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Bank to Move to the Capital City


ncsugrad204

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This is great news! I'm just afraid that Raleigh will succumb to its old ways and think small. Nothing less than 40 stories! For crying out loud, Raleigh, you now have a bigger population than Cincinnati or Pittsburgh! It's time to look the part if you don't want to be forever thought of as Mayberry on Steroids!

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Ok question: On the news at 11:00 last night ABC News(WTVD) said that only the NC Bankers Association had said anything about RBC Centura moving to downtown Raleigh, and that RBC Centura has said nothing or even given the implication that it is moving. Why do this, and are they really moving?

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^There was also a front page article in the TBJ this week about it...the online version of the story should be available Monday. Pretty much all key executives already live and work out of Raleigh, this is just a formality basically to say "Raleigh is the HQ of RBC-Centura". They have the backing of RBC in Canada which has over $100 billion in assets, I hope they can build a very nice tower with some of that cash.

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@rufus, I'd imagine that in order for a bank to change headquarters, they have to file paperwork. I'd guess that perhaps all of the arrangements haven't been made yet and that RBC doesn't want to talk to the press until details are solidified. Besides, they get people like us to sit around and build up excitement for the next week as an added bonus :)

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Regarding discussion of building a taller, signature tower downtown, my question is this:

In what way do businesses such as banks benefit from a signature tower in a city? Does this exposure directly impact their business or growth in anyway?

I know Charlotte is run by banks downtown, and boa has a signature tower there for the HQ. But does anyone know more specifically how this helps them versus a huge sprawling campus being built out in the suburbs (what a nightmare that would be)??

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In regards to why banks need a signature tower...I have a few theories.

First, banks are usually big ego, big money kind of companies. They don't want to be shown up, they want to have something nice that signifies their wealth and power. For example BofA is like the number 2 bank in the country, they have a grand headquarters, it exemplifies power like a sprawling campus cannot.

Also, banks work a lot like a skyscraper. They are usually very vertical businesses, power going from the top to the bottom, not usually spread around to different areas. So, in the top of the company you've got the president, all the way down to the teller, which happens to be on the ground level. Kind of metaphoric if you ask me.

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^Originally First Citizens was HQ'd in downtown Raleigh and they even had plans to build a beautiful 30 story building around the same time the what was then First Union Capital Center and BB&T building were being constructed.  They even tore down a beautiful old building to accomodate it. 

However, I assume because of the rush of real estate onto the market with the other two buildings, they decided to hold off.  Eventually, the lure of an office park took hold and they moved out to Six Forks to that weird round building and now the former BTi building. 

About Capital Bank, I assume they are just not large enough to have a corporate presense downtown?  I'm not quite sure.

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Just so nobody gets smokescreened....there was a day when First Citizens was going to build downtown. The decision not to build came while the old gothic Commercial National Bank building(c. 1912)was still standing. The building was imploded to avoid paying property taxes on it....not because construction planning made it that far. It is ironic that First Citizens now occupies the building that replaced the 11-story former Citizens National Bank building (c. 1911) accross Martin Street. Each was the tallest building in Raleigh when it was built. The Martin/Fayettevile intersection used to be a nice little high(mid) rise area along with many 3-4 story italianate commercial buildings. Had the Yarborough Hotel not burned you would have had a historic area similar to Shockoe Bottom in Richmond, and it certainly would have been more historic than Moore Square and more urban feeling than it is now with a chance for several hundred historic condos in the city center.

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Not a lot new here, but the Triangle Business Journal has an article that discusses the potential RBC relocation.

<snip>

After years of wooing and waiting, RBC Centura may finally have decided to deposit its U.S. headquarters in downtown Raleigh.

Several sources familiar with the bank's operations say the regional banking company will move from Rocky Mount to a new headquarters building to be constructed in the heart of the state's capital city.

</snip>

Triangle Business Journal Article

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I don't believe the move will be to an office park as one of the main goals of RBC is to get more exposure from this move otherwise why not just stay in Rocky Mount. I'm sure land prices are much cheaper out there. But this is just my opinion.

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The reason they will move out of Rocky Mount is so they can hire people that will move to Raleigh but not Rocky Mount. The same reason Lowe's moved out Wilksboro to outside of CHarlotte. The same reason RJR/Nabisco moved our of Winston-Salem a few years ago. Downtown makes a statement but so does out on I-440. In fact, maybe more. Why not is IBM, GSK, First Citizens, Sony-Erricson, Nortel, SAS, etc downtown? They just are not ! I believe they will move downtown, but it comes down to a financial decsion with benefits applied. I will believe when the official press release and dirt is dug.

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Tech/pharma companies generally do not move into vertical buildings in downtown settings because of technical issues-ventilation for labs, space for equipment, radioactivity, security, etc. Name one major biotech company that has a presence in any downtown?

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Tech/pharma companies generally do not move into vertical buildings in downtown settings because of technical issues-ventilation for labs, space for equipment, radioactivity, security, etc. Name one major biotech company that has a presence in any downtown?

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I completely get your point, but Eli Lilly is in downtown Indianapolis ... but not in a tower.

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Tech/pharma companies generally do not move into vertical buildings in downtown settings because of technical issues-ventilation for labs, space for equipment, radioactivity, security, etc. Name one major biotech company that has a presence in any downtown?

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Actually, Philadelphia is buidling a 500,000 sq. ft. biotech campus in West Philadelphia (amidst the Universities). The consultants were here two months ago hoping to convince Raleigh of a similar plan because of our recent ranking as a top ten city for biotechnology.

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I think Centenial Campus kind of already fills this role. I don't know if another biotech campus is what the area needs although there may be a market for an American Tobacco Complex-type development serving as an incubator for small tech start-ups.

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According to all of these stories, they WANT to move downtown.  I haven't even heard mention of moving to the outskirts.  It's silly at this point to think they won't move downtown.  I'm tired of pessimists, if they move to Raleigh, they will be downtown.

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It is not being a pessimists, it is waiting for the press release and what happens after. First Citizen's was a downtown based bank and was going to build a signature building downtown. Over time, they moved HQ to Highwoods and WILL NOT build downtown. They are now moving to NHs area. The current offices of RBC are in Highwoods with a long term lease. I trust that RBC and Highwoods are doing something to move downtown, but I will believe it when it happens. Wishing for something does not make it true. There was a day when people were writing in the N&O about how nice the 1st Citizens bld was going to be downtown and not they are moving to a redone Cameron-Brown Insurance building outside the beltline. (Shows how long I have been there). The costs are going to drive this. No one is being a pessimist, but we are a long way from a new tower buidling in DT. I think it will happen but I am not planning my Christmas party in the BLD lobby yet. Let's hope it does happen but when the bank has not even commented yet, I think it is healthy to have some questions instead of falling hook, line and sinker. Like a lot of these condo buildings planned for DT. Many of them will never be built. Again, maybe I have been around too long and my work in the corp world tells me there are a lot of questions to be answered and hope the world does not change between Press release and shovelling dirt to build. i.e Remember the The Metropolitain or the Lichtin Building ??? Big plans that did not pan out..............

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i.e  Remember the The Metropolitain or the Lichtin Building ???  Big plans that did not pan out..............

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I remember the Lichtin Building-- that was the one with the library on the ground floors; cool looking building, too. I do not remember the Metropolitan. Enlighten, please.

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The Metropolitan: appears to be yet another upper-class housing project in downtown, the likes of which most of us can't afford. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty, but with Bloomsbury, The Dawson, the Hudson (good golly those are $$$$$), and The Parmount, most condos downtown are way too expensive. I would think that the city would want more projects that are affordable for younger professionals making $40-$80K. This is the demographic that, you know, likes to go out to bars, restaurants, and stuff.

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The Metropolitan is still listed on the livable streets website under the livable streets statistics page in the planned and existing multifamily housing units in Downtown Raleigh column.

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It may be listed but it has been planned 5/7 years or more since it was announced ........and the website has been gone for years. The dev company that was going to build it was "Florian"--I think. It is at the old Jones Plumbing site across from Amtrak. Kind of backs up to a low income area but sits on a hill overlooking downtown. I have always thought it was one of the better buildings planned but wrong time and place. Something may be built there, but who knows. I am not sure if these developers have bought options on the land and how long. I doubt someone would keep an option on the prop for 5-7 years, especially without some kind of press release to test the waters. (I think that is what many of the articles are in the N&O, just "feelers" to see if their projects have "legs".) The developer may own the land. But I would think the livable streets website has the interest to put everything planned in the last 20 years on the website, no matter if it comes to fruition.

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The Metropolitan: appears to be yet another upper-class housing project in downtown, the likes of which most of us can't afford.  Don't get me wrong, it's pretty, but with Bloomsbury, The Dawson, the Hudson (good golly those are $$$$$), and The Parmount, most condos downtown are way too expensive.  I would think that the city would want more projects that are affordable for younger professionals making $40-$80K.  This is the demographic that, you know, likes to go out to bars, restaurants, and stuff.

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The city would love that but it is the private sector that builds and markets it. I do think there is hope in the old Raleigh Office Supply site, if it happens. The developer wants to put in less expensive units. In fact, the current Reynolds building is suppose to be less expensive units than the others and it is a 30 second walk to Ri Ra. I do wish someone would go into one of the downtown spaces and build a taller condo building that are not all "spec" out with stanless steel fridges, expensive molding, etc. Build a taller building near the bars that holds a bunch of 20s/30s year olds that eat out every meal, drink a lot of coffee and drink like fish. Of course, the taller you go the more expensive it is to build.

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