One South at The Plaza
| Formerly | Bank of America Plaza, NationsBank Plaza, NCNB Plaza |
|---|---|
| Company type | Commercial office building |
| Industry | Real estate, Office leasing |
| Founded | March 1974 |
| Headquarters | Charlotte , United States |
Area served | Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Products | Office and retail leasing |
One South at The Plaza (previously known as Bank of America Plaza) is a 40-story skyscraper reaching 503 feet in Charlotte, North Carolina. It stands as the 8th tallest structure in the city and held the title of tallest building from 1974 until 1987. The building encompasses 891,000 square feet of leasable area, with 75,000 square feet dedicated to retail and the remainder allocated for office use. The ground level includes the Overstreet Mall, featuring skybridges that connect to adjacent buildings. Parking facilities consist of an underground garage accommodating 456 vehicles and a separately leased five-story garage offering an additional 730 spaces.
History
In March 1971, the Redevelopment Commission transferred ownership of the three-acre parcel to Independence Square Associates—a partnership between North Carolina National Bank and Crow, Carter, and Associates—for $1 million through three transactions finalized by May 1973. Construction costs totaled $40 million, supported by a $28 million loan from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, which financed both the tower and an attached six-level parking garage with capacity for 650 cars.
This tower was among three significant Uptown Charlotte office developments during the early 1970s, playing a key role in expanding Uptown’s office inventory from 2.3 million square feet in 1969 to 7 million square feet by 1974, at an investment of $164.4 million. Pre-leasing activity was robust, securing tenants such as Aetna Life (40,000 sq ft), Bache & Co. (30,000 sq ft), Charlotte Athletic Club (25,000 sq ft), and Korf Industries (60,000 sq ft), which relocated its headquarters from South Carolina.
The plaza prominently displayed "Il Grande Disco," a five-ton rotating bronze sculpture by Italian artist Arnaldo Pomodoro, appraised at $400,000 in 1973.
Officially opening in March 1974 under the name NCNB Plaza, it functioned as the headquarters for NCNB and its successor NationsBank until 1992. At completion, it was North Carolina’s tallest building until overtaken in height by One First Union Center in 1987. Situated at the intersection of East Trade Street and South Tryon Street, early occupants included Midrex, a steel manufacturing subsidiary of Korf Industries.
The building’s name evolved alongside banking mergers: it became NationsBank Plaza in 1992 following the merger with C&S/Sovran Corp; was renamed Bank of America Plaza in 1999 after Bank of America’s creation; and finally adopted One South at The Plaza in 2021 after Bank of America vacated.
Development of NCNB Plaza coincided with construction of the Radisson Plaza hotel featuring 350 rooms. Omni Hotels purchased this property in 1998 for $8 million to undertake renovations aimed at achieving Four Diamond status.
In January 2006, Bank of America extended its lease for 640,000 square feet—exceeding its Corporate Center headquarters space. Later that year, Behringer Harvard acquired the property for $194.1 million; at that time it ranked as Charlotte’s fifth-largest tower with a mix of 75,000 square feet retail and 812,000 square feet office space.
Following Bank of America’s relocation to the new 1 Bank of America Center in November 2010, they reduced leased space by 65,000 square feet but remained the largest tenant occupying 488,000 square feet.
In September 2011, Alston & Bird law firm renewed a decade-long lease covering 90,000 square feet; they had been tenants since 2001 with more than 100 employees locally.
Retail offerings expanded beginning late 2015 when Essex restaurant opened a ground-floor location spanning 5,000 square feet in space previously held by Merrill Lynch offices.
Between May 2016 and May 2017, TIER REIT invested $20 million upgrading street-level retail areas to improve visibility at Trade and Tryon streets and enhance nightlife appeal. New dining establishments included Eddie V's (10,805 sq ft), Deven & Blakely (3,050 sq ft), Indigo Road (1,783 sq ft), and Tupelo Honey (4,800 sq ft).
In November 2016 McNair Law Firm relocated into a more adaptable space within the building measuring approximately 5,763 square feet.
Consolidated Claims Group moved its headquarters from South Park in December 2017 into a newly leased area totaling 21,000 square feet to accommodate growth from its then-60 employees.
Cousins Properties acquired the tower in March 2019 via purchase of TIER REIT assets, adding this Charlotte property along with other significant holdings across Sunbelt markets.
After Bank of America's exit in 2020—vacating nearly 350,000 square feet on floors three through nineteen—the building was rebranded as One South at The Plaza in January 2021. This coincided with a $10 million renovation focusing on corridor upgrades, elevator lobby enhancements, updated signage, and refurbishing floors formerly occupied by Bank of America.
In July 2021 Cousins sold the property to Tourmaline Capital Partners and Monarch Alternative Capital for $271.5 million; occupancy levels were around 58% at that time.
Alston & Bird announced plans in February 2022 to relocate to Vantage South End East Tower and vacate their then-109,000-square-foot space; they employed roughly 200 people locally.
Tourmaline completed a $7 million refurbishment project by December 2022 that introduced an approximately 23,000-square-foot tenant amenity area on the third floor featuring contemporary lounges, café with barista service, concierge support, onsite IT consultants, soundproof recording studio and podcast facilities, plus a virtual golf simulator. Jeff Fronek from Tourmaline emphasized this enhancement as part of aligning building features with evolving market demands.
By mid-2023 vacancy rates reached roughly 62%, equating to over half a million square feet available for lease.
Renovations attracted new tenants such as Optomi—a consulting firm leasing about 15,000 square feet relocating from nearby offices—Fox Rothschild law firm occupying approximately 9,371 square feet; additionally an unnamed banking institution leased close to10,834 square feet.
Starting late 2024 Trinity Partners secured leases exceeding 92,000 square feet including expansions; notably Deriva Energy committed over 33,600 square feet. Occupancy increased to roughly two-thirds leased by May 2025.
In June 2025 Atlanta-based Trimont leased nearly68,000 square feet across three floors accommodating its growing workforce of approximately300 employees—raising occupancy levels to close to75%.