Crescent Communities’ Ally Charlotte Center Completes Construction
Completed 26-story skyscraper marks new era for Uptown skyline and the modern workforce
Charlotte, N.C. – Today, Crescent Communities, a nationally-recognized, market-leading real estate investor, developer, and operator of mixed-use and commercial communities, announces the completion of construction at Ally Charlotte Center, the prominent skyscraper located at 601 S. Tryon St. between Charlotte’s Uptown and South End Historic District. Construction on the community commenced in 2018 and has transformed the Uptown skyline over the last four years of development.
“Finishing construction at Ally Charlotte Center is a huge milestone for Crescent Communities and for Charlotte as a whole as Ally Financial prepares to move approximately 2,100 full-time employees into their new offices in the building in the coming months,” shared Todd Mansfield, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Crescent Communities. “And our team at Crescent Communities loves the building so much that we’ll be moving our office there, as well. Ally Charlotte Center’s amenities, office layout, outdoor space, and appealing retail mark a new era of the workplace and one that we’ll be proud to call our new home base later this year.”
Standing at 427 feet and 26 floors high, the Ally Charlotte Center building features 750,000 square feet of office space, approximately 30,000 square feet of ground-level retail, a 12,000 square foot public plaza, and a 1,400-space parking garage. The tower will boast an open office floorplan, which will provide tenants with a modern and collaborative work environment—especially desirable for a post-pandemic workforce. Ally Charlotte Center is WIRED Certified Platinum – the highest level possible and the first Platinum Wired certification in Charlotte – and is pursuing LEED and WELL certifications, as well. These rare, distinguished certifications ensure high levels of digital connectivity and an emphasis on health and wellness in the workplace.
“Ally Charlotte Center will give our teammates a best-in-class workspace to share ideas and collaborate – something so critically important to our culture. The new facility will also be an asset to Charlotte’s vibrant center city – I have to imagine even Hugh McColl is impressed with the dramatic growth that continues along Tryon Street,” said Jeff Brown, CEO of Ally Financial. “While we recognize the work model will continue to evolve in light of what we faced the past year, we are enthusiastic about uniting our teams across Charlotte in our new building when it is safe to do so – I hope the new building will serve as a source of excitement and passion to be together again.”
Ally Charlotte Center’s framed-glass façade will add a unique element to Charlotte’s everchanging skyline. The building’s floor-to-ceiling glass windows offer expansive views in all directions, integrating the building into the urban fabric of Uptown Charlotte, while engaging with the community at the street level. To create a shared outdoor public space, the building is set back from the corner of Tryon and Stonewall Streets, establishing the framework for a vibrant and connected plaza. This shift in the building line away from the street edge creates a welcoming “front porch” space including outdoor dining, retail, plaza, and seating areas, where people can engage with one another and the greater community. A mature live oak tree, relocated from Johns Island, SC in October 2020, and an allée of 14 ginkgo trees anchor the corner.
In addition to Crescent Communities and Ally Financial, Ally Charlotte Center was brought to life by a number of partners including Little Diversified Architectural Consulting (architect), Brasfield & Gorrie (contractor), Asana Partners (retail partner), JLL (office leasing), Thrift Commercial Real Estate (retail leasing), White Lodging (hotel developer), and US Bank and Regions (financing).
“Little is extremely proud to have worked on Ally Charlotte Center since its inception in 2007, and to have been a part of such an incredibly diverse team of developers, architects, engineers, and contractors,” shared the team at Little Diversified Architectural Consulting. “Serving as a gateway into Uptown on Charlotte’s main artery of Tryon Street, we hope Ally Charlotte Center is the catalyst for community growth and engagement, the project’s main vision since its inception.”
Ideally situated in Charlotte’s Stonewall Street corridor, Ally Charlotte Center has convenient access to the city’s most desirable dining and retail options, as well as several expansive public walking paths and the LYNX light rail station. The tower will offer direct access to the forthcoming J.W. Marriott, a 380+ room luxury hotel with two on-site restaurants, meeting space, and a spa, which is expected to open in July 2021.
“We’re grateful for our long relationship with Crescent Communities, who we’ve worked with for more than 20 years. Partnering to build Ally Charlotte Center has been especially meaningful as it shapes our city’s skyline,” said Brasfield & Gorrie Regional Vice President and Division Manager Michael Byrd. The general contractor oversaw construction of both the core and shell of the building and the build-out of the 23 floors Ally Financial will occupy.
Ally Financial plans a phased move-in process into early 2022, and Crescent Communities plans to relocate their Charlotte office into the building later this year. Restaurant tenants include Salata Salad Bar, JINYA Ramen Bar, and Golden Cow Creamery. There are six retail units still available for lease, ranging from a 1,541 SF unit to a 6,227 SF unit. For leasing information, please contact Charles Thrift, of Thrift Commercial Real Estate, at [email protected].
Photos of Ally Charlotte Center can be found via this link. For more information, visit https://www.allycharlottecenter.com.
About Crescent Communities:
Crescent Communities is a nationally recognized, market-leading real estate investor, developer and operator of mixed-use communities. We create high-quality, differentiated residential and commercial communities in many of the fastest growing markets in the United States. Since 1963, our development portfolio has included more than 63 multifamily communities, 21 million square feet of commercial space and 60 single family master-planned communities. Crescent Communities has offices in Charlotte, DC, Atlanta, Orlando, Nashville, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix and Salt Lake City. Our multifamily communities are branded NOVEL by Crescent Communities.
About Ally
Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) is a leading digital financial-services company with $181.9 billion in assets as of March 31, 2021. As a customer-centric company with passionate customer service and innovative financial solutions, we are relentlessly focused on “Doing it Right” and being a trusted financial-services provider to our consumer, commercial, and corporate customers. We are one of the largest full-service automotive-finance operations in the country and offer a wide range of financial services and insurance products to automotive dealerships and consumers. Our award-winning online bank (Ally Bank, Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender) offers mortgage lending, personal lending, and a variety of deposit and other banking products, including savings, money-market, and checking accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs), and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Additionally, we offer securities-brokerage and investment-advisory services through Ally Invest. Our robust corporate finance business offers capital for equity sponsors and middle-market companies.
For more information and disclosures about Ally, visit https://www.ally.com/#disclosures.
For further images and news on Ally, please visit http://media.ally.com.
About Little
Little, a national architecture and design firm, is recognized for developing exceptional design solutions that generate business results in the workplace, mixed-use, community, healthcare, and retail industries. With 400 professionals, Little delivers results beyond architecture by combining the expertise in traditional architectural services (architecture, engineering, interior architecture) with proficiency in additional diversified architectural consulting services (land development services, facilities planning and space management consulting, graphic design, building technology applications, and computer animation and internet application services). For more information, please visit www.littleonline.com.
About Brasfield & Gorrie
Founded in 1964, Brasfield & Gorrie is one of the nation’s largest privately held construction firms, providing general contracting, design-build, and construction management services for a wide variety of markets. We are skilled in construction best practices, including virtual design and construction, integrated project delivery, and Lean construction, but we are best known for our preconstruction and self-perform expertise and exceptional client service. Brasfield & Gorrie has 12 offices and more than 3,000 employees. Our 2020 revenues were $3.9 billion. Engineering News-Record ranks Brasfield & Gorrie 22nd among the nation’s “Top 400 Contractors” for 2020.