BBandT Center

History

Rodney Little of Little & Co. said that in 1975, Overstreet Mall, based on a Minneapolis design, was expected to be a big success as concern began about retailers moving to the suburbs. For this reason, Southern National Center did not face a major street, but was intended to be part of a network of bridges between office buildings and major stores such as Belk and Ivey's. Another reason for locating along College Street was the concern Tryon Street would run out of space. However, in the 1980s, the Charlotte City Council decided to limit additional walkways, and the uptown Belk and Ivey's closed by the end of the decade.

Southern National Center was the home to the Charlotte headquarters of Southern Bell from 1975 to 1995. When BellSouth, the successor company to Southern Bell, moved to 16-story BellSouth Plaza in 1995, Little & Co. made plans for a $10 million renovation to attract new tenants. The merger of Southern National Bank and BB&T, which resulted in a name change to BB&T Center, meant BB&T increased its space to 59,000 sq ft (5,500 m²), and NationsBank took 285,000 sq ft (26,500 m²), but 166,181 sq ft (15,438.7 m²) still remained vacant. Among the building's problems: most of the floor space had been designed specifically for Southern Bell, and the lobby was on the third floor due to the Overstreet Mall. An advantage was the 1500-space parking deck inside.

NationsBank became Bank of America and in 2001 and 2002 gave up 140,000 sq ft (13,000 m²) as part of its operation moved to Gateway Center, leaving 240,000 sq ft (22,000 m²) still occupied. In 2004, BB&T agreed to increase its space in the building by 21,000 sq ft (2,000 m²) to 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m²).

In February 2007 the building was sold to CIM Group for $117 million.