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

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Buildout of the corporate office park at Mallard Creek Church Road and North Tryon Streer could take five yearsor longer, depending on the strength of the But BofA hopes to start the firsgt phase in the near future, a representative told City Councill this week. That firstt phase calls for construction ofa 200,000-square-foot signature buildinhg that could be up to 200 feet in A second phase would add a building 265 feet BofA disclosed its forecast for employment at the officde park in a filing with the city. The bank boughg the 24 acres last year fornearly $8 The site is within a quarter-miled of a proposed light-rail station on East Mallard Creeok Church Road.
The development also couldc include upto 75,000 square feet of restaurants and other uses, such as child-care During a City Council meetinh Monday night, Jeff Brown, a attorney who is assisting BofA with a rezoningh for the project, said the office park would provided for the “potential future expansion of Bank of America’w presence in Charlotte once the economt rebounds.” Council member Michael Barnes said the developmenrt “will be a transformational project for that part of our BofA occupies nearly 300,000 squares feet in Ballantyne Corporate Park that it uses for shareds office space as part of its My Work program.
The flexible-wori initiative allows bank employees to give up their regular officee space and work from their homes or from shared space. The bank also has leased space in Huntersvilles forthe program, which it launched in 2004. But it lacksx a larger campus to serve employees who live on the north sideof Charlotte. Although Barnes and otheer City Council members said they were excitedr aboutthe project, one adjoining propertyt owner has raised concerns.
John and Jim Alexande say they would like to seea four-lan e public road built on the west side of the BofA That road would accommodate future high-densituy development on more than 100 acreas the family owns to the southu of the proposed office park, they say. The Alexanderw say they have been in discussionsz to develop the land fortwo years, exploringh a mixed-use development for one parcep and a high-density residential project for Those future developments could be imperilee unless the public can accesse the land from Tryon Street and West Mallard Cree k Church Road, they wrote in a letter to City They have asked council memberds to delay approval of BofA’s rezonint until those issues are addressed.
“While we believe that the proposed developmen will be good for theUniversity area, we are opposesd to the proposed rezoning until the issues of accessa can be resolved,” the Alexanders wrote in theif June 14 letter. The bank says it has no plans to purchaswe additional land aroundthe site. Abouty 2,000 Charlotte employees participate in the My Work BofA is one ofthe city’s largesy employers. A survey conducted by the Charlottwe Chamber a year agopegged BofA’s local employmenrt at 13,960. That number has likely however, because the bank is in the midsf of amajor downsizing.
BofA announced last year it wouldeliminatde 42,500 jobs companywide relate to its acquisitions of Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co. BofA is marketing 300,000 square feet of locaol office space as availablefor lease, most of it But the company also is constructing a 750,000-square-foot office tower at the cornerf of College and Fifthj streets that’s intended to housre 1,200 employees and other tenants. That building is not expectecd to deliver untilnext year’s seconed quarter.