The Dayton headquarters of PNC Bank will be moving in to the new development known as Water Street, becoming an anchor tenant for the riverfront office building.
Water Street is meant to take advantage of the views of the river, mostly by putting in 150 luxury apartments, but the $33.5 million project also includes a four-story, 50,000-square-foot office space and a parking structure. PNC plans to take on the two upper stories of the building, and sell its current building at 6 N. Main St.
Despite recent branch closures in the area, in a written statement the bank says it sees Dayton as a growth market. The PNC branch currently located in the N. Main St. location will move to an as-yet-unannounced location.
There is a musical chairs element to the announcement; because PNC is coming from another downtown building, there’s a chance of creating another downtown vacancy in the process. About a third of downtown Dayton’s office space is currently vacant.
“I think it’s always important to pay attention to what the current vacancies are,” said Jason Woodard, the Dayton-based developer on the project. “Some of the data includes buildings that quite frankly may never be office buildings again. I think it’s important to continue to provide new product, otherwise the entire market starts to decline.”
Water Street is a joint venture spearheaded by Woodard Real Estate and by Columbus-based Crawford Hoying. Developers are expected to break ground on the site in February, and complete the office wing by the end of 2014.
Woodard says they’re still looking for other tenants to complement PNC.
“We think there’s a number of companies or industries that would fit, obviously the financial services, any type of IT company, it’s really the company that’s looking for a downtown location in a slightly different type of office environment,” he said.
