Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 9, 1991 TAG: 9102090215
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Roanoke-based bank holding company still plans to move some offices to lower floors of the building at the end of this year.
Dominion Trust Co. and the bank's training facilities will occupy the 16th, 17th and 18th floors as soon as the space is available, said Dominion spokeswoman Brenda McDaniel.
But the company will delay for another year occupying executive offices on the Tower's 19th, 20th and 21st floors, she said.
McDaniel described the decision as a cost-cutting measure, even though the bank still will be leasing the empty space. The company will postpone until next year the cost of finishing interior spaces and furnishing those three floors, she said.
Rental payments are considered an operating expense while the finishing work is a capital expense. Once the finishing is completed, however, the cost must be depreciated as an operating expense and deducted from profits.
McDaniel declined to provide specific figures on the costs. The building's developer, Faison Associates of Charlotte, N.C., is asking $23 a square foot for an annual lease in the building, although it is common in the current real estate market for property owners to negotiate lower rates.
Dominion has leased 100,000 square feet of space in the 205,000-square-foot Tower. Lower floors in the building are larger than the upper levels.
According to Faison officials, the building is 76 percent leased with prospective tenants negotiating for another 10 percent of the space.
Dominion's plan continues to have some of its offices in the Tower, which is under construction in downtown Roanoke, with others remaining in the Dominion Bank Building two blocks away. It will continue to lease all of its existing space in the Dominion Bank Building because departments there require more room, the company said.
by CNB