One Commerce Square is a 30-story

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ri ...

Downtown Memphis Downtown Memphis, Tennessee is the central business district of Memphis, Tennessee and is located along the Mississippi River between Interstate 40 to the north, Interstate 55 to the south and I-240 to the east, where it abuts Midtown Memphis. It ...

which is locally referred to as the "iBank Tower". The building was formerly known as the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

Building and the

SunTrust SunTrust Banks, Inc. was an American bank holding company with SunTrust Bank as its largest subsidiary and assets of US$199 billion as of March 31, 2018. The bank's most direct corporate parent was established in 1891 in Atlanta, where it was h ...

Building, and is the fourth tallest building in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...

. The building is located at the corner of Monroe Avenue and South Main Street.Ashby, Andy
Memphis group wins bid to purchase One Commerce Square
Memphis Business Journal, August 4, 2010 (accessed August 18, 2010)

Construction

Construction started in 1972 by the National Bank of Commerce (NBC), and the building was completed in 1973, preserving the original bank lobby that was built in 1929. One Commerce Square represents a modernism architectural style and is currently a Class A multi-tenant commercial office building in downtown Memphis. It was designed by local Memphis architect Roy Harrover who also designed the Memphis International Airport and Memphis College of Art. Locally, it became known as the "NBC Building." In 1984, NBC sold the building for $46.1 million.

Foreclosure

In 1996, the building was sold out of foreclosure for $21.7 million.. The building was purchased in 1999 for $31.5 million by

Jacksonville, FL Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

-based Southcoast Capital Group, which operated as One Commerce Square LLC. However, One Commerce Square LLC defaulted on a $24.5 million loan dated December 20, 2002, through Archon Financial LP.

SunTrust

In 2005, NBC, still the anchor tenant of the building at the time, was acquired by

SunTrust Banks SunTrust Banks, Inc. was an American bank holding company with SunTrust Bank as its largest subsidiary and assets of US$199 billion as of March 31, 2018. The bank's most direct corporate parent was established in 1891 in Atlanta, where it was h ...

, and the building became known as the SunTrust Building. The building suffered a major blow when its anchor tenant, SunTrust, vacated in the building when its lease ended in January 2009.

Pinnacle Airlines

On October 8, 2010, regional airline Pinnacle Airlines Corp. announced that it intended to move over 600 employees that would occupy on 12 floors of One Commerce Square. The Downtown Memphis Commission helped attract Pinnacle by providing $5 million of a total $20 million public/private investment, along with the city of Memphis, to refurbish the building and provide below-market rental rates to new and existing tenants. The move took place in the

autumn Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( S ...

of 2011, contingent on a lease with the potential ownership group of Lynch-Schledwitz-Prosterman. The architecture firm of Looney Ricks Kiss designed a makeover of the building. However, Pinnacle Airlines announced in January 2013 that it would relocate to Minneapolis, thereby vacating the above mentioned space.

Southern Airways Express

Southern Airways Express launched operations in June 2013, with its first flight taking place on Wednesday, May 29, with an inaugural flight for industry partners and members of the media from Memphis to Destin. Stan Little, chairman and CEO, answered the first phone call after the airline moved into its new office headquarters in One Commerce. On March 7, 2016, Southern announced the acquisition of Fort Lauderdale-based Sun Air Express. Following the acquisition of Sun, the operational headquarters of Southern Airways was relocated from Memphis to Pompano Beach, Florida.

Memphis Commerce Square Partners

On October 30, 2009, Park National Bank was taken over by the

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is one of two agencies that supply deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions, the other being the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates and insures cre ...

and the bank's assets were sold to U.S. Bancorp. In December 2010, a local investment group known as Memphis Commerce Square Partners purchased the building from U.S. Bancorp. Management is by

Cushman & Wakefield Cushman & Wakefield plc is a global commercial real estate services firm. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois. Cushman & Wakefield is among the world's largest commercial real estate services firms, with revenu ...

References

External links

Emporis Listing of building
{{DEFAULTSORT:One Commerce Square Skyscraper office buildings in Memphis, Tennessee 1973 establishments in Tennessee Office buildings completed in 1973