Dominion Realty Partners to develop 31-story mixed-use tower in Charlotte

Dive Brief:

F.N.B. Corp., the parent company of First National Bank (FNB), announced that its regional headquarters will anchor a new 31-story, mixed-use tower in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to a statement from the company.
FNB Tower-Charlotte will feature 160,000 square feet of Class A office space, 215 luxury rental apartments and a street-level FNB branch. The company's 30,000-square-feet space will house F.N.B.'s Charlotte-area office, as well as the Small Business Administration's lending, commercial and mortgage banking and builder financing departments.
Dominion Realty Partners will develop and manage the building, where F.N.B. said it has options to expand in the future. There is no groundbreaking date set, but F.N.B. said the project will be completed by late 2020.

Dive Insight:

Charlotte, the nation's second largest financial center, is undergoing a construction boom that bank corporations are capitalizing on. Alabama-based general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie started construction this month on another Charlotte tower that has secured a major bank as an anchor tenant, according to The Charlotte Observer. Ally Financial, which is based in Detroit, will lease 400,000 square feet of the building's 742,000 square feet. Ally Charlotte Center will also offer a retail component and a 350-room hotel in a separate building.

Bank of America is also leasing 500,000 square feet in a new tower in the same area of Charlotte, according to The Observer, as part of a consolidation of its area operations. The 33-story building, which will include 845,000 square feet of leasable office space, is part of a mixed-use development that will eventually include retail, restaurants, a hotel, additional office space and residential units. Gilbane, along with its joint venture partner Shelco, is acting as general contractor.

Other large bank-anchored projects are being developed around the country, including the $3 billion One Vanderbilt skyscraper that AECOM Tishman is building next to Grand Central Station in New York City. TD Bank is leasing 200,000 square feet One Vanderbilt's 1.7 million square feet and will operate a flagship branch there.

During its annual investor conference call in December, developer SL Green said it might pursue EB-5 visa financing to raise more than $200 million for construction.The EB-5 program allows foreign nationals to invest significant sums of money in certain U.S. business ventures in exchange for priority processing of their green card applications. If SL Green takes advantage of the EB-5 option, it would come in addition to the approximately $2 billion the company has already received in construction loans and shareholder investments.

Meanwhile, F.N.B. will also anchor another DRP high-rise in Raleigh, North Carolina, and will occupy 40,000 square feet in the $110 million, 22-story tower that should be complete in 2019. According to DRP, as of October 2017, the building was already 50% leased and will include almost 240 luxury apartments in addition to 156,000 square feet of office space.