A 10-story office building at 227 Fayetteville Street – formerly a Wachovia Bank – and touted as a new multi-million-dollar tech hub for Downtown Raleigh has its first major tenant: eTextbooks firm Vitat Source.
After the multi-million dollar project was announced more than a year ago, developers hosted a media event Thursday to announce the signing of Vital Source.
The firm, which already is based in downtown, is leasing some 20,000 square feet.
Vital Source launched in 1994 and was acquired by Ingram Industries in 2006. It is now part of Ingram Digital Group.
”Today, Vital Source is Ingram’s fastest-growing business, and our Bookshelf platform is the most preferred and most used e-textbook delivery system in higher education with over 3.25 million registered users on 6,000 campuses in 200 countries and territories worldwide,” the company says.
The former Wachovia building covers some 110,000 square feet.
“227 Fayetteville Street, the first truly innovative spec structure, is being transformed and brought to the market in Downtown Raleigh,” a website about the project says.
“227 Fayetteville Street is experiencing an $8,000,000 makeover with a modern infrastructure and floors conducive to collaboration and interaction that provide the best value proposition in the market. Design efficiencies will save occupants thousands over their lease term and allow them to operate more efficiently in an environment at the very center of downtown.”
A redevelopment project was announced with great fanfare in January 2013.
Triangle real estate developer Benn Steel of Empire Properties participated in the event.
Also set to attend is Mark Milovic, an executive with LRC, the company that acquired the building and announced the original development plans. LRC is based in New York.
Raleigh leaders are hopeful they can replicate the success Durham has enjoyed through the turning of American Tobacco into the American Tobacco Historic District, a massive multi-building complex filled with a mixture of high-tech startups at The American Underground and other much larger businesses along with restaurants. Additional projects combined with American Tobacco has sparked a rebirth of Durham’s downtown, which is evolving into a high-tech hub.
“The building at 227 Fayetteville Street is located in the geographic, cultural, political and professional center of downtown Raleigh and with a need for high-quality office space, the location will be a prime spot to do business in this region,” said Howard Lavitt, a co–founder and principal of the LRC Opportunity Fund, when the project was announced. “The location truly makes the opportunity for collaboration great and the modern amenities added to this timeless, iconic structure will serve the companies thriving in this area for years to come.”
The American Underground already operates a shared office space complex nearby on Fayetteville Street, and HQ Raleigh has a building in the Warehouse District.
(Note: Capitol Broadcasting is the parent firm of WRAL Tech Wire and WRAL.)
