The office tower going up at 615 South College announced its first tenant

It is quite a beautiful building. Going up as a spec building (no tenants) was a risky move by Portman Holdings, but it seems to be paying off.

Portman announced Tuesday that Regions Financial is the first tenant signed to the building.

They will occupy around 63,806 square feet (2.5 floors) of the 370,000-square-foot building, and on top of that they will also get to put some sweet signs on the building and have a bank branch at the bottom.

While this isn’t a major jobs announcement or a corporate HQ relocation, I believe it represents something just as important. It is a consolidation for Regions and it allows 615 South College to become “legitimized” through having an actual, big name tenant. It is no longer just an empty building under construction, it is now a building under construction that will house a large company that solidifies Charlotte’s position as the No. 2 banking capital of the United States (other than obviously, NYC).

Personally, I think we will now see a lot of dominoes start to fall into place with this and other projects.

I believe there are a lot of companies that want to be in our shiny new buildings Uptown, but needed someone to go first. Well, Regions went first.

While not confirmed, I would think Regions secured the right of first refusal as well which would allow them to expand in 615 South College, grow their presence in Charlotte and add jobs. It’s just all around a major win for the project and the city.

Regions will consolidate all of its Charlotte-area associates into this building as soon as next year, which I am sure they are all incredibly pleased about. There’s nothing like moving into a brand new building.

The project has a ton of advantages for Regions such as being right on a light rail stop, the signage opportunities (because it is right on 277), its connection to the future Whole Foods as well as what essentially acts as an on-site hotel in the Westin. These things helped Portman and Trinity Partners sell the project to Regions and other potential tenants.

Travis Garland, along with Trinity Partners’ John Ball and Peter Conway, represented ownership, while Sim Wilson, Mike Fahey and Mark Decherd with CBRE negotiated the lease on behalf of Regions.

Cover image courtesy of Alyssa Gribble / Trinity Partners