Synovus plans to sell 250,000-square feet of downtown office space to Columbus
Synovus will sell five of its downtown office facilities to the city of Columbus for nearly $25 million, if approved by Council.
The proposal will be considered by Columbus Council during its Sept. 28 meeting, according to a Friday release from Synovus spokesperson Lee Underwood.
Underwood and Mayor Skip Henderson both declined to state the price of the purchase when asked by the Ledger-Enquirer Friday afternoon, and said it would be discussed during the upcoming Council presentation. Documents provided to the L-E Friday evening revealed the cost.
“We are going to disclose the details after council has a chance to vote on it,” Henderson said. “We obviously feel confident that they are going support it. But until that happens, we’re not going to give out any details.”
Conversations around the sale began in March 2021 when city officials approached the Columbus-based banking and financial services company, according to a purchase sale agreement fact sheet.
Under the terms of the proposed transaction, the city would purchase the Uptown Center, main office, Jordan and Bradley buildings, and parking deck — approximately 250,000 square feet of office space. All of the facilities are in the block bordered by 12th Street, First Avenue and Broadway in downtown.
The announcement comes a little more than a month before Muscogee County voters head to the polls for a special purpose local option sales tax, or SPLOST, measure that would determine the future of the city’s judicial and government buildings.
City-hired consultants recommended that the city build a new 310,000 square foot courthouse and an additional parking structure on the current Government Center site. A majority of city administration would be relocated to a new building on a separate site or to available space in another building in the city.
Henderson told the L-E Friday that the Synovus properties would house most of the city’s administration jobs.
If the transaction is approved, by the first half of 2024 Synovus will consolidate its nine Uptown locations into two possible locations and one downtown branch that will include a drive-through. A new Synovus office facility in downtown is expected to be completed in May 2024, according to a purchase sale agreement fact sheet.
“Columbus is a special place, and this partnership demonstrates Synovus’ long-standing commitment to meeting the needs of the city and the Uptown community where we were founded more than 130 years ago,” Kevin Blair, Synovus president and CEO, said in the release. “This agreement with the city to purchase our Uptown Center complex is mutually beneficial for both organizations and will result in greater workspace efficiency and synergy among our Columbus-based team members and improved workspace for the city’s administrative staff.”
Synovus employees in most of the Uptown buildings included in the sale will temporarily relocate to the Synovus Centre and the Riverfront Building in the second half of 2022, according to the release.
Around half of Synovus’ approximately 970 local full-time employees ultimately will work in two Uptown facilities. Remaining team members are in remote or hybrid-location roles.
Synovus currently employs approximately 5,200 team members across five states.
“We approached Synovus several months ago about the possibility of this transaction, which will help us achieve a cost-effective solution for the city’s administrative office requirements in Uptown Columbus,” Henderson said in the announcement. “This is a win-win transaction for Columbus and Synovus, and another demonstration of the long history of collaboration between this city’s businesses and local government to address the needs of our community.”
This is not the first time in recent years the city has considered buying downtown office space. The city briefly examined buying the Carmike building when it went on the market in 2017.
This story was originally published September 24, 2021 at 3:37 PM.
