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RUMORED: Citizens Bank Tower (CBT)

billypc99

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AriPVD Hamlet

AriPVD

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I think the call and operations centers are pretty much mutually exclusive from a new corporate HQs. Citizens wouldn't use its expensive downtown space for call centers...it would be for executive offices. The expansion of the peripheral, support activities like call/operations centers should translate into the need for more corporate and corporate service space.

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CtownMikey Burg

CtownMikey

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I remember joining around January, maybe February. The week before we had those RUSH of announcements!!

And when they came, so many of you members were saying "oh, that'll never happen" blah blah..

not that it is a bad thing, I would have said the same thing if I hadn't been a new member, but I am realizing that everything has followed through, and even though i'm a youngin, I can feel how much more healthier things are in Providence already.

I think if a new Citizens' tower announcement were to happen, Providence would be in a really Great position.

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Baines Hamlet

Baines

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Like Oxnard, CA?...

oxnard_plain.jpg

Those are the tallest in the city but they look so out of place.

That is truely gross...of course Providence is a a totally different city - urban, dense, old, northeastern.

Tall buildings (25-45) all along the fringe and interior of Downcity will be absolutely fine...it adds to the depth.

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Baines Hamlet

Baines

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I think the call and operations centers are pretty much mutually exclusive from a new corporate HQs. Citizens wouldn't use its expensive downtown space for call centers...it would be for executive offices. The expansion of the peripheral, support activities like call/operations centers should translate into the need for more corporate and corporate service space.

You are right on target. For example in Tampa, a call center mecca, all call centers are in the suburbs and all executive offices are in the downtown buildings.

Do not underestimate the role prestige and image play in this game - a suburban corporate headquarters is not a prestigious move. In addition, there are actually forces at play that are moving corporations TO the core citiies that have a high quality of life. Providence is certainly one of them - it's character, skyline, culture, and booming future are major influences.

This Citizens thing is worth watching as they assert themselves as a major banking institution. I suspect they want to build a landmark building.

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Cotuit Megalopolis

Cotuit

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Is Citizen's based out of Providence?

Yes, though it is owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is of course based in Scotland. They have an HQ here, and there has been a very persistent rumour that they plan to expand in Providence, with a new HQ.

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Liamlunchtray Burg

Liamlunchtray

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I think the call and operations centers are pretty much mutually exclusive from a new corporate HQs. Citizens wouldn't use its expensive downtown space for call centers...it would be for executive offices. The expansion of the peripheral, support activities like call/operations centers should translate into the need for more corporate and corporate service space.

Citizens always keeps things like Ops and Call ctrs in very low rent locations away from Corp headquarters. I think this is standard for most big companies. Although the company I work for has manufacturing, callcenter, and development all under the same roof, which is odd. Citizens likes to buy out cheap existing industrial buildings and convert them to office space. The Ops Ctr in EP was an eyeglass factory. When I worked there there was still big cabinets of eyeglass frames in the conference rooms, and the Building in Cranston was the Davol rubber factory. When we first moved over there we were sitting in cubes in the middle of a giant cinderblock room with forklifts driving up and down the aisle. It was awesome when you were on the phone - "WHAT?!?!? WHAT?!?!?"

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MikeR Hamlet

MikeR

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I think it basically means that Citizens is selling the building at the height of the building boom; and potentially, securing funds (60 million on the sale) for a potential new building if they decide to do that. Citizens signed a 10-year lease to stay in the building, so they are not going anywhere anytime soon. I think this just provides them with more options; lease vs. own, or lease until they build a new HQ in the future. Another possibility is they may purchase one of the buildings on "Bank Row"...

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Baines Hamlet

Baines

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I think it basically means that Citizens is selling the building at the height of the building boom; and potentially, securing funds (60 million on the sale) for a potential new building if they decide to do that. Citizens signed a 10-year lease to stay in the building, so they are not going anywhere anytime soon. I think this just provides them with more options; lease vs. own, or lease until they build a new HQ in the future. Another possibility is they may purchase one of the buildings on "Bank Row"...

Wouldn't a 10-yr lease for that building mean there will not be a new Citizens tower for 10 years????

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MikeR Hamlet

MikeR

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Wouldn't a 10-yr lease for that building mean there will not be a new Citizens tower for 10 years????

I don't think so. All Citizens really did was "flip" the building at the height of the market to get the max. return on their initial investment to build the HQ. I think lease payments come with tax deductions as well. Also, mabye in the lease agreement the lease is transferable to another party? If discussion on this board is true that Citizens needs more space, we should see some movement within a couple of years, not 10.

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Cotuit Megalopolis

Cotuit

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If discussion on this board is true that Citizens needs more space, we should see some movement within a couple of years, not 10.

The rumours indicate that an announcement was coming soon, of course that was in February.

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brick Burg

brick

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just to educate Mikey for a second ;) do acquisitions only go through if the company is willing to be acquired, like Gtech may be considering? Or are there situations where the company may have no choice?

Just reading through this thread, thought I would provide a small answer.

Like Cotuit said, public companies are more at risk of buy-out than privately held ones. A privately held company requires the owner(s) to want to sell.

For a public company, they are always at "risk" of another company acquiring a large enough portion of their shares that the buying company will have controlling interest in the company. This ends up being a hostile takeover if the board of the company being acquired does not approve the sale. Anyway, it's important to remember that all of those little numbers in the DJIA aren't just investment numbers, they are little pieces of the company. If one entity gains enough of a percentage of those little pieces, they can do anything they want. Companies typically protect themselves from these types of takeovers by doing buy-backs where they will purchase their own stock and then take it off of the market.

As for this tower are there any geologists in the house? I'm not sure what makes up the land underneath 195. I would guess from things I have read that at least some of it is fill and not solid rock. My assumption is that the current financial district is built where it is because that is where there is solid bedrock to support the construction. Fill is inappropriate for building big towers, unless you want to have Providence be the Pisa of the West :). This is why any towers built in Boston are either in the financial district or betweem Boylston St. and Columbus Ave. That is where the bedrock is.

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EPBOY Whistle-Stop

EPBOY

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I'm no geologist, but I think the location of towers has more to do with money then geology. As we all know, the area around Waterplace Park is nothing but fill, but Gtech and the Intercontenental Condo's are going in there. If you are willing spend the money to drive piles deep enough, you're gonna hit bedrock.

As for this tower are there any geologists in the house? I'm not sure what makes up the land underneath 195. I would guess from things I have read that at least some of it is fill and not solid rock. My assumption is that the current financial district is built where it is because that is where there is solid bedrock to support the construction. Fill is inappropriate for building big towers, unless you want to have Providence be the Pisa of the West :). This is why any towers built in Boston are either in the financial district or betweem Boylston St. and Columbus Ave. That is where the bedrock is.
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brick Burg

brick

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I'm no geologist, but I think the location of towers has more to do with money then geology. As we all know, the area around Waterplace Park is nothing but fill, but Gtech and the Intercontenental Condo's are going in there. If you are willing spend the money to drive piles deep enough, you're gonna hit bedrock.

There are technological issues, though. AFAIK the Cove was not very deep.

Also, there is a substantial difference between a 30-40 story building that we might want for CBT and a 17 story building. Not only is there the weight issue but also the issue of wind resistance and the applied torque to the foundation. The Intercontinental towers are actually slightly below the grade of Smith Hill I'm sure the bedrock is not buried that deep. Can't say for the GTech building although that's really what, 12 stories. A tower would be as much as 4 times as heavy.

There are a lot of moden marvels of engineering so I'm sure it could be done. But I think it's a little much to say to Citizen's "hey I like the aesthetic better over here where you will have to do $15 MM more in site prep and foundation work so you should put it there"

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Gusterfell Burg

Gusterfell

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It can be done. The World Financial Center in NYC is entirely built on fill (the earth excavated during construction of the WTC, in fact). Those buildings are something like 30 stories tall. However, brick raises a good point about the cost. Vacant land in Providence isn't anywhere near as scarce as in NYC, and if this sort of construction is much more expensive, it wouldn't be the best option.

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