Truist Center

The Truist Center (formally and informally: Hearst Tower, its name until 2020) in Charlotte, North Carolina is a 47-story skyscraper along North Tryon Street that rises 201 meters (659 ft) in height. It opened on 14 November 2002 and is the 3rd-tallest building in Charlotte. The 32-story tower rests atop a 15-floor podium. Located within the podium is a three-story, 17,000-square-metre (180,000 sq ft) trading floor designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and operated by Bank of America. The building is currently the headquarters of Truist Financial, who purchased the building in March 2020.

Truist Center
The Truist Center displaying the new company color and logo.
Former namesHearst Tower
General information
TypeOffice, museum
Location214 North Tryon Street, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Coordinates35°13′39″N 80°50′27″W
Named forTruist Financial
Hearst Communications (2002-2020)
Construction started1999
Completed2002
Opening2002
Cost$200 million (2002 USD)
OwnerTruist Financial
Height
Roof201 m (659 ft)
Technical details
Floor count47
Floor area148,644 m2 (1,599,990 sq ft)
Lifts/elevators29
Design and construction
ArchitectSmallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates, Inc.
DeveloperBank of America

The building's reverse floorplate design makes the upper floors average 2,200 square metres (24,000 sq ft) compared to an average of only 1,900 square metres (20,000 sq ft) for the lower floors.

In the College Street lobby are brass railings designed by Edgar Brandt that were rescued from Le Bon Marche department store in Paris. The Truist Plaza, a 49 by 20m public plaza lined with restaurants, shops, and the Sonia and Isaac Luski Gallery, is located next to the main entrance off North Tryon Street. In front of the plaza is a 3-metre (9.8 ft) glass and bronze sculpture crafted by Howard Ben Tre entitled the Castellan, which translates to "keeper of the castle." Within the lobby is Collaborate214, which is a coworking space introduced in October 2014.

The building is located across the street from the Bank of America Corporate Center and 201 North Tryon.

History

The building was owned by Cousins Properties Incorporated, although Hearst Communications also had offices in the building.[1]

On 12 June 2019, it was announced that Truist Financial, a bank holding company to be formed from the merger of BB&T and SunTrust Banks, had selected Hearst Tower for its future new corporate headquarters.[2] Truist will occupy 561,000 square feet (52,100 m2) in the tower and has an option to buy the tower from Cousins in the fourth quarter of 2019 for $455.5 million.[3] On 14 August 2019, Hearst Communications announced it would move out of its namesake tower to offices near Ballantyne to make way for Truist.[4]

On December 11, 2019, Truist Financial announced it had officially exercised its option to purchase the building from Cousins Properties for $455.5 million and would rename the tower Truist Center. New signage will also be added to the building.[5] The deal was completed March 31, 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, further actions will be delayed.[6]

In November 2020, the bank used helicopters to lift up four signs to the top of the former Hearst Tower, which it bought for $455 million last year. This signage at the top of the building on the N Tryon St side and N College sides says "Truist" in large letters. The other two sides are the Truist logo. This signage has caused a lot controversy, even leading the architect of the building to refer to the signage as vandalism.[7] There is currently a petition on Change.org requesting that Truist remove the signage titled "Save Charlotte's Art Deco Skyscraper! Remove the TRUIST Signs!!!".

See also

References
  1. Singe, Kerry; Dunn, Andrew (2012-05-04). "Sale of Hearst Tower may signal investor interest in Charlotte". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on 2012-07-21. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  2. "BB&T and SunTrust choose 'signature' uptown tower as headquarters for new bank". Charlotte Observer. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  3. "BB&T, SunTrust Take Big Lease at Charlotte Trophy Tower". Commercial Property Executive. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  4. Chemtob, Danielle (14 August 2019). "Hearst will leave its uptown tower to make way for BB&T and SunTrust workers". Charlotte Observer.
  5. Chemtob, Danielle; Weinstein, Austin (11 December 2019). "Truist buys uptown tower for record $455 million as bank builds Charlotte presence". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  6. Craver, Richard (2020-04-02). "Truist completes $455.5M purchase of Charlotte HQ; bank delays new branding unveilings". Winston-Salem Journal.
  7. Weinstein, Austin (7 December 2020). "Truist put its name on its new HQ. The building's architect called it vandalism". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
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