Wachovia Capital Center

[cophead567]

the half circle driveway on salisbury is perect for some kind of world class restaurant, with vallet and taxi service right there. i'm not sure if the garage underneath the building is an underground deck or just a service entrance for the building, but if its a garage the cars could be parked there.

the hargett st entrance could be to the bank (renovated) and another entrance to this restaurant.

the fayetteville street side may have to get a little creative. take that tint off the windows and put something in there thats worth looking at. people love to just stroll up and down streets/malls and just window shop. with that element you'll get more traffic, more interest, and a better pedestrian experience.

[ncwebguy]

Wachovia's bank and offices dominate the first floor from the elevator bank (pun intended) to Hargett. A lot of that is wasted space, and they could easily get by with the tellers' space and *one* side for offices/waiting area -- Salisbury or F Street, but not both. The F Street and Salisbury "lobbies" feel like a waste of space as well. Other than the shoe shiner and security desk on the F Street side, they feel cold and empty.

The northwest corner of the building used to have space to pickup/dropoff dry cleaning, and a mini-mart in the mid-late 90s. But that space was empty for years, and is currently occupied by the Spanish media company behind Que Pasa, etc. They could easily be moved upstairs to return that space to retail. I think the idea was the plaza was on the north side, so forget about the other three sides.

The driveway is used for events in the Cardinal Club on the top floor, but there could easily be a high end street level restaurant as well. A restaurant could do well there, but the market may be crowded by Fins, the Mint, and potential restaurants in Site 1 and the Marriott and Lafayette lobbies. The building's web site says the underground deck has only 84 spaces. However, once you pull into the driveway, you have already passed the deck entrance, though valets can drive it around the block.

I'd move the security desk and shoe shine station to the Salisbury side and leave that the "corporate" entrance. Wachovia would keep its space from the tellers west, keeping the Hargett entrance and access via the Salsibury lobby. Slate recently had an article on how bank lobbies are bad for vibrant urban areas. Keeping them *near* F Street (ATM machine, making change for businesses) but *off* it (no "dead space" like it is now) would be ideal.

Maybe the new owners from Cali who bought the building in February see the missed opportunity the lobbies have?