has increased its staffing in Charlotte and other cities.

Since buying Charlotte’s Wachovia in 2008, Wells has increasingly entrenched itself in the city that became its East Coast headquarters. Its headcount has grown rapidly from about 19,000 in 2010 to 27,000 today — the most in any city for Wells. The leaders of consumer banking and operations are based here. 

But the total headcount in the city is far smaller than that of both San Francisco and Charlotte, at about 3,700. And the cost of New York salaries and office space wouldn’t lead to significant cost savings in comparison to Charlotte or another more-affordable city.

Plus, after plans for Amazon’s second headquarters in Queens fell apart, it’s unlikely that Wells would get a plush incentive package like those Charlotte has offered other firms in the past.

In the meantime, with about 15,000 employees in San Francisco, “you pay a huge premium to stay,’’ said Dennis Donovan of site selection firm WDG Consulting.

“I would take a look at considering moving executive offices out, including to Charlotte,” Donovan said. “It’s cost effective. You can attract all kinds of talent. It meets all the requirements for a headquarters.”

Read more here: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/ne...#storylink=cpy

 

 

 

[KJHburg]

NYC based JP Morgan Chase announces new locations for NC including the Charlotte area.   from a Biz Journal article this morning.

""It appears JPMorgan Chase & Co. is quietly moving forward with plans for its retail rollout in the Queen City. The New York banking giant has filed plans for its next few branches in North Carolina, including three in the greater Charlotte market.  Those plans have been unveiled in filings made with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, since late June. The most recent filing, received by the regulator on Dec. 19, indicates plans for a branch at West Williams Street (Highway 55) and Haddon Hall Drive in Apex, near Raleigh.  Previous documents filed with the OCC reveal the bank has branches in the works for uptown Charlotte, at South Tryon and West Trade streets; in the Arboretum area of south Charlotte, at Pineville-Matthews Road and Arboretum View; and in Cornelius, at Catawba Avenue and West Jetton Road. It also disclosed plans earlier this month for a Garner branch in the Triangle region.  JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) opened its first retail location in the state in Chapel Hill in August. Plans for that location as well as a still-to-open branch in Raleigh had been filed in September 2018.""

[SydneyCarton]

7 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

NYC based JP Morgan Chase announces new locations for NC including the Charlotte area.   from a Biz Journal article this morning.

""It appears JPMorgan Chase & Co. is quietly moving forward with plans for its retail rollout in the Queen City. The New York banking giant has filed plans for its next few branches in North Carolina, including three in the greater Charlotte market.  Those plans have been unveiled in filings made with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, since late June. The most recent filing, received by the regulator on Dec. 19, indicates plans for a branch at West Williams Street (Highway 55) and Haddon Hall Drive in Apex, near Raleigh.  Previous documents filed with the OCC reveal the bank has branches in the works for uptown Charlotte, at South Tryon and West Trade streets; in the Arboretum area of south Charlotte, at Pineville-Matthews Road and Arboretum View; and in Cornelius, at Catawba Avenue and West Jetton Road. It also disclosed plans earlier this month for a Garner branch in the Triangle region.  JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) opened its first retail location in the state in Chapel Hill in August. Plans for that location as well as a still-to-open branch in Raleigh had been filed in September 2018.""

I’d love to see JPM add workers here.  They usually ship jobs to Delaware, Columbus, and Plano.  Charlotte has more talent than those locations and is nicer.

If JPM sent 2,000 jobs to Charlotte, they should build a new 500k sf tower in Uotown.

[KJHburg]

5 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

I’d love to see JPM add workers here.  They usually ship jobs to Delaware, Columbus, and Plano.  Charlotte has more talent than those locations and is nicer.

If JPM sent 2,000 jobs to Charlotte, they should build a new 500k sf tower in Uotown.

they seem to really like Dallas Fort Worth and expanding their operations there.