An uptown Wells Fargo tower complex goes up for sale. Lots of options for what comes next
Wells Fargo is selling its Two Wells Fargo Center tower at 301 Tryon St., freeing up valuable uptown real estate, as the bank consolidates employees into two other office spaces.
CBRE Group has exclusive rights to market the development. On the 3.4-acre site is a glass atrium, plaza, parking garage, 32-story and 12-story office buildings.
CBRE has not yet established a price for the site, said Patrick Gildae, vice chairman of CBRE Capital Markets in an email to The Charlotte Observer.
All bank operations that run out of Two Wells Fargo Center will move out after the sale, and split between Three Wells Fargo Center and its building at 550 Tryon St., the former Duke Energy building.
It’s part of a major move that the bank announced in January. By year’s end, Wells Fargo will be out of its iconic longtime One Wells Fargo Center home at 301 South College St., the site of its 1980s-era building that resembles a jukebox. And it was moving its workers out of Two Wells Fargo as well.
Wells Fargo moving all workers from 2 uptown Charlotte towers in coming months
The value of Two Wells Fargo Center lies in its location in uptown, said James LaBar, senior vice president of economic development at Charlotte Center City Partners.
The lot is adjacent to a light rail stop and walkable to many of Charlotte’s attractions like the Bechtler Art Museum, Charlotte Convention Center, Bank of America Stadium and Truist Field.
LaBar said he could see many different developments landing on the property. Anything from residential, to more office space, to hospitality. An institutional development could also fit the property.
“Higher education use, or arts and culture, nonprofit combination could be really powerful there as well,” he said.
Wells Fargo’s consolidation is not a sign of banks leaving Charlotte. All major occupiers of Charlotte’s central business district, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Truist, have said they plan to remain in the area, either owning buildings or leasing for at least 15 years, according to CBRE.
1 out of 5 uptown office floors sit vacant now. What that means for Charlotte
Breathing new life into old offices
As businesses scale-back office presences in Charlotte and nationwide, Gensler, an international architecture, design and planning firm, created an office-to-residential conversion test to find new uses for the vacant buildings.
The test takes empty office buildings and determines if they could successfully be converted into apartments. Two Wells Fargo Center scored a 90% on this test, according to the CBRE marketing materials for the property, making it a suitable candidate for residential use.
CBRE and Wells Fargo approached Gensler before the property went up for sale, Gensler studio director Cameron Barradale told The Charlotte Observer in an email Monday. “(CBRE and Wells Fargo) felt that the office tower was a good candidate for a potential office to residential conversion, which the conversion score confirmed,” he said.
Conversion of the vacant office space allows developers to reconsider what is needed to make uptown stronger, LaBar said.
The possibility of housing in a business district can be good for the city because it is close to jobs and walkable to retail and restaurants, LaBar said.
Only 30% of the more than 300 buildings Gensler surveyed across the country were suitable candidates for conversion. Two Wells Fargo Center is in the minority of buildings with residential potential.
“This single conversion could kickstart a transformation of the entire block - and those surrounding it - into a different kind of neighborhood,” Barradale said.
