Wachovia Financial Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photo: Marc Averette
Photo: Marc Averette
The Wachovia Financial Center is an office skyscraper in Miami, Florida. It was known as the Southeast Bank Center (from 1984-1992), the First Union Financial Center (from 1992-2003), and now as the Wachovia Financial Center.
When it opened on July 16, 1984, it was the tallest building south of New York City and east of the Mississippi River, taking away the title of the tallest building in the southeastern U.S. from the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, in Atlanta, Georgia. It remained the tallest building in the southeastern U.S. until 1987, when it was surpassed by One Atlantic Center in Atlanta, and the tallest in Florida until October 1, 2003, when it was surpassed by the Four Seasons Hotel And Tower, also in Miami. It remains the tallest office tower in Florida at a height of 764 feet (233 meters). It also bears resemblance to Scotia Plaza in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The center was originally built as the headquarters for Southeast Bank. Southeast Bank remained there until they liquidated in 1991. Nowadays, 12% of the office space is occupied by Wachovia Bank, which is the largest tenant and the namesake of the center. The complex was bought two years ago at a record price of $270 million by Lend Lease Real Estates Investments.
The Wachovia Financial Center is comprised of two buildings: the 55 story office tower and the 15 story parking annex. The office tower has 53 stories of office space. The first floor is dedicated for retail, the second floor is the lobby and the fifty-fifth floor is home to the luxurious Miami City Club. The parking annex has 12 floors of parking space. The first floor is dedicated for retail, the second floor is a banking hall, and the fifteenth floor has the Downtown Athletic Club. A landscaped courtyard lies between the office tower and the parking annex. The courtyard is protected from the elements by a glass roof stretching from both buildings.
The Wachovia Financial Center was designed by Edward Charles Bassett of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. The Associate Architect was Spillis Candela & Partners. It has 1,145,311 ft² (106,000 m²) of office space. A typical floor has about 22,000 ft² (2,043.87 m²) of office space. Each floor has 9 ft (2.7 m) floor to ceiling windows. The total complex has over 2.2 million ft² (204,000 m²). The distinctive setbacks begin at the 43rd floor. Each typical floor plate has 9 corner offices. There are 43 elevators in the office tower. The center also has a full-sized basketball court. An emergency control station provides computerized monitoring for the entire complex, and four generators for backup power.
The Wachovia Financial Center can be seen as faraway as Ft. Lauderdale and halfway toward Bimini.
