Ballantyne

[tozmervo]

11 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Check out this 2016 aerial of Ballantyne Corporate Park. There is plenty of opportunity for redevelopment of the surface parking lots on the west side of the park however with such a high occupancy now in the park something like 97% they can't really do anything until tenants leave. However I am sure in 10 years this photo will look very different especially on that side. http://www.ballantynecorporate.com/content/uploads/2017/03/BCP-PhotoAerial-2016.pdf  More parking garages and taller building were done on the east side where the golf course is. 

Honestly, I'd rather them stick with the surface parking than emulate that heinous stretch of Community House Rd lined with parking decks.

[KJHburg]

Metlife is giving up 3 floors in the Woodward Building the 2nd building where they occupied some space. Probably has to do with the spin off the direct sales force to MassMutual. It is offered at sublease through 2026. MassMutual who took over their sales operation is still in that building but that could change too as they have plenty of space in their sister company owned building 300 South Tryon. 

 

 

[KJHburg]

The Brigham building that Wells Fargo leased all 287,000 sq ft late last year. It was the biggest office lease of the year and will be home of lots of new banking jobs. They are not giving up any of their millions of sq feet of office anywhere in Charlotte I can find. 

[JRNYP2C]

Not quite sure about "new" banking jobs moving there.  The goal is to take 1,600 of the back office finance/accounting positions (and ancillary positions) from Uptown locations and move them here in waves starting in 3rd quarter.  As one of the people that is being moved from Uptown to Ballantyne, I'm honestly not looking forward to the added distance and time commuting.  Traffic in B'Tyne is a cluster any time of the day, any day of the week.

As for the amount of space that is going to be vacated Uptown by all of the efficiency plans by the bank, not sure how that all shakes out.  The going opinion by many is that it saves WF money from a cost per square foot for groups that do not generate money, and are considered overhead.  Possibly a sign of the time that even Charlotte's CBD is peaking in terms of cost.  I kind of scratch my head b/c we have the new building on 300 S. Tryon, the old Observer site and others that are adding to the overall office space there.

A lot of us are trying to make the best of a not so stellar situation.  The major conveniences of being Uptown are no longer available in B'Tyne.  Taking a quick walk to grab coffee or lunch, get a haircut, or see the eye doctor is now a major endeavor that will take a chunk of time to accomplish.

It is a pretty building though.  Surrounded by parking lots and garages (free parking though is a plus).  Office park suburbia at its best.  

[KJHburg]

Interesting but are they downsizing some of their space uptown or using it for other areas that may need to be uptown? There is a strip center about a block or so away that has some restaurants but of course nothing like uptown. This space in Ballantyne is much cheaper than any other new options uptown including 300 South Tryon and  615 South Tryon

[CLT2014]

Do most people on your team at Wells live near Uptown and SouthEnd? I worked on a team of people in their 30's and 40's at BofA and they constantly complained they couldn't work in Ballantyne since they all lived in that part of town where housing + good schools is affordable for the sub $150k salaries. Only our Exec lived in Myers Park, everybody else lived in South Charlotte, Ballantyne, Matthews, Fort Mill, Union, and Huntersville.

The daily morning routine stared with "If only we worked in Ballantyne our commute wouldn't be 40 minutes." 

Edited April 7, 2017 by CLT2014

[JRNYP2C]

22 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Interesting but are they downsizing some of their space uptown or using it for other areas that may need to be uptown? There is a strip center about a block or so away that has some restaurants but of course nothing like uptown. This space in Ballantyne is much cheaper than any other new options uptown including 300 South Tryon and  615 South Tryon

Not quite sure what is going to happen to the vacated space Uptown.  I have heard rumors that in 3WF, the space that we are in is going to be renovated to bring it up to 2017 not 2000.  There are parts of that building are showing its age.  And I totally agree that the space is cheaper in B'Tyne than anywhere else right now, and from a true financial standpoint, it will save money in the long haul.

22 hours ago, CLT2014 said:

Do most people on your team at Wells live near Uptown and SouthEnd? I worked on a team of people in their 30's and 40's at BofA and they constantly complained they couldn't work in Ballantyne since they all lived in that part of town where housing + good schools is affordable for the sub $150k salaries. Only our Exec lived in Myers Park, everybody else lived in South Charlotte, Ballantyne, Matthews, Fort Mill, Union, and Huntersville.

The daily morning routine stared with "If only we worked in Ballantyne our commute wouldn't be 40 minutes." 

I have heard (quotes from unnamed sources within the company) that anywhere between 60% and 68% of the people being moved live in "South Charlotte."  Of the people in my group at least 1/3 of them (and I'm looking at a small group of about 22 people) live anywhere but South Charlotte.  We are talking University area, Huntersville, Denver (Lincoln County) and various parts of Gaston County.  One of my friends mentioned a CATS ride share van that may be an option, and that sounds like a viable option.  The one thing to take into consideration is that there would need to be at least 10-12 people that would need to actually pay for riding it.  And in the broadest picture possible, it would behoove them to have a 7-4 work schedule just to avoid the traffic issues at rush hour.

[Desert Power]

On 4/6/2017 at 8:36 PM, JRNYP2C said:

Not quite sure about "new" banking jobs moving there.  The goal is to take 1,600 of the back office finance/accounting positions (and ancillary positions) from Uptown locations and move them here in waves starting in 3rd quarter.  As one of the people that is being moved from Uptown to Ballantyne, I'm honestly not looking forward to the added distance and time commuting.  Traffic in B'Tyne is a cluster any time of the day, any day of the week.

As for the amount of space that is going to be vacated Uptown by all of the efficiency plans by the bank, not sure how that all shakes out.  The going opinion by many is that it saves WF money from a cost per square foot for groups that do not generate money, and are considered overhead.  Possibly a sign of the time that even Charlotte's CBD is peaking in terms of cost.  I kind of scratch my head b/c we have the new building on 300 S. Tryon, the old Observer site and others that are adding to the overall office space there.

A lot of us are trying to make the best of a not so stellar situation.  The major conveniences of being Uptown are no longer available in B'Tyne.  Taking a quick walk to grab coffee or lunch, get a haircut, or see the eye doctor is now a major endeavor that will take a chunk of time to accomplish.

It is a pretty building though.  Surrounded by parking lots and garages (free parking though is a plus).  Office park suburbia at its best.  

Luckily, my group hasn't been included in this migration.  I'd immediately start looking for a new job if someone moved us to Ballentyne, which is the same thing my manager has stated up the chain.  Since I just going over at WFC, that would be very annoying...

[mfowler12]

I heard an unsubstantiated rumor that the Golf Resort at Btyne was going to reduce it's footprint to 9 holes and make way for additional office buildings. With the recent sale and activity, it sounded like a possibility but as a golfer and a fan of the course, that would be disappointing. Has anyone heard similar news?

[HopHead]

31 minutes ago, mfowler12 said:

I heard an unsubstantiated rumor that the Golf Resort at Btyne was going to reduce it's footprint to 9 holes and make way for additional office buildings. With the recent sale and activity, it sounded like a possibility but as a golfer and a fan of the course, that would be disappointing. Has anyone heard similar news?

That doesn't make much sense for them to do that and I hope it's not true. Ballantyne has a really nice golf course. It's one of the perks of the resort. The developers have plenty of develop-able land for offices on the sea of asphalt that exists in between all the other buildings. 

[KJHburg]

1 hour ago, mfowler12 said:

I heard an unsubstantiated rumor that the Golf Resort at Btyne was going to reduce it's footprint to 9 holes and make way for additional office buildings. With the recent sale and activity, it sounded like a possibility but as a golfer and a fan of the course, that would be disappointing. Has anyone heard similar news?

I have heard this in the past as well when Bissell owned it. I think they do more redevelopment of the existing buildings but the problem is most of those are heavily leased not allowing any redevelopment opportunities. 

[KJHburg]

I heard from a Wells employee that another future Wells Fargo anchored tower could rise in Ballantyne and they do have room and current zoning to do so of course. She stated that most of the offices uptown are packed and so is the CIC on Harris Blvd. Wells as I have said before is quietly moving jobs here (and to Iowa) for the obvious reasons of lower costs.  

Not sure how this would affect any future plans uptown for more space there (doubt they will give up any space uptown)

Here are some built to suit scenarios from Ballantyne notice Campus B option is done on part of the golf course. (really hope that does not happen) http://www.ballantynecorporate.com/build-to-suit/

Edited May 8, 2017 by KJHburg

[Desert Power]

16 hours ago, KJHburg said:

I heard from a Wells employee that another future Wells Fargo anchored tower could rise in Ballantyne and they do have room and current zoning to do so of course. She stated that most of the offices uptown are packed and so is the CIC on Harris Blvd. Wells as I have said before is quietly moving jobs here (and to Iowa) for the obvious reasons of lower costs.  

Not sure how this would affect any future plans uptown for more space there (doubt they will give up any space uptown)

Here are some built to suit scenarios from Ballantyne notice Campus B option is done on part of the golf course. (really hope that does not happen) http://www.ballantynecorporate.com/build-to-suit/

This is true

[KJHburg]

It seems the arrival of 1600 Wells employees to Ballantyne's Brigham Building the latest 10 story office bldg off Community House Rd will cause some plans to change. They were going to build a hotel in front of the parking garage but now they are adding retail to the C H Rd side of the garage. 6000 sq ft.  New owner of Ballantyne Northwood is doing the change and it makes sense to add some amenities walkable to the office buildings. 

Edited July 22, 2017 by KJHburg

[navigator319]

It got to be hell getting out of this mass of concrete at 5p.  Build some decks and add more density?  lightrail spur through south park perhaps?  

Aerial view of Ballantyne Corporate Park Larry Harwell Photography

 

 

 

[Windsurfer]

In another thread the topic of solar panels came up. THIS is where solar panels over the parking lots could do some real generating....and keep cars cool.

[Scribe]

The only place solar panels could work in Ballantyne is on the top floor of the parking garages and some roof space. 

In the Uptown solar thread I was saying that the solar would cover the "ugly" A/C units so there is no visual trade-off.... here if you put solar on the ground level, that would be a real eyesore...

2 hours ago, Windsurfer said:

In another thread the topic of solar panels came up. THIS is where solar panels over the parking lots could do some real generating....and keep cars cool.

 

[Windsurfer]

As per photo, there appears to be a LOT of flat surface parking lots, or do you know something I don't? . https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/01/28/the-best-idea-in-a-long-time-covering-parking-lots-with-solar-panels/?utm_term=.f0fb4b158a57

 

[Scribe]

8 minutes ago, Windsurfer said:

As per photo, there appears to be a LOT of flat surface parking lots, or do you know something I don't? . https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/01/28/the-best-idea-in-a-long-time-covering-parking-lots-with-solar-panels/?utm_term=.f0fb4b158a57

I would love to see someone pitch that to the good folks of Ballantyne Corporate Park!
I'll even get live YouTube streams of the reactions.

Arguably, that is an eye-sore. Especially for "pristine" Ballantyne.

[Windsurfer]

6 minutes ago, Scribe said:

I would love to see someone pitch that to the good folks of Ballantyne Corporate Park!
I'll even get live YouTube streams of the reactions.

Arguably, that is an eye-sore. Especially for "pristine" Ballantyne.

An "eyesore. Especially for pristine Ballantyne." ? Really? solar panels over parking lots an eyesore?  We must be from a different generation. 

And, believe me, if I didn't have a hand full doing what I'm doing, I'd be selling solar. 

[Scribe]

And yet we are here, in late 2017, not a single ground-level/paved lot has a solar panel canopy in or around Charlotte.
I am not arguing on the viability, and not stating that as my position. I am saying "eye-sore" is what you will get if it was presented to Ballantyne corporate property owners.

[archiham04]

Ground level paved lots in and around Charlotte are place holders for future development.  Parking decks are much more likely to have an investment like this.

[Scribe]

15 minutes ago, archiham04 said:

Ground level paved lots in and around Charlotte are place holders for future development.  Parking decks are much more likely to have an investment like this.

Also a very good point.

[JRNYP2C]

10 hours ago, navigator319 said:

It got to be hell getting out of this mass of concrete at 5p.  Build some decks and add more density?  lightrail spur through south park perhaps?  

Aerial view of Ballantyne Corporate Park Larry Harwell Photography

 

 

 

Totally agree.  I am completely NOT looking forward to being moved to this location.  The ONLY way it would be a plus is if I could afford to live there and walk to the office.  Otherwise, it is nothing but a traffic nightmare.  Avoid it at all costs - any time of day.

[DMann]

You would walk across those streets?