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Pinnacle Properties Newsroom
BofA readies plan for University Site
Charlotte Business Journal - Charlotte, NC - 2009-04-17
Will Boye | Staff Writer
Bank of America Corp. wants to create an office complex in the University area that could total 1 million square feet.
The development is planned for 24 acres BofA bought late last year. It could include up to 75,000 square feet of shops, restaurants and other uses, according to a rezoning application filed on behalf of the bank.
The application does not specify whether BofA plans to develop the office space for its own use.
A bank spokesman says the company purchased the site with an eye toward “future development opportunities” but declines to elaborate. A call to law firm King & Spalding, which is assisting BofA with the rezoning, was not returned.
The site is on Mallard Creek Church Road at North Tryon Street, near a proposed light-rail station on the northeast-corridor line. BofA paid nearly $8 million for the property.
Some real estate observers have speculated the bank could develop an office campus similar to its facilities in Ballantyne Corporate Park.
Through a flexible-work initiative called “My Work,” BofA employees can give up their regular office space and work from their homes or from shared office space.
The bank launched My Work in Charlotte in 2004. It has leased space in Huntersville for the program but still lacks a larger campus to serve employees who live on the north side of Charlotte.
BofA occupies nearly 300,000 square feet in three Ballantyne buildings, and about 2,000 Charlotte employees participate in the My Work program.
Lincoln Harris filed the rezoning application on BofA’s behalf. The plan submitted with the application calls for a first phase of development with a primary building up to 200 feet tall. The plan designates three large areas for surface parking.
Before starting a second phase of development, the company plans to construct a path that would connect the site to the greenway along Mallard Creek.
BofA is marketing 300,000 square feet of its space in Charlotte as available for lease, most of it uptown. Also, the company is in the midst of a major downsizing. The bank previously announced it would eliminate 42,500 jobs companywide after acquiring Countrywide Financial Corp. and Wall Street investment firm Merrill Lynch & Co. in 2008.
BofA’s proposed development could be a boost for the University office market, says Andrew Jenkins, managing director of Karnes Research Co. In the first quarter, office vacancy on the northeast side of the town rose to 21.7% from 21.1% at the end of 2008. And the market saw a net loss of 27,000 square feet of occupancy in the latest quarter.
“That area needs something,” Jenkins says. “All in all, it hasn’t had much new (office) supply. Sometimes you never building anything new, and then no one wants to move into the area. It kind of gets stagnant.”
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