Wachovia doesn't plan to slow condo tower
The company will open a sales center in the
fall. Waiting gives the bank flexibility, experts say.
GARY O'BRIEN - gobrien@charlotteobserver.com
Workers continue to lift the new
Wachovia corporate headquarters into the Charlotte skyline despite the
turmoil on the executive floors of the company's current headquarters
building (background).
Wachovia Corp.'s $880 million, 48-story office tower is
still climbing skyward in uptown Charlotte. But real
estate watchers are beginning to wonder when and how the final piece of the
construction project – a 46-story condo tower – will emerge on the South
Tryon-and-Stonewall streets block. With the bank's
announcement Monday that Ken Thompson is out as chief executive officer, will
the new leadership begin to rethink the timing. “We continue to move forward
as planned – no changes at this time,” said spokeswoman Carrie Ruddy. Work
is under way preparing the site, and a condo sales center is under
construction uptown and due to open this fall, she said. Center
city watchers are raising questions, of course, because the high-rise market
has cooled significantly during the first half of this year. Of
the 20 projects announced over the past four years, two were postponed earlier
this year and work was halted on two. Four projects continue to move forward.
With lending standards tighter and less money to be made on
speculation, buyers aren't as gaga over residential high-rises as they were a
year ago. Wachovia's office tower is nearly half way
toward its ultimate height, and work is under way on three museums planned as
part of what the bank calls its First Street Cultural Campus. The bank says it
is proceeding as planned on those projects, too. Experts
don't see any reason why the $150 million worth of cultural buildings and the
office tower – to include Wachovia's corporate headquarters – wouldn't be
finished in late 2009 and early 2010 as planned. More definitive information
was anticipated before now on the condo project, but real estate experts say
there's no reason for bank officials to get ahead of themselves in a
lackluster housing market. “A lot of people are on
the sidelines,” said multi-family real estate analyst Emma Littlejohn of The
Littlejohn Group. “They want to buy a sure thing, and there are not a lot of
sure things out there. By this fall, they will have little to choose from with
so few under construction." Real estate experts say that holding off until
fall on a condo marketing campaign gives the bank some flexibility in timing,
pricing and defining the project. Completion – estimated by late 2010 – is
scheduled far enough out that the housing market could be in recovery by the
time buyers are ready to start closing on their condos. Wachovia officials
envision 326 units in a 46-story residential tower on the cultural campus.
Pricing and other details will be disclosed when the sales center opens in the
fall. Even if the condo market doesn't experience a major upswing, experts
say, the residential tower still could be completed as rental apartments to
meet a shortage in the center city and be converted later to condos.
