Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. has found its space in Charlotte, agreeing to sublease 200K SF of office space at 301 S. College St. for its second U.S. headquarters, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. 

301 S. College St. in Charlotte

Tokyo-based SMBC unveiled in April its plans to invest $50.5M in Charlotte and create 2,000 jobs in the city over the next six years. North Carolina’s Economic Investment Committee had approved a $70M Job Development Investment Grant for the project over a 12-year period. 

The financial services company will move into the building this fall, basing all new roles there. Until then, it will continue operations at its small office at 500 E. Morehead St., where 180 employees work. 

More than 70 jobs are currently posted for the Charlotte market on SMBC’s website, with more expected soon. 

News first broke in April that the company was nearing a lease at the 42-story tower, previously known as One Wells Fargo Center. SMBC will sublease the space that Wells Fargo & Co. had used until 2024. 

Another financial services company choosing Charlotte over other markets in recent months is Capital Group, which announced in March that it will open a major East Coast hub there.

The SMBC deal has the potential to be the largest single leasing activity for the city’s office market in the second quarter. 

In the first quarter of 2026, some of the biggest deals in Charlotte included JPMorgan finalizing a 145K SF lease in SouthPark and Charles Schwab leasing 51,500 SF in the South End. Demand was concentrated on top-tier Class-A office buildings with amenities and convenient locations. 

Most tenants throughout Q1 secured leases in the 20K SF range, according to a Colliers Q1 office market report.

In March, vacancy in Charlotte’s office market dropped to 16.6%, the lowest rate since 2023, “as the market enters a new phase of stability,” according to the Colliers report. “Tenants have quickly claimed the limited available trophy space,” the report said.

301 S. College St. in Charlotte

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. is finalizing plans to sublease space for its new Charlotte headquarters, the Charlotte Business Journal reports. 

301 South College, formerly called One Wells Fargo Center, boasts 42 stories and 994K SF. The Japan-based financial services company will be subleasing Wells Fargo’s former East Coast headquarters spanning 200K SF.

The deal is expected to close around the beginning of May, the CBJ reports.

SMBC made headlines when it announced last week that it would be making the Queen City the home of its second headquarters in the U.S. SMBC has committed to investing more than $50M to establish the new hub, and it is eligible to receive $70M in state incentives over 12 years, approved by the North Carolina Economic Investment Committee.

The bank, which has more than 150 office locations across 40 countries, will hire employees locally and relocate workers from other offices. The company already has about 180 Charlotte-based employees who work from a small office at 500 E. Morehead St.

The office tower SMBC is moving into was built in 1988. Wells Fargo occupied much of it until 2024, when it consolidated its staff into other office space in Charlotte. The building also previously housed Wachovia National Bank. 

A loan on the tower matured in May 2023 and became delinquent months later. It ultimately went into receivership in October 2023, and a third party took control. 

CBRE still lists the property as available for sale.

SMBC is one of the many banking and fintech companies choosing to invest in Charlotte, largely due to its highly skilled financial services workforce. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup, Coinbase and SoFi Technologies all announced new deals in the city in the last year.

Florida’s Indian River County has for years been battling a new, privately run train. Now, the county will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether $2.7B in tax-exempt private activity bonds were issued illegally to raise funds for it.

The train — today called Brightline, but being rebranded as Virgin Trains USA — already runs between Miami and West Palm Beach, and there are plans for it to expand to Orlando and Tampa.

Courtesy of Brightline

Brightline President Patrick Goddard waves to riders May 19, 2018.

After being built and advertised as a high-speed train, actual ridership has been less than half of initial projections. The train is adding new stops in Aventura and Boca Raton this year, which will slow it down and also compete with a lower-cost public train service, Tri-Rail.

Brightline has been lauded for smooth, comfortable, luxury service, but also criticized over profitability and safety issues. More than 40 people have died on the tracks, with many of those deaths ruled suicides. A Virgin Trains USA IPO planned for last February was scuttled. 

The train has faced strong resistance and several lawsuits from residents of Florida’s Treasure Coast, north of Palm Beach, where trains would pass through but not stop. There, residents have complained about safety, environmental concerns and the local taxpayers’ responsibility for costs of maintaining crossings.

Indian River County sued the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration in federal court, alleging that $2.7B in tax-exempt private activity bonds were issued wrongly, partially because the project isn’t a “qualified highway or surface freight transfer facility,” a condition of qualifying for the bonds. The matter was also debated in congressional hearings. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis opposed the bonds when he was a congressman. 

But both a federal court and a federal appeals court in Washington ruled that the bonds were permissible. After having spent more than $3M fighting the case, the Indian River County Commission voted 4-1 in January to end further appeals.

But now, a group of residents organizing under the banner of the nonprofit Alliance for Safe Trains say they have been advised that they have a reasonable chance for the appeal to be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, TCPalm reports.

Between 20 and 30 residents committed to raising $200K in private money for the county to pursue its case, the group’s leader, local resident Jack Preschlack told TCPalm. The county commission voted Tuesday to proceed with the suit using private funding. The county could also use a remaining $400K it had previously allocated for legal fees if the Supreme Court takes the case. 

Virgin Trains is a subsidiary of private Fortress Investment Group LLC. Grupo Mexico in 2017 bought the FEC Railway from Fortress, and runs freight — including hazardous liquid natural gas — on the tracks.  

Critics of Brightline have theorized that if the passenger service fails, a Fortress subsidiary will still have made money on real estate deals surrounding the train tracks, and Grupo Mexico would benefit from expanded tracks, but bondholders could be left holding the debt.  

Brightline has said it is planning to meet a goal of 2.9 million riders by 2021. With Virgin launching a cruise line out of Miami this year, and growing its hotel chain, tourists could soon shuttle back and forth between Disney World, where a station is planned, and Miami. (A hyperloop has been floated, too.) 

Brightline President Patrick Goddard has emphasized the need to get Americans out of cars and predicted that in 10 years, Virgin Trains would connect four or five medium-haul corridors, such as Charlotte to Atlanta, Houston to Dallas or Chicago to St. Louis.