Atlanta’s SunTrust to merge with BB&T, shift HQ to Charlotte (Salem: real estate, layoffs)

[cjseliga]

Originally Posted by LynnHarris1

Merger means SunTrust name will come down from Braves park

And come down on 8 other sports arenas/stadiums:

BB&T Arena (Highland Heights, KY)
BB&T Ballpark (Charlotte, NC)
BB&T Ballpark (Winston-Salem, NC)
BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field (Williamsport, PA)
BB&T Center (Sunrise, FL)
BB&T Field (Wake Forest University)
BB&T Point (High Point, NC)
BB&T Stadium (Greensboro, NC)

[jhtrico1850]

I used to bank only with SunTrust. I started to dabble in Bank of America because they had lots of ATMs here and around the country, plus they supported easy person to person money sending before Zelle was mainstream.

The thing that cinched me from half SunTrust and half BoA was when I was getting a mortgage, SunTrust wanted me to pay like $20 for a check image of something a few months old. In contrast, I think BoA had over 2 years free check images. SunTrust just didn’t cut it in today’s fast moving digital age.

I’m sure Atlanta will not have trouble finding new tenants.

[pinetreelover]

Maybe another major business with Atlanta roots and solid name recognition will step up and pay the money to put their name on the ballpark....

Spanx Park, anyone?????

[Soccernerd]

SunTrust Downtown was pretty tense today I found out last week that I’m effectively being laid off, and that I’d have to reapply for the same position in the new combined headquarters.

We already have offers in Dallas that should start at the beginning of June.

[Born 2 Roll]

Flashback Photos: Trust Company of Georgia through the years (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

("Trust Company of Georgia" was what SunTrust Bank was named before acquiring SunBanks of Florida in 1985.)

[citidata18]

BTW, one thing to bear in mind is that BB&T already has a pretty significant presence in Atlanta, via. the Atlantic Station tower.

If I were a betting man, I'm thinking they will abandon most of the downtown skyscraper, which would only leave Georgia-Pacific and Southern Company (and CNN, to whatever extent) as the only major corporations there.

And if it happened that way, it would effectively leave people on the Southside like myself with one less option for corporate jobs.

Just rainbows and unicorns all around.

[Born 2 Roll]

SunTrust’s history, in its own words: Highlights of the bank’s rise, taken from the SunTrust website... (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

[windycityfan]

It was a cold bucket of bad news, not only for the uncertainty it brings to all of us employees, but for metro Atlanta in general.

I relocated here from the Midwest, looking for my place in the sunbelt I could call home. I loved Suntrust. After a couple turns working for a smaller financial institutions in the area (though headquartered elsewhere), being employed by SunTrust immediately filled the void I left working for a larger midwestern bank I used to call the best place I’d ever worked for. Despite knowing full well the risk of relocating here instead of Charlotte back then (my career has always been tied around the corporate headquarters, and Charlotte does offer far more than Atlanta in finance), I had finally gotten where I wanted.

Fast forward 8 yrs, oldest son about to become a high school freshman in 2019, friendships all around, good life in the burbs, a home we love, here I am up since 2:30am with a brain that won’t shut off. Spouse’s income would be lost with a move too.

Spoke to my family last night about bracing for impact. Best case scenario we hang on for another 5 years if we’re lucky. Of course, that’d be just postponing the inevitable.

Good luck to all of you “teammates” out there.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by citidata18

BTW, one thing to bear in mind is that BB&T already has a pretty significant presence in Atlanta, via. the Atlantic Station tower.

If I were a betting man, I'm thinking they will abandon most of the downtown skyscraper, which would only leave Georgia-Pacific and Southern Company (and CNN, to whatever extent) as the only major corporations there.

And if it happened that way, it would effectively leave people on the Southside like myself with one less option for corporate jobs.

Just rainbows and unicorns all around.

Buck up, Southside.

Even after moving its corporate headquarters to Charlotte, the consolidated BB&T/SunTrust Bank is still going to keep the headquarters of its wholesale banking division (which is an extremely major and critically important part of any and every bank's operations) in Atlanta.

SunTrust Plaza on Peachtree Street in Downtown Atlanta is more than twice as large as and is much more prominent than BB&T's Atlantic Station tower.

If anything, because of the increased prominence, higher visibility, increased profile and much larger size of SunTrust Plaza, I would assume that the consolidated BB&T/SunTrust Bank would probably be more likely to abandon most of the lower-profile BB&T Atlantic Station tower and place its Atlanta wholesale banking operations in the higher-profile SunTrust Plaza where SunTrust Bank's corporate headquarters already reside.

SunTrust Plaza is the second-tallest building in the interior Southeast's most important metro area (Atlanta). SunTrust Plaza is also located on the most important and most high-profile street in the interior Southeast (Atlanta's famed Peachtree Street).

Because of its height, visibility and increased profile, SunTrust Plaza is a much more aspirational building than BB&T's Atlantic Station tower, and likely represents the type of powerful aspirational, ascendant and DOMINANT physical image that a newly-formed corporate behemoth like a consolidated BB&T/SunTrust Bank would like to project to the world.

[citidata18]

When Comerica moved their HQ from Detroit to Dallas, the employees who remained abandoned their trophy tower at One Detroit Center for a much smaller, low profile building. And that wasn't even a merger.

So there's no reason to think the same outcome won't be a strong possibility with SunTrust as well. And Comerica's move wasn't even a merger. In this case, there's a risk of much more job loss via. redundancies.

BTW, out of curiosity, does anyone know how big their wholesale banking division is, in terms of share of revenue?