Crescent CEO: We'll start our uptown office tower without a tenant (but we may not need to)

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A rendering of Tryon Place, at right, which is planned for a 3-acre uptown site bordered by Tryon, Stonewall, College and East Hill streets.

Will Boye

Senior Staff Writer- Charlotte Business Journal

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This morning, I talked with Crescent Communities CEO Todd Mansfield about his firm's deal to sell nine apartment complexes, including two in Charlotte, and while I had him on the phone I asked him about Tryon Place, Crescent's planned office and hotel project on South Tryon Street in uptown Charlotte.

On Tuesday, Portman Holdings announced it would start construction in June on its planned uptown office project, on a speculative basis if need be, meaning without an anchor tenant. I asked Mansfield if Crescent might do the same thing.

Yes, Mansfield said, Crescent would start construction on the office tower next year on a speculative basis if it didn't have an anchor tenant. And then he added this: "We don't know that we're going to need to, but we would."

Sounds like Crescent is feeling pretty good about its prospects for the tower, now listed at 715,000 square feet in the firm's marketing materials.

"There's a lot going on there," Mansfield said.

So that's three new uptown office projects set to break ground before the end of 2015: Spectrum Properties at 300 South Tryon, Portman's 615 South College development and Tryon Place, which is planned for a 3-acre site bordered by Tryon, Stonewall, College and East Hill streets. I've attached a couple renderings of the tower and what its main plaza would look like, courtesy of architecture and design firm Little.

Will Boye covers commercial real estate and law firms for the Charlotte Business Journal.