Bank, restaurant to join Pinnacle Airlines as One Commerce Square tenants
David Donnaud with Solar Defense Glass Tinting cleans up after tinting a bank of windows at One Commerce Square Wednesday.
The resurgent One Commerce Square aspires to become Downtown’s first office building with LEED certification as part of its $20 million-plus renovation, its leasing agent announced Wednesday.
Justin Holder cuts sheet metal for a firewall while he installs duct work for air conditioning at One Commerce Square. The building’s new owners hope to have Downtown’s first LEED-certified office building.
Work crews are preparing floors 2-14 for the headquarters of Pinnacle Airlines, which starts moving in 650 employees next month and will continue the move until the end of the year, said Phil Dagastino Jr. of Cushman & Wakefield/Commercial Advisors Asset Services.
The new local owners, One Commerce Square Partners, took over the 475,000 square feet of office space on Dec. 23, and will have 81.92 percent of it occupied once Pinnacle Airlines is settled in, Dagastino said.
That’s a significant improvement for the building that became half-empty when SunTrust Bank vacated 170,000 square feet in 2007.
More new tenants should be announced in coming weeks, including a retail bank and a restaurant, he told nearly 100 people attending a breakfast meeting of the Commercial Council of the Memphis Area Association of Realtors.
One Commerce Square Partners hosted the gathering in the elegant lobby of the annex, or historic bank lobby.
The featured speaker, Memphis Mayor A C Wharton, gave a report on the vitality of the city and Downtown, adding, “Exhibit A is what’s happening in this building here.”
One Commerce Square, at Union and Main, won’t be the headquarters for the incoming bank, but the bank will have both a retail branch and a wealth management office in the building. The bank will be in the tower portion of the building, not the older annex.
The restaurant will occupy space in the main tower’s lobby.
“We’re very close to getting a restaurant, something tenants wanted,” Dagastino said.
Commercial Advisors used the breakfast to unveil a slick new brochure and logo for One Commerce Square.
The brochure’s marketing theme is “ONE,” with headlines like “ONE Works,” “Only ONE,” “ONE Symbolizes a City,” and “ONE Is Locally Owned and Locally Operated.”
The ownership also displayed color renderings of cosmetic improvements to the structure’s entrances and lobby.
Other lobby improvements include a new coffee and beverage kiosk, new seating areas, TV monitors, lighting and finishes, and after-hours security car access.
Elevator cabs will be upgraded and made speedier, and elevator lobbies will get new lighting and finishes as full floors are renovated.
Restrooms are receiving new finishes and ADA access as floors are renovated. The concourse is getting new finishes to its restrooms, new locker rooms and showers, and improved auditorium finishes.
The garage will have improved elevators, lighting, ways of entering and leaving, and signs.
On the exterior, new window film should improve visibility, a new roof will be installed, and landscaping and lighting will be improved.
p>A new web site, onecommercesquare.com, is 90 percent complete and should be finished by Monday, Dagastino said.
