Highwoods Announces Nearly $900M in Southern Deals

Bank of America Tower at Legacy Union. Rendering courtesy of Lincoln Harris

In a blockbuster announcement, Highwoods Properties said it will acquire Bank of America Tower at Legacy Union in Charlotte, N.C., for $436 million—the highest sale price for a single office building in North Carolina’s history—and sell off nearly the same amount in assets the company owns in Greensboro, N.C., and Memphis, Tenn.

The moves were announced by the Raleigh-based REIT this week as a “market rotation plan” that will further serve its focus on the office sector. Highwoods CEO Ed Fritsch said in the announcement that the REIT has had its eye on expanding into Charlotte for awhile. Earlier this year, Highwoods sold a two-building office portfolio in Orlando, Fla., for $32.5 million to Metrocenter Office LLC.

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Located at 620 S. Tryon St., the Bank of America Tower is currently under construction and once completed, will house 868,064 square feet of office space. The 33-story Class A tower is rising in Legacy Union, a mixed-use development in the Uptown submarket. The LEED Gold-registered trophy tower is expected to open this year. Developed by Lincoln Harris, Legacy Union will feature a mix of Class A office, retail, residential and hospitality space as well as a large pedestrian plaza and green space once completed.

Highwoods plans to exit the Greensboro and Memphis markets in a two-phase plan. In the first phase, the firm will sell a select portfolio of assets in Greensboro and Memphis by mid-2020 with a total sales price that will be close to the $436 million investment in the Bank of America Tower. The second phase will entail Highwoods selling its remaining assets in both markets.