SunTrust Bank may move

Landmark - Bank may get new Durham home

SunTrust is weighing plans to sell its iconic downtown Durham tower and move its regional headquarters to another Bull City building.

The decision raises questions about the future of the 17-story art deco landmark. But it also means a marquee office tenant could become the anchor for downtown Durham's first high-rise tower in two decades.

"We're looking to make a move, and we don't know where that is yet," said Eileen Sarro, a marketing director in the Atlanta bank's Durham office. "We do know this: We're not leaving downtown Durham. We're part of the fabric of this community."

If the building is sold, SunTrust would probably keep its ground-floor bank branch, a couple of floors of offices and possibly naming rights, she said. That would allow SunTrust to keep its logo at the top of the highly visible, 125,000-square-foot tower.

The configuration of the 69-year-old building at the corner of Corcoran and Main streets, one of Durham's tallest, has made it difficult for the company to expand there. And updating the layout might prove expensive, because that would involve meeting new building codes. The bank has discussed selling it, but no contract has been finalized.

When Atlanta-based SunTrust bought the parent of Central Carolina Bank in 2004, there were fears the bank would abandon Durham. While the company has shed some jobs, it maintains a large local operation.

Sarro's comments help squelch rumors that the bank would move its Carolinas group headquarters from Durham to Raleigh.

Downtown Raleigh has been a magnet for banks in the past year, drawing the headquarters of Capital Bank and RBC Centura Bank. And SunTrust's name has been included as a possible anchor for two proposed Raleigh office towers; its logo has appeared on a rendering of one.

But the fact that the bank doesn't intend to stray creates opportunities for developers who want to reshape downtown Durham.

"There is available space in downtown Durham that would certainly be suited for us," Sarro said.

Durham Centre, for instance, had almost 75,000 square feet of empty space at the end of March, according to a Highwoods Properties survey. That's the city's biggest block of office space, and it would easily fit the 250 employees who work in the SunTrust tower. It also would cost less to rent there than at a new building.

Banks are notorious for trying to snare prominent pieces of the skyline to emblazon their name and bolster presence. And the SunTrust building, despite its glowing, four-sided, tower-top logo, is still called "the CCB building" by many -- a knee-jerk reference to the bank that occupied it for four decades.

That in part is why some developers, brokers and banking executives think the company could anchor a new landmark building.

"A bank -- particularly one that's trying to create their own brand -- would look to a building as a great way to start to do that," said John Warasila, a Durham architect and developer. "Moving into a building that's such an icon in the community makes it hard for anyone to think of it as SunTrust, no matter how big the sign is. They just think of it as CCB."

Several developers are poised to build.

Capitol Broadcasting has room to build more offices at the American Tobacco complex, near the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Blue Devil Ventures is planning more offices in its next phase of West Village. And Greenfire Development has discussed partnering in a tower in the shadow of the SunTrust building.

Greenfire could be a strong match, especially if the bank decided to keep some offices in the old tower. A Greenfire partner and another investor are negotiating to buy a city-owned tract next to empty buildings Greenfire already owns. Combined, they would make up 0.86 of an acre bounded by Corcoran, Main and Parrish streets.

That's more than double the size of the SunTrust tract across the street. The partners and the city have discussed plans for an office tower on the site.

To build, however, the developers would need to prelease much of the space -- a common requirement from construction lenders to make sure they get their money back. The preleasing problem would be solved by landing an anchor tenant such as SunTrust.

On the other end of the deal, Greenfire, which intends to spend $150 million on development projects in Durham during the next five years, could buy the SunTrust building. That would cement an important relationship and could set up a chain of events: Greenfire buys the building, and SunTrust leases the space until the new tower is built.

Sarro declined to identify buyers or possible prices, but said there has been some interest from developers in turning upper offices into residences.

Greenfire fits that profile. It is converting offices in the historic Kress building to condominiums.

Michael Lemanski, Greenfire's president, declined to comment. Mike Hill, general counsel at American Tobacco, did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday.

"Nothing is set in stone," Sarro said.