Commercial Confidential: Fifth Third Center

Editor’s note: “Commercial Confidential” is a Mecklenburg Times profile of a commercial property in the Charlotte area. 

Charles Jonas is dealing with an unprecedented problem at the Fifth Third Center, at 201 N. Tryon St. in uptown Charlotte.

For the majority of the 16-year-old building’s history, it has been almost completely occupied, said Jonas, a senior vice president with Jones Lang LaSalle, in charge of leasing the Fifth Third Center.

But the building sold last year to Miami-based Parmenter Realty Services, and Wells Fargo, one of the bigger tenants, let its lease expire in February. The Wells Fargo exodus left about 118,000 square feet empty, Jonas said.

So he is treading in waters unfamiliar when it comes to the Fifth Third Center, having to find a tenant to take what he said is “the largest contiguous, upper-elevator space in uptown Charlotte.”

Jonas wouldn’t say if or when he may have a tenant lined up, but he added that Jones Lang LaSalle has had plenty of interest in the space.

“We’ve got 118,000 square feet on the 24th floor and above,” Jonas said. He boasted that “None of the other buildings (uptown) have that available.

“When the right tenant comes along, we’ll lease it up.”

But Jonas said he’s not sure what the right tenant – or tenants – will look like. Wells Fargo vacated the space, but he said he’s not particularly picky on what size company will step in, if that company can afford the rent.

The empty space in the Fifth Third Center is for lease at an average of $29.50 per square foot, a steep price compared with the $26.61 per foot of the entire uptown market and the $27.64 per foot of Class A space in uptown, according to the most recent Karnes Report on Charlotte-area office space.

Even with high rents, Jonas said he doesn’t expect having too much trouble filling the space, considering the tenants that have shown interest.

“We’ve had a lot of interest from companies that are looking for a headquarters or regional headquarters,” he said. “The interest has been primarily from companies in the state.”

GUION can be reached at [email protected], (704) 817-1344 or on Twitter at @paytonguion.

Building name: Fifth Third Center

Address: 201 N. Tryon St.

Square feet: 666,114

Year built: 1997

Developer: N/A

Owners: Parmenter Realty Partners

Leasing company: Jones Lang LaSalle

Lease rates: $29.50 per square foot

Vacancy rate: 17.7 percent

Major tenants: Bank of America; McGuireWoods; Fifth Third Bank

Did you know? Bank of America owned the building before selling it to Parmenter in June 2012