I know this is off topic, but I thought it might generate some interesting dialogue.  With Wachovia Bank likely being merged, taken over, or folded all together, take a look at what they have in downtown Charlotte:

 

1.  Wachovia Corporate Center, 46 flooors Under Construction, to open in 2009.  According to Wiki, the tower is 1.2M s.f., and Wachovia was going to take 450,000 s.f.

 

2. One Wachovia Center, 42 floors built in 1988, 970,000 s.f.

 

3. Three Wachovia Center, 32 floors built in 2000, 890,000 s.f. of office space

 

4.  Two Wachovia Center, 32 floors built in 1971, 561,000 s.f.

 

 

I do not know how much space they actually occupy in the other three buildings, but they are likely the largest or second largest tenant in downtown Charlotte by a TON!  Assuming a large chunk of these jobs will be lost, the hit to the real estate market is going to be huge.  It feels very similar to the ENRON clusterf*uck in Houston: a large downtown tenant in multiple buildings with a new Class A skyscraper under construction when the company went down.

 

Let's hear your thoughts.....

Not only that, but the real estate market will also be affected by all the employees whose stock options went to sh!t.  My dad's $80,000 of AG Edwards employee stock is now worth essentially nothing.

Come back north, y'all.

I could be wrong, but I thought that the Wells-Fargo scenario was much much better for Charlotte employee numbers.

I think citi is walking away from them today. 

 

Citi does want to buy someone right now, and Suntrust down it Atlanta along with a Birmingham bank are on their list.  I am sure they are now contemplating NCC.  But that's for another discussion

I think citi is walking away from them today.

 

Citi has left the table.

Maybe NASCAR companies will move in from the exurbs.

I think citi is walking away from them today.

 

Citi has left the table.

 

Except for they're requesting $80 billion in damages...

Video from NBC News, what will happen to Charlotte and its new towers?

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/vp/27105884#27105884

Banks are too big. Companies are too big. Jobs are always lost during a merger. Can't these companies that buy up other companies survive on their own???

I'm sure a lot of them could... but often investors make the most by selling.  And as companies have to act with shareholders best interests at heart...

I'm sure a lot of them could... but often investors make the most by selling.  And as companies have to act with shareholders best interests at heart...

 

Don't you mean "should" or "suppose to"?  LOL :wink:

Public companies are like cancer; they continue to grow until it kills them.

I'm sure a lot of them could... but often investors make the most by selling. And as companies have to act with shareholders best interests at heart...

 

Don't you mean "should" or "suppose to"? LOL :wink:

 

Insert whichever term you like.  :)  executives make oodles of money when companies sell.

I'm sure a lot of them could... but often investors make the most by selling. And as companies have to act with shareholders best interests at heart...

 

Don't you mean "should" or "suppose to"? LOL :wink:

 

Insert whichever term you like. :) executives make oodles of money when companies sell.

 

Not all the time. Can you say AOL?!

Public companies are like cancer; they continue to grow until it kills them.

 

Great quote, and I agree!

All good points, but I am curious as to everyone's insights as to what this will do to the commercial office market in downtown Charlotte (and the blow to retail/hotel/nightlife, etc.).  To the best of my knowledge, it is really heavily dependent on BofA and Wachovia, losing one of these (or a large portion of one) will set it back quite a while.  Whereas I am sure the ENRON loss to downtown Houston was not easy to swallow, it was a much smaller piece of the pie in a larger and more diverse downtown tenant base.

All good points, but I am curious as to everyone's insights as to what this will do to the commercial office market in downtown Charlotte (and the blow to retail/hotel/nightlife, etc.).  To the best of my knowledge, it is really heavily dependent on BofA and Wachovia, losing one of these (or a large portion of one) will set it back quite a while.  Whereas I am sure the ENRON loss to downtown Houston was not easy to swallow, it was a much smaller piece of the pie in a larger and more diverse downtown tenant base.

 

TCK, you hit it right on the head.  Although, I've never lived in CLT, the sidewalks roll up at 6PM.  The last time I was there, they seemed to have a hard time selling the newly built homes/condos.  Now, with the prospect of losing approximately 5.5k jobs in the metro area, that is going to be a hard pill to swallow.

Why can't our hometown bank build four towers?

Why can't our hometown bank build four towers?

"Our" being, what city?

 

I mean the wachovia situation should be a huge answer as "why" no bank would build for skyscrappers in a city with only ONE industry.

 

Without going into a debate or coming across rude, this sounds like the "jacobs public square" discussion.

All good points, but I am curious as to everyone's insights as to what this will do to the commercial office market in downtown Charlotte (and the blow to retail/hotel/nightlife, etc.). To the best of my knowledge, it is really heavily dependent on BofA and Wachovia, losing one of these (or a large portion of one) will set it back quite a while. Whereas I am sure the ENRON loss to downtown Houston was not easy to swallow, it was a much smaller piece of the pie in a larger and more diverse downtown tenant base.

 

I think it will be impossible to say until we know exactly what the job loss numbers are and square footage vacated.  But suffice to say it could be an enormous blow to downtown Charlotte.  'Could be' being the operative words.  I'm sure we'll know more in the not too distant future.

As an actual Charlottean, allow me to respond here.

 

Firstly, it should be realized that Wachovia's suburban campus in University City has the largest base of Wachovia employees. Any effect in terms of job losses will be felt in that location primarily. Secondly, Charlotte already has the tightest downtown market among major U.S. cities this year according to CB Richard Ellis, so any significant loss of workers in uptown will put us on par with other cities in terms of office vacancy rates in the CBD. Right now, we can only speculate in terms of job losses, but it appears as though Wells was the better deal in terms of preserving jobs.

 

As far as the sidewalks uptown "rolling up at 6 pm," I find that interesting. Uptown is well populated after working hours into the night, particularly as the week goes on. The activity is centered along Tryon and College mostly, but trust me, there's much life on the sidewalks in the evenings.

 

 

 

 

Do you currently live in Charlotte?

I sure do.

I sure do.

So how did you find us?

I sure do.

So how did you find us?

 

I forget (I want to say it was a mention at SSC), but I first posted here maybe about a year ago. It was in an Atlanta thread (a city that doesn't seem to get much love over here) and things got a little ugly, LOL.

I sure do.

So how did you find us?

 

I forget (I want to say it was a mention at SSC), but I first posted here maybe about a year ago. It was in an Atlanta thread (a city that doesn't seem to get much love over here) and things got a little ugly, LOL.

 

I see.  I'm sure I was a negative poster in that thread as I'll be the first to admit, I strong dislike the South!

^I don't see how a person can totally dislike an entire region as though it were totally monolithic, or how one can use one criterion (urbanity) above all others to form his/her overall opinion--I've always been perplexed about that--but to each his own.

^I don't see how a person can totally dislike an entire region as though it were totally monolithic, or how one can use one criterion (urbanity) above all others to form his/her overall opinion--I've always been perplexed about that--but to each his own.

 

No, it's personal experiences in the South, which have made me feel that way.

Still, you can't paint such a diverse region with a broad brush.

Still, you can't paint such a diverse region with a broad brush.

 

Yeah I can.  I'm bitchy, older, and jaded! :wink:

How in the hell do these people detect any criticism of the south and come out of the woodwork like this?  Dude hasn't posted for a year, then he magically appears.  Seriously, of all the regions of this country, it's southerners who totally can't handle any kind of criticism. There are entire types of conversations that simply don't happen in the south, prominent among those being any that criticize the south and its "cities".  Over and over again across the internet, we see southerners with little experience in the north, who don't know what a real city is, throwing these kinds of fits.   

^Seriously, it's posts like those that make Rust-belters seem bitter and jealous. And that view would be just as warped as assuming that the South has no cities. And I have much experience with the North, and limited experience with the Midwest.

 

I simply came to this thread to shed light on the situation happening in my city. There was no "criticism of the South" in the intial post; only speculation as to what may happen in Charlotte with the acquisition of Wachovia by Wells Fargo. You'd think that a person actually living in the "city" of Charlotte would be able to do that with a bit more accuracy, but I guess the Midwest and North simply rule supreme even in ascertaining the fate of the backwards and ignorant South.

 

In short, jmecklenborg, get a friggin' life.

Still, you can't paint such a diverse region with a broad brush.

 

Yeah I can. I'm bitchy, older, and jaded! :wink:

 

LOL! At least you're not loathe to admit it. :)

Slow your roll Krazeeboi.

 

In all seriousness, I would like for you too take a moment and review threads by many posters.  This will give you an opportunity to see each posters "personality".  Many of us have extensively traveled the country and or lived in more than one city.

 

So before "bashing" the North, please don't be a hypocrite.  In your own words, "....you can't paint such a diverse region with a broad brush" (self excluded). :wink:

 

Please understand, and I can only speak for myself, is that many NEW cities in the South do not share the same urban feeling that Cleveland, Chicago, Boston, NYC, Philadelphia and others have.  They appear to be built in a sprawling "suburban-esq" fashion with no hear or soul.  They have a fake, plastic or mass produced feel too them.

 

_{Then you have the inhabitants.  You know, those that drive around town in the Chevy or Ford (you know a one syllable vehicle :evil:), mounted with a confederate flag, a McCain bumper-sticker with shotgun and a hunting dog in the flatbed.}  I kidd...I kidd...no I don't.

 

Lastly, sweetie, we're the Great Lakes Region.  Not the rust belt.  Got it? :wink:

 

We're a good bunch, but very opinionated.  Now, behave and play nice in the sandbox or I'll have you go out and get "a switch" so I can verbally tan your hide with it!

:whip:

 

That's all.  I have spoken.

I think I see now why I haven't posted here in over a year.

 

How am I bashing the North? I've NEVER done such a thing. I actually hope to move to DC (geographically Southern, but more culturally Northern) or maybe even NYC one day in the near future. And I do realize that many Southern/Sunbelt cities have nothing near the density of Midwestern and Northern cities. I'm very well aware of that and have never tried to claim otherwise. The authentic urban feel of those cities come with time, and hopefully the same will be true of Sunbelt cities such as my own.

 

As far as rednecks, they exist equally in the South and the Midwest. Some of these YouTube videos showcasing McCain-Palin voters in Wisconsin and Ohio have been nothing short of downright scary. But I really don't even want to get into which region is worse or what have you, and I apologize for any role I might have played in even bringing the discussion to this point. Defending, or just plain explaining, the South seems to be rather distasteful over here, at least to some, so I suppose I'll just bow out. I'm not really interested in dialoguing with folks being opinionated to the point of being disingenous and totally unfair to "outsiders." And they said us Southerners were bad when it came to that.

Now who is painting who with a certain brush? ;-)

 

I think the main issue that certain people have is that your participation on this forum is thus far, strictly limited to threads discussing Atlanta, Charlotte, etc. I personally have no problem with that (since you're contributing and not trolling or violating forum rules), but you've expressed no active interest or posted in any Ohio-specific threads. Again that's fine and dandy with me, but it does seem odd that you'd go through the trouble of setting up an account here just to keep tabs for anything relating to southern cities. Out of curiosity, are you familiar with urbanplanet.org?

I was born in the south, lived in north carolina for six years, west virginia for two, kentucky for two, virginia for one, south carolina for 3 months, attended school for a while in alabama. I live in Ohio and consider myself an Ohioan. I have been to every major city in the southern states excluding florida & louisiana. I was deprived living in the south, and it wasn't something I figured out until I moved North!! I am plagued with a slight southern accent, but it comes in handy when telling southern jokes ;)  If I never go south of the Mason Dixon again it will be to soon!!

Now who is painting who with a certain brush? ;-)

 

I think the main issue that certain people have is that your participation on this forum is thus far, strictly limited to threads discussing Atlanta, Charlotte, etc. I personally have no problem with that (since you're contributing and not trolling or violating forum rules), but you've expressed no active interest or posted in any Ohio-specific threads. Again that's fine and dandy with me, but it does seem odd that you'd go through the trouble of setting up an account here just to keep tabs for anything relating to southern cities. Out of curiosity, are you familiar with urbanplanet.org?

 

I understand that this is an Ohio-centric board, but I tend to stay out of discussions when I'm not familiar with the subject. And because I'm not all that familiar with Ohio, I really don't have much to contribute when it comes to Ohio cities (although I browse some of the threads ocassionally). So I typically stick to this subforum and the photos subforums.

 

And yes, I am familiar with UP.

Hi.  I'm wondering if the title of this thread can be changed to a "Banking news & issues"?

 

Anyone who is complaining about a job in Cleveland or our Banking industry - the grass is not greener!

 

---

Citigroup to cut more than 50,000 jobs

New York City-based bank unveils massive layoff plan -- the latest step by the embattled firm to slim down in response to the economic slowdown.

By David Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff writer

Last Updated: November 17, 2008: 8:47 AM ET

 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Citigroup said Monday it planned to cut more than 50,000 jobs, the latest move by the struggling bank to cut costs in order to weather the credit crisis plaguing Wall Street

In an investor presentation on its Web site, the company said it would reduce its staff levels to approximately 300,000 employees.  As of the end of September, the New York City-based bank had about 352,000 workers.

It was not clear from the presentation what parts of the company the cuts would come from, but there was speculation last week that Citigroup was looking to layoff people in its investment banking and wealth management divisions.

 

MORE: http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/17/news/companies/citigroup/index.htm

When I started this thread, I never meant for it to be about banking, but how the effects of the industry relate to the health of Charlotte NC and especially its downtown. 

 

My new point is now that BofA is laying off 35,000 workers, a large chunk of which will likely be in Charlotte.  More bad news for them and their new skyscrapers.

When I started this thread, I never meant for it to be about banking, but how the effects of the industry relate to the health of Charlotte NC and especially its downtown. 

 

My new point is now that BofA is laying off 35,000 workers, a large chunk of which will likely be in Charlotte.  More bad news for them and their new skyscrapers.

Considering they have already cut 7,500.  Add to that the Wachovia sale.  CLT & ATL are in for a rude awakening and it will be interesting to see how those cities respond.  CLT economy isn't to diversified and the ripple affect on banking will hurt.  I've been reading how real estate and tourism have gone sour fast there.