Rent Falls as Big Banks Move Out

Rent Falls as Big Banks Move Out

With the purposed sale of Wachovia to Citigroup or Wells Fargo in the upcoming months, uptown companies are finding a lot more space for a lot less buck.  Wachovia, which currently occupies over 2.8 million square feet in its uptown 48 story building, will soon be moving to its 1.7 million square foot building once construction has completed.  In turn, uptown will have an enormous amount of space to fill in order to keep profits in margin. 

Currently, uptown has a vacancy rate of about 2% which is comparable to other large cities like Chicago or Atlanta.  But with the purposed takeover of Wachovia’s main operations comes the worry of how much space will be available in the future.  Economists believe that by 2010 the Vacancy Rate will be as high as 10%.  With that much available real estate, it is plausible to expect a huge decrease in home/condo pricing as well as the competitive rental market which exists in Charlotte. 

Another worry with Wachovia leaving Charlotte is that the many purposed future building project which are in limbo with the uncertainty of Wachovia’s fate.   Wachovia planned to build a Cultural Center as part of their new building located at Tryon and Stonewall St.  This would include a theatre, two museums, and a cultural center which if the purposed merger goes through would be at great risk.  It is hoped that with the original contract between Wachovia and the city of Charlotte will preserve the integrity of the new construction of these additions to the Charlotte society and culture.