Charlotte Office Towers Continue to Reach Skyward
“Charlotte is excited with both of the developments,” says Tracy Finch Dodson, director of economic development for Charlotte Center City Partners, a private nonprofit group whose mission is the economic, cultural and residential development of the urban core. “We see it as an enormous opportunity. For so long we have had one of the country’s lowest vacancy rates for offices in the central business district.”
The two new towers developed by the city’s banks, combined with two other office towers now under construction, NASCAR Plaza and 400 South Church, will add more than 2.1 million sq ft of Class A office space to the central business district in 2010.
“We’ll be able to bring in large corporations because we have the square footage with these buildings,” Dodson says.
Bank of America
Balfour Beatty Construction of Charlotte continues its work on the 30-story, 750,000-sq-ft 1 Bank of America Center. Dodson says the project remains on time for a 2010 finish. Charlotte Center City Partners pegs the cost at $450 million, including the Ritz-Carlton hotel component.
Perkins+Will of Charlotte designed the office tower.
The bank plans for LEED gold certification. Green features include filtered under-floor air distribution; high-performance, insulating glass; a gray-water reclamation system; and carbon dioxide monitors that automatically introduce fresh air when more is needed. Sky gardens offer space for teams to meet and a glass-enclosed atrium and winter garden will offer a place to hold special events.
Construction began in December 2006. Bank of America and other parties involved in the project declined to comment.
