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Pinnacle Properties Newsroom
City approves BofA rezoning request
Charlotte, NC - 2009-08-23
he city of Charlotte has approved a rezoning request that will allow http://images.bizjournals.com/email/cwatch/w.gifBank of America Corp. to develop a satellite campus on a 24-acre site in University City . The office park at Mallard Creek Church Road and North Tryon Street will have room for more than 2,000 employees.
The bank hopes to start construction soon of a 200,000-square-foot building, but completion of the entire park could take five years or longer.
The bank bought the 24-acre site last year for nearly $8 million. A proposed light-rail station on East Mallard Creek Church Road is a quarter-mile away.
The development also could include up to 75,000 square feet of shops, restaurants and other uses, such as a child-care center.
BofA occupies nearly 300,000 square feet in Ballantyne Corporate Park that it uses for shared office space as part of its My Work program. The program allows employees to give up their regular office space and work from home or in shared space.
The bank also has leased space in Huntersville for the program, which it launched in 2004.
But it lacks a campus large enough to house employees who live on the north side of Charlotte .
About 2,000 Charlotte employees participate in the My Work program.
BofA is one of the city’s largest employers. The Charlotte Chamber estimated a year ago the bank had local employment of 13,960.
That number has likely dropped, however, because the bank is in the midst of a major downsizing. BofA announced last year it would eliminate 42,500 jobs related to its acquisitions of Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co.
BofA is marketing 300,000 square feet of local office space as available for lease, most of it uptown. But the company also is building a 750,000-square-foot office tower at College and Fifth streets to house 1,200 employees and other tenants. That building is not expected to open until next year’s second quarter.
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