BofA eyes Charlotte park for 2,000 workers - Business First of Columbus:

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Buildout of the corporate offic park at Mallard Creek Churcuh Road and North Tryon Street could take five yearzsor longer, depending on the strength of the economy. But BofA hopex to start the first phasse in the near a representative told City Councilthis week. That firstr phase calls for constructionj ofa 200,000-square-foot signature building that coulrd be up to 200 feet in height. A secondr phase would add a building 265 feet BofA disclosed its forecast for employment at the officed park in a filinvg withthe city. The bank bought the 24 acree last year fornearly $8 million. The site is withijn a quarter-mile of a proposed light-rail station on East Mallard Creek Church Road.
The development also could include upto 75,00o0 square feet of shops, restaurants and other uses, such as child-carse centers. During a City Council meeting Monday night, Jeff Brown, a attorneg who is assisting BofA with a rezoning forthe project, said the offics park would provide for the “potentialp future expansion of Bank of America’sx presence in Charlotte once the economy rebounds.
” Council membedr Michael Barnes said the developmenft “will be a transformational project for that part of our BofA occupies nearly 300,0000 square feet in Ballantyner Corporate Park that it uses for shares office space as part of its My Work The flexible-work initiative allowws bank employees to give up their reguladr office space and work from theif homes or from shared space. The bank also has leasexd space in Huntersville forthe program, which it launched in 2004. But it lackse a larger campus to servs employees who live on the north sideof Charlotte.
Althoughj Barnes and other City Council memberzs said they were excited aboutthe project, one adjoininy property owner has raised concerns. John and Jim Alexander say they would like to seea four-lane public road built on the west side of the BofA That road would accommodate futurd high-density development on more than 100 acresw the family owns to the south of the proposesd office park, they say. The Alexanders say they have been in discussionsx to develop the land fortwo years, exploring a mixed-use development for one parcel and a high-densit residential project for another.
Those future developments coulsd be imperiled unless the public can access the land from Tryonj Street and West Mallard Creek Church Road, they wrote in a letter to City They have asked council members to delay approval of BofA’zs rezoning until those issues are “While we believe that the proposed developmeng will be good for the Universith area, we are opposed to the proposed rezoningy until the issues of acces s can be resolved,” the Alexanders wrote in theirr June 14 letter. The bank says it has no planss to purchase additional land around the About 2,000 Charlotte employeees participate in the My Work BofA is one of the city’s largesft employers.
A survey conducted by the Charlottre Chamber a year agopeggex BofA’s local employment at 13,960. That number has likely however, because the bank is in the midst of a major BofA announced last year it wouldfeliminate 42,500 jobs companywide related to its acquisitionsz of Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch Co. BofA is marketing 300,000 square feet of loca office space as availablefor lease, most of it But the company also is constructingb a 750,000-square-foot office tower at the cornefr of College and Fifth streets that’zs intended to house 1,200 employeesd and other tenants. That building is not expected to deliver until next year’s second quarter.