Japanese financial giant Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. has selected Charlotte as its second U.S. headquarters, with plans to add roughly 2,000 jobs over the next six years.

An aerial view of Charlotte

SMBC is the latest big-name banking institution to plant a major flag in Charlotte, joining JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup as well as a cadre of fintech players that have all announced new investments in the Queen City over the past year.

“Our highly skilled workforce makes businesses want to establish themselves and grow here, and that in turn makes other people want to move and settle here,” North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said Tuesday during a press conference announcing the SMBC deal.

Tokyo-based SMBC committed to invest some $50M to establish its new hub in the city and is expected to receive $70M in state grant funding. 

This latest wave of investment has strengthened the Queen City’s reputation as a financial heavyweight and driven growth across its commercial real estate sectors.

Banks and fintechs are choosing to invest in Charlotte because they believe the city has reached a critical mass that is continually drawing and retaining a highly skilled workforce. The metro area netted 54,000 residents from 2024 to 2025 to reach 2.9 million by July. That growth rate ranks fifth among all U.S. metro areas, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.  

Such a steady growth of the workforce is compelling for companies seeking to relocate, according to Peter Gwaltney, CEO and president of the North Carolina Bankers Association. Charlotte ranked second in Site Selection’s most recent annual survey of best U.S. cities for corporate headquarters. 

“A company can locate or relocate to Charlotte and find not just the number of people it needs but a uniquely talented group of people across a wide diverse set of skills, whether it’s compliance, security, IT, commercial banking, risk management,” Gwaltney said. 

Wayflyer, an Irish fintech company specializing in financing for e-commerce businesses, announced in October 2025 it would be opening a new U.S. hub in Charlotte. Wayflyer Director of Credit Chloe Grennan said what Charlotte had to offer made the decision a no-brainer for the company.

“Charlotte came out clearly on top when we did a thorough market evaluation,” Grennan said in an email. “The combination of factors was hard to beat: a strategic East Coast location, a time zone that works well for our global operations, and a deep talent pool built around the city’s history as a financial services hub.”

SMBC announced it would develop a banking hub in Charlotte.

Investment has been helped by a state willing to provide incentives through the jobs development investment grants and other programs. The state doled out just over $98M across 21 deals through the job development grant program in 2024, according to Site Selection’s 2025 report on U.S. economic incentives.

Fintech companies first flocked to Charlotte during the young industry’s initial boom years following the Great Recession. The fintech ecosystem has since had staying power in the city throughout the ups and downs of the young industry. 

Digital services company SoFi Technologies announced last fall it would open a regional hub in Charlotte as part of a $3M capital investment, and Coinbase leased 59K SF in June for a customer service hub.

As the fintech wave in the city has matured, institutional banking and investment firms have deepened their roots there. Last month, Capital Group announced it would be opening a major East Coast operations hub in Charlotte with a $60M investment. Charles Schwab Corp. signed a lease for 59K SF in February, and Citigroup announced it would invest $16.1M to establish a major office facility in Charlotte. 

These investments are being supplemented by a national push among big banks to add new brick-and-mortar branches. JPMorgan Chase & Co., which already boasts more than 25 branches in Charlotte, is currently aiming to open five new locations this year as part of its plan to open some 500 new branch locations nationwide in 2026. Truist, Bank of America and Huntington Bank all announced plans to open branches in the Charlotte area as well. 

Alexandra Friedman, head of retail real estate at JPMorgan Chase, told Bisnow that financial organizations are choosing Charlotte because the city boasts “talent, a diverse economy, and an ecosystem that supports established firms and innovation.”

Many of the young, educated workforce in the metro area are graduates from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the state’s largest business school, said Tracy Dodson, chief operating officer and head of economic development of the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. 

“Many graduates are staying in the Charlotte market, and that’s largely because of the partnership with our biggest employers, many of which are in financial services,” Dodson said. 

That influx of residents may soon pay off in the city’s multifamily market. 

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein at the 2025 swearing-in ceremony of his administration’s cabinet members

Like other Sun Belt markets, Charlotte’s multifamily sector is working off a glut of overbuilding. Vacancies continued to inch up in Q4 2025 thanks to high deliveries, but the increase in vacancy has started to level off, according to Northmarq’s Q4 2025 multifamily report.

However, the metro region saw a net of 14,500 multifamily move-ins in 2025, breaking the previous year’s record of net move-ins by 15%, Northmarq reports. Supply growth is expected to taper off, vacancies will flatten, and rent is expected to grow a modest 0.5% in 2026, according to Northmarq. 

A Q1 Marcus & Millichap office report forecasts that the metro will add a total of 14,000 new jobs in 2026, including 3,500 traditionally office jobs. The Charlotte region ranked second in the country for total job growth last year, adding 37,600 jobs in 2025.

For a city with a thriving business sector, office vacancy remains high in Charlotte. That’s because developers raced to build new office space to meet corporate needs right before the pandemic hit, only to watch as the work-from-home movement during the pandemic left many of those spaces empty. 

But office vacancy peaked at 18% in 2023, according to Marcus & Millichap. Since then, it has gone steadily downward and is projected to shrink to just above 15% in 2026. According to Colliers, Charlotte’s average asking rent for office space in Q4 2025 was 2.1% higher year-over-year, thanks to a shrinking pipeline and rising development costs.

And many of the banks and fintechs entering Charlotte are bringing in employees from other markets, with retail and multifamily benefiting from this influx, said CBRE Executive Vice President John Christenbury. Marcus & Millichap ranked the city No. 1 in the nation in its 2026 retail forecast. 

“You’ve got more consumers that are going to live, go out to eat and shop in Charlotte now, so, ultimately, these added jobs benefit the rest of the economy, like residential and retail,” Christenbury said.

All this combines to create a kind of permanent momentum, at least in the near term, analysts say. Gwaltney said Charlotte should easily be able to maintain its status as a financial heavyweight moving forward, and this will continue to help the city’s CRE sectors.

“Where there’s a healthy, thriving economy, that’s where banks want to be. That’s opportunity,” Gwaltney said.

Hirofumi Otsuka, CEO for SMBC Americas, said as much in his statement about his bank’s new investment in the city.  

“As SMBC continues to grow substantially in the United States, Charlotte is a standout location for us to invest in North Carolina for the long term in a major expansion that will establish our roots in the community,” he said.

Dallas is putting big bucks behind its burgeoning financial hub as it tries to lure a bank from north of the border.

Courtesy of Hillwood Urban

Scotiabank could establish a 100K SF office hub at the Victory Commons One building in Dallas.

Dallas City Council is slated to offer Canadian financial institution Scotiabank more than $2.7M in economic incentives to establish a 100K SF office at the 15-story Victory Commons One building. 

In addition to the maximum $2.7M grant for job relocation and other costs, the incentive package would include a 10-year property tax abatement on the proposed office at 2601 Victory Ave. in the city’s Victory Park neighborhood, The Dallas Morning News reported. 

Scotiabank, the operating name of the Bank of Nova Scotia, would be required to create more than 1,025 jobs with an average salary of $135K. At least 25% of those positions would need to be filled by Dallas residents, and Scotiabank would also need to give internships to Dallas College students and partner with Dallas Independent School District, Richardson ISD, UNT Dallas or Paul Quinn College. 

The council is set to consider the incentive package during its regular meeting Wednesday. 

The incentives are designed to help tip the scales in Dallas’ favor over Charlotte, the other city being considered by Scotiabank.

With around $1.4T in assets, Scotiabank “would be a huge win for any community,” Newmark Senior Managing Director Susan Arledge said to CoStar.

“Cities and states would fight over the opportunity to have that kind of client, especially such a credible company like Scotiabank,” she said.

The bank also has American offices in Houston, New York City and San Francisco.

If Scotiabank does choose Dallas for its next U.S. hub, the Canadian bank would join a wave of other major financial players. 

Goldman Sachs is building a $500M office campus just south of Uptown that is expected to open in 2028. That two-building property at 2323 N. Field St. will eventually be home to more than 5,000 employees.

Dallas is also preparing for the rise of Y’all Street. 

The Dallas-based Texas Stock Exchange last year raised $120M to create an alternative to the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market. TXSE aims to host its first listings in 2026 and said its headquarters in the heart of Dallas will include executive offices, a conference center and a broadcast center.

The existing securities exchanges soon followed. The NYSE announced in February that it would reincorporate its Chicago branch in Dallas, and Nasdaq said the next month that it was planning a regional headquarters in the city that would serve the entire Southeast.

The Trepp CMBS Special Servicing Rate rose 45 basis points in February 2025 to 10.32%. The increase followed the rate’s slight decline in January, which represented its first drop in more than a year.

Trepp cited two factors behind February’s sizable increase in the overall rate. First, the net balance of loans in special servicing increased by $1.8 billion, and second, the overall balance of loans outstanding fell by $8.8 billion.  “Thus, a comparatively larger numerator divided by a comparatively smaller denominator led to the substantial jump in the monthly rate,” wrote Trepp’s Vivek Denkanikotte.

Two property types contributed most heavily to the increase in the overall rate. The retail rate climbed 59 bps to 11.26% following a 100-bp drop the month prior. And the office rate rose 108 bps to 16.19%, marking yet another 25-year high.

Additionally, the mixed-use rate rose 33 bps to 13.04%, clearing the 13% mark for the first time since early 2013. Otherwise, none of the remaining property types changed by more than 15 bps in either direction, according to Trepp.

The New York City Council has approved the Science Park and Research Campus (SPARC) Kips Bay and Innovation East projects. The vote completed the public review process for the two projects in Manhattan’s Kips Bay neighborhood, which the New York City Economic Development Corporation called key initiatives in advancing the goal of creating 10 million square feet of life sciences space locally.

“The state-of-the-art projects at SPARC Kips Bay and Innovation East will not only drive significant economic impact but also create a strong talent pipeline through the city’s academic institutions and organizations,” said NYCEDC president & CEO Andrew Kimball.

NYCEDC said SPARC Kips Bay will transform an entire city block with more than two million square feet of academic, public health and life sciences space. The Innovation East development, located at 455 First Ave., will replace the former and obsolete Public Health Lab with a new state-of-the-art life science hub.

Real Capital Solutions acquired a 509,000-square-foot office building in Dallas for $66 million. The Tower at Park Lane is located at 8750 North Central Expressway. The class A office building is located in the Park Lane mixed-use district and includes a six-story attached parking garage.

The Dallas Business Journal reports the price was a significant reduction from the price paid for the building seven years ago. The tower, built in 1984, was purchased by CBRE Global Investors in 2017 for what was reported to be more than $120 million.

The new owner plans to invest roughly $13 million in capital improvements, such as upgrades to the lobby and fitness center. The money will also go toward the addition of third-floor pre-built suites and back-of-house amenities. The North Dallas tower hit the market last year. The building’s tenants include Topgolf, Texas A&M-Commerce and Match.com.

A&G Real Estate Partners is now accepting bids on 255 Big Lots store leases nationwide as part of the retailer’s Chapter 11 restructuring and sale process. The leases, which include 51 that are new-to-market, are being offered in two groups, pending determination by the court of final bid deadlines in November and December. 

Lease sizes range from 16,321 to 54,610 square feet. Texas and California lead among the 41 states represented in the offering, with 46 and 21 Big Lots leases available, respectively.  

They’re followed by Florida, New Jersey and Ohio with 12 each; Indiana with 11; Nevada and New York with 10 each; Georgia with eight; Michigan and Pennsylvania with seven each; Arizona, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee with six each; Louisiana and Virgina with five each; Alabama, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Washington with four each; Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, New Mexico and Wisconsin with three each; Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oregon, South Carolina and Utah with two each; and Delaware, Maine, Mississippi and West Virginia with one each. 

“As the company proceeds to facilitate the sale transaction, it will continue to assess its real estate portfolio, closing additional stores as needed to achieve its goals,” said A&G co-president Andy Graiser. “This process of portfolio-optimization is creating strong opportunities for retailers and landlords across the country. The availability of additional leases may be announced at a later date upon court approval.”  

A pair of mixed-use developments with affordable housing and cultural spaces are coming to vacant city-owned lots in East Austin’s Cultural Heritage District. The proposals will transform Blocks 16 and 18 on East 11th Street.

City officials voted to negotiate with the Pleasant Hill Collaborative on the project. That group includes the national student housing developer Servitas and Austin-based builders Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corp. and Topo.

The collaborative’s $112 million, nearly 300,000-square-foot redevelopment of Blocks 16 and 18 would include neighborhood priorities such as:

138 residences with a mix of studio to three-bedroom apartments and townhomes in Block 16. Most of the units would be reserved for tenants earning 50% of the local median income or less; 27,000 square feet of cultural venues, including performance and studio space, and 13,000 square feet of commercial space, including a grocery store.

The four-story Block 18 would feature eateries, a central public courtyard with a performance stage and housing for Huston-Tillotson University students.

Once project negotiations are completed, the Pleasant Hill Collaborative project is expected to break ground in 2025. The first phase would open in 2027 followed by the second in 2029.

SITE Centers has spun off the Johns Creek Town Center, a 303,297-square-foot retail center in Suwanee. Big V Property Group and Equity Street Capital purchased the property.

Johns Creek Town Center is Big V’s fifth acquisition in Georgia. The North Carolina-based firm also owns community centers in Brunswick, Cornelia, Loganville and Griffin.

CommercialEdge reports that Johns Creek Town Center came online in 2000 on a 30.3-acre site. The five-building retail center features tenants from clothing, grocery and department stores, including Market by Macy’s, HomeGoods, Sprouts, Ulta Beauty, Michael’s, Sketchers and PetSmart. Downtown Atlanta is 25 miles to the southwest.

Big V says it’s a vertically integrated commercial real estate company with over 80 years of experience. The company has 56 centers in 14 states.