Bank of America Center (Orlando, Florida)

The Bank of America Center is a 404-foot skyscraper in Downtown Orlando.

Bank of America Center
Former names	Barnett Bank Center, NationsBank at duPont Centre
General information
Type	Office
Location	390 North Orange Avenue Orlando, Florida United States
Construction started	1985
Completed	1988
Height
Antenna spire	127.3 m (418 ft)
Roof	123.14 m (404.0 ft)[1]
Technical details
Floor count	28
Floor area	421,203 sq ft (39,131.0 m2)[2]

The building is one of the tallest in the city,^[3] and is a unique part of the skyline. The postmodern building was designed by Texas-based Morris-Aubry Architects, who modeled the building after their recently completed One American Center in Austin, Texas.^[4] Its collection of 10 spires gives it an almost gothic appearance, and its staircase design makes it similar in appearance to another Bank of America building in Houston. The building was owned by Cousins Properties of Atlanta, Georgia, and sold in January 2018 to Southwest Value Partners based in San Diego, California.

History

April 1985, the Pillar-Bryton Company announced plans and unveiled the model for a new development in downtown Orlando, Florida on a 10-acre site off Orange Avenue named "du Pont Centre", the overall project cost was estimated to be $400 million once completed, with the first building costing $78 million. The announcement was made by the owner of the development company and an Orlando resident which was William DuPont III, heir to the Du Pont family fortune. In 1985, Forbes estimated the 32-year-old heir's wealth to be at least $125 million.^[5] William du Pont III later sold the remaining undeveloped property. Bad investments and business deals caused him to also sell his ownership interest in the building in the 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

The building is slated to be undergoing $1–2 million renovations every year up until 2020 which may total $8 million by the current owners. The current owners acquired the property via acquisition of Parkway Properties in a multibillion-dollar deal. Parkway Properties purchased the building in May 2011 for approximately $61 million.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2018, a San Diego–based real estate firm Southwest Value Partners purchased the building for $81.86 million along with two other downtown Orlando buildings in a package deal valued over $208 million.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. "Bank of America Center". Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved 2011-01-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
2. "Bank of America Center". Skyscraper Center. CTBUH. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
3. "Orlando's Multi-Spired Bank of America Tower Sold to Parkway Properties - High Rise Facilities". High Rise Facilities. Archived from the original on 20 July 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
4. Tyson, Kim (January 18, 1986). "Critic calls Austin architecture 'wretched excess'". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
5. "Orlando Sentinel - Du Pont Centre". Archived from the original on December 29, 2014.