By
southernnorthcarolina
An uncomfortable question, but one that needs to be asked, in light of 'rona and riots: how bad a long-term hit has the demand for office space and hotel rooms taken? I don't want to leave out residential, retail, bars and restaurants, parking garages, and public/cultural facilities, which are already having a tough time, but office and hotel demand seems to be in a particularly difficult long-term spot.
Years ago, one of the big commercial real estate companies, in conjunction with, as I recall, the Central Charlotte Association (since absorbed by the Charlotte Chamber) kept a running count of office vecancy by building. Is such a list still being maintained? What's the real vacancy rate for uptown office space? And by "real," I mean stats which avoid double-counting leases (counting as occupied both the space that Law Firm X is currently leasing but is scheduled to leave, and the space they will occupy in a new building). Surely it has become a renters' market, given the massive office square footage recently added or under construction. It seems obvious that the new buildings will have to slash their rental rates and/or increase their tenant upfit allowances, as well as offer deeply discounted or free parking. But the real hammer might fall on the so-called Class B buildings which were built in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Take, for example, the 400 South Tryon building, the gold and white building known as Wachovia Center in the 70s and 80s, and later occupied mostly by Duke Power (now Duke Energy). is Duke still the major tenant there? If so, not for long, I would surmise. What about BB&T Center, at 200 South College? Southern Bell was for many years its majority tenant; when they left, Bank of America took most of their space for back-office operations. But now, in addition to BB&T leaving, BofA has greatly reduced its space, and I would guess might leave entirely. Who would fill the building? And the once-tallest and most prestigious office building uptown, the all-glass BofA Plaza, will certainly have some move-outs. What about One, Two, and Three Wells Fargo? Is Wells occupying more space than they need?
If anything, the hotel situation may be more dire. I trust the NFL and NBA will be fully back in a year or less, but it will be a long time before the convention business bounces back. That's the life blood of hotels, of course, and new hotel rooms, from economical to luxe, are rapidly coming on line.
I hate to be negative. I've always been a Charlotte booster. Would anyone like to demonstrate that things look better than I think they do?
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