Lights, camera, action: Highwoods stars in film

To celebrate its accomplishments, a business might fete clients at the country club or commission a lavish coffee table book.

But who would notice?

So Highwoods Properties, the Raleigh real estate investment trust, is filming a documentary.

The short film will focus on the 29-year-old company's most ambitious project: the $120 million, 33-story RBC Plaza under construction in downtown Raleigh.

The documentary -- written, produced, directed and edited by Highwoods executives -- will showcase Highwoods' role in leading downtown Raleigh's renaissance. The company will use the film to attract new clients and impress Wall Street financiers.

But that's not all. Highwoods officials think the anatomy of a highrise is so intrinsically fascinating there will be greater interest. They hope for circulation on YouTube, perhaps attention from the Public Broadcasting Service.

"This is going to be TV-quality, professionally done," said Ed Fritsch, Highwoods' chief executive. "It's not going to have subliminal messaging: Lease space from Highwoods."

Integral to the Highwoods' documentary is Myriad Media, a Raleigh video production firm.

"I don't have a high-definition camera, they do," said Highwoods' senior director of marketing and communications, Peter Jardine. He will film interviews with Highwoods employees, public officials and others about the RBC Plaza project.

"There's most definitely a story here," said Will Feichter, president of Myriad Media.

"The conflict and the pressure and the drama in pulling this project off, that's the story. It's about navigating those pitfalls, twists, turns, deadlines, financing and all that stuff."

Of course, cameras weren't rolling when much of that drama happened. The film will re-create two years of Highwoods' deal-making and high-finance brinkmanship. Then it will shift to real action, with footage of a mixed-use skyscraper rising from a vacant lot at Fayetteville and Martin streets.

The building, which will house the headquarters of RBC Centura Bank, condominiums and retail space, is slated to be complete in late 2008. It will be the tallest building in downtown Raleigh.

"It's not every day that you get to change the skyline of your hometown," Fritsch said.