BankTown Banking & Finance News

[Rufus]

18 hours ago, KJHburg said:

In other news US Bank continues to grow here and take away from this article is they are up to 860 employees in Charlotte now.

""U.S. Bank's local corporate and commercial banking operations are typically based in Hearst Tower in uptown. Charlotte-based Truist Financial Corp. (NYSE: TFC) purchased the 970,000-square-foot office tower for $455.5 million in March. It renamed the tower Truist Center.   About 90% of the corporate and commercial banking employees moved to remote work when the virus hit, Kelligrew noted. Some are beginning to return to the office in a limited capacity.   Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank has about 860 employees here, many of whom work in risk and trust services. Less than half of those employees are with corporate and commercial banking.  The bank continues to expand its presence here — a trend that began roughly a decade ago.  Most recently, U.S. Bank established a retail presence in Charlotte. It opened its first local branch at 201 S. Tryon St. in uptown in late 2019. It was also U.S. Bank's first branch in North Carolina.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2020/06/29/us-bank-shifts-charlotte-operations.html   subscriber article 

 

Honestly, this sounds like a tower needs to be planned for them. Or they take one of the towers being vacated now. 860 employees will need a central location to at least go through while they work remote. 

[Desert Power]

6 hours ago, Rufus said:

Honestly, this sounds like a tower needs to be planned for them. Or they take one of the towers being vacated now. 860 employees will need a central location to at least go through while they work remote. 

This just has BofA Plaza building written all over it to me.

[KJHburg]

28 minutes ago, Desert Power said:

This just has BofA Plaza building written all over it to me.

You mean the hopefully soon to be named US Bank Plaza

[elrodvt]

The "banking city" is providing the worse help to businesses during the pandemic of any city? No doubt their working on getting what they can from the government for themselves though.

WCNC.com: Charlotte ranked last for PPP acceptance rates among major cities.
https://www.wcnc.com/article/money/charlotte-ranked-last-for-ppp-acceptance-rates-among-major-cities/275-75ea903b-e02f-42e5-a99e-46b84efae636

Edited July 1, 2020 by elrodvt

[Blue_Devil]

7 minutes ago, elrodvt said:

The "banking city" is providing the worse help to businesses during the pandemic of any city? No doubt their working on getting what they can from the government for themselves though.

WCNC.com: Charlotte ranked last for PPP acceptance rates among major cities.
https://www.wcnc.com/article/money/charlotte-ranked-last-for-ppp-acceptance-rates-among-major-cities/275-75ea903b-e02f-42e5-a99e-46b84efae636

I mean . . . It was still an 88% acceptance rate

[elrodvt]

True, but who even got through to apply? These are likely the larger non minority owned companies. I don't think that data is available yet right? Also, last is last..

[15895]

2 hours ago, elrodvt said:

True, but who even got through to apply? These are likely the larger non minority owned companies. I don't think that data is available yet right? Also, last is last..

I'm sure we'll find out why once that data comes out.

[elrodvt]

6 minutes ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

I'm sure we'll find out why once that data comes out.

I should have said IF it comes out since the trump admin seems very reluctant to share that information. I can guess why.

[elrodvt]

I see the data has been released to some extent. I took a look at the csv you can download and a quick perusal showed business name, ethnicity and such are  mostly blank. Kind of worthless.

Edited July 7, 2020 by elrodvt

[kermit]

29 minutes ago, elrodvt said:

I see the data has been released to some extent. I took a look at the csv you can download and a quick perusal showed business name, ethnicity and such are  mostly blank. Kind of worthless.

This is definitely the cherry on top of the PPP:

 

 

[elrodvt]

As expected: WBTV: PPP loans show stark racial divide in Charlotte businesses.
https://www.wbtv.com/2020/07/10/ppp-loans-show-stark-racial-divide-charlotte-businesses/

[KJHburg]

Wells Fargo is significantly shrinking their presence in One Wells Fargo vacating 500,000 sq ft there however their total space in uptown will remain about the same.  They leased the entire 300 South Brevard which is 350,000 sq ft and have pushed out and taken for themselves another 150,000 sq ft in building they own which are Three Wells Fargo and of course the Duke Energy Center. 

From the Biz Journal article

""The building will include several blocks of contiguous vacancy following Wells' moves — 224,776 square feet on floors 7 to 14, 148,469 square feet on 15 to 21, 59,132 square feet on 30 to 32 and 47,403 square feet on the top floors, 40 to 42.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2020/07/15/whats-next-for-uptowns-jukebox-building.html

My thoughts on the uptown office market I doubt you will see another office tower started in the next 2+ years uptown.  As Ally will vacate some say their leases at the current 440 South Church Building and a big block of space vacated by BofA in the BofA plaza.   Good for the market would be for Truist to continue to push out other tenants from their new Truist Tower like US Bank which would lease elsewhere and other smaller tenants find homes in these newly opened buildings.  Plus Duke Energy will be leaving lots of space at 400 South Tryon.   Let the shuffling begin but with all corporate space needs be reexamined don't look for another office tower to start uptown for awhile (unless some tenant comes in the market like a Honeywell and wants to be there)    A new possibility could be US Bank name  on the old One Wells Fargo jukebox tower??   I kept telling you the last few years were golden for Charlotte now there will be a breather and slower development activity.  

Note Wells will still have 200,000 sq ft in One Wells Fargo so they are not completely out. 

 

Edited July 15, 2020 by KJHburg

[atlrvr]

If I were a betting man, I'd guess US Bank moving to 101 S Tryon (BofA Plaza) and MUFG taking 200k-300k sq ft at 301 S College (1WF)

 

 

[kermit]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

Wells Fargo is significantly shrinking their presence in One Wells Fargo vacating 500,000 sq ft there however their total space in uptown will remain about the same.  They leased the entire 300 South Brevard which is 350,000 sq ft and have pushed out and taken for themselves another 150,000 sq ft in building they own which are Three Wells Fargo and of course the Duke Energy Center. 

From the Biz Journal article

""The building will include several blocks of contiguous vacancy following Wells' moves — 224,776 square feet on floors 7 to 14, 148,469 square feet on 15 to 21, 59,132 square feet on 30 to 32 and 47,403 square feet on the top floors, 40 to 42.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2020/07/15/whats-next-for-uptowns-jukebox-building.html

My thoughts on the uptown office market I doubt you will see another office tower started in the next 2+ years uptown.  As Ally will vacate some say their leases at the current 440 South Church Building and a big block of space vacated by BofA in the BofA plaza.   Good for the market would be for Truist to continue to push out other tenants from their new Truist Tower like US Bank which would lease elsewhere and other smaller tenants find homes in these newly opened buildings.  Plus Duke Energy will be leaving lots of space at 400 South Tryon.   Let the shuffling begin but with all corporate space needs be reexamined don't look for another office tower to start uptown for awhile (unless some tenant comes in the market like a Honeywell and wants to be there)    A new possibility could be US Bank name  on the old One Wells Fargo jukebox tower??   I kept telling you the last few years were golden for Charlotte now there will be a breather and slower development activity.  

Note Wells will still have 200,000 sq ft in One Wells Fargo so they are not completely out. 

 

Didn’t uptown go without any new office construction from 2009 to 2016ish? (That is my memory, but that is increasingly unreliable).

IIRC the Power tower (ex Wachovia HQ) was the last office built in the previous cycle. (Again, not sure). What other office got built Uptown other than the power tower, Ally and the BAC glass tower on college after Hearst got completed but before this most recent cycle started? (Hmmm, three bank towers last time...)

Edited July 15, 2020 by kermit

[Blue_Devil]

7 minutes ago, kermit said:

Didn’t uptown go without any new office construction from 2009 to 2016ish? (That is my memory, but that is increasingly unreliable).

IIRC the Power tower (ex Wachovia HQ) was the last office built in the previous cycle. (Again, not sure). What other office got built Uptown other than the power tower, Ally and the BAC glass tower on college after Herst got completed?

I think if we reap the benefit of more companies moving here, we may get more office towers, but I doubt many more will go up on Spec. 

[Norm2]

I think this news probably kills the possible tower at South Blvd and Scaleybark

[KJHburg]

2 hours ago, kermit said:

Didn’t uptown go without any new office construction from 2009 to 2016ish? (That is my memory, but that is increasingly unreliable).

IIRC the Power tower (ex Wachovia HQ) was the last office built in the previous cycle. (Again, not sure). What other office got built Uptown other than the power tower, Ally and the BAC glass tower on college after Hearst got completed but before this most recent cycle started? (Hmmm, three bank towers last time...)

Yes we did have a dry spell  from 2009 completion of 1 BAC to completion of Barings 300 South Tryon around 2015/2016.   

However I do think more office buildings less than 300K sq ft will be around town maybe just not in uptown.  

[KJHburg]

The big name dispute between Truist and Truliant Credit Union has been settled and Truist gets to keep their new name.

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2020/07/15/truist-and-truliant-make-the-peace.html

[Madison Parkitect]

23 hours ago, KJHburg said:

I kept telling you the last few years were golden for Charlotte now there will be a breather and slower development activity.  

A breather in big development is a great time for the city to focus on smaller infill development, smart retail in new places, and figuring out the next major direction the city needs to go in (major rezoning? 277 infill? new stadium and entertainment district?). It'll be a welcome breather for the city.

[KJHburg]

From the San Fran Business Times about Wells Fargo cost cutting moves includes yet again this Charlotte HQ mention:

""Some observers have even predicted a headquarters relocation out of San Francisco as a possible cost-cutting move, perhaps to Charlotte, the bank’s largest employment center.

In looking for more than $10 billion in expense cuts, Wells Fargo considers its “normalized” costs to be $54 billion annually, Chief Financial Officer John Shrewsberry said on the call.""

sure a lot of chatter about in the San Fran business press.....just saying.  

article posted yesterday in SFBT 

 

[CLT704]

23 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

From the San Fran Business Times about Wells Fargo cost cutting moves includes yet again this Charlotte HQ mention:

""Some observers have even predicted a headquarters relocation out of San Francisco as a possible cost-cutting move, perhaps to Charlotte, the bank’s largest employment center.

In looking for more than $10 billion in expense cuts, Wells Fargo considers its “normalized” costs to be $54 billion annually, Chief Financial Officer John Shrewsberry said on the call.""

sure a lot of chatter about in the San Fran business press.....just saying.  

article posted yesterday in SFBT 

 

How much could Wells Fargo save if they did move the HQ here? I can’t imagine it would be much really, unless NC offered some kind of tax break incentives. 

[Blue_Devil]

50 minutes ago, CLT704 said:

How much could Wells Fargo save if they did move the HQ here? I can’t imagine it would be much really, unless NC offered some kind of tax break incentives. 

Probably quite a bit if it comes with removing West Coast admin and support jobs and moving them here. 

[KJHburg]

I agree even the top corporate staff is a couple of hundred people moving out of San Fran would save money cheaper office space and office admins here probably make less than California.  The new CEO is in NYC and Charlotte to NYC is much shorter commute even if he lives up there.   I have said it before the time is now to leave California and "rebrand" and shake yourself of the west coast scandals which mostly originated out there.  

[CLT704]

Call me when they revive Wachovia. 

[KJHburg]

25 minutes ago, CLT704 said:

Call me when they revive Wachovia. 

I still have my Wachovia checkbook cover and I am taking it to my grave.