New Office Building in Ballantyne

(Jan. 15, 2010) Bissell Development is pleased to announce construction of the Everett Building, a new speculative 150,000 square foot Class A office building in Ballantyne Corporate Park with an estimated completion of December 2010. The building, named in honor of civic leader Mac Everett, will be located on North Community House Road next to the Irby and Hayes Buildings and overlooking the 12th hole of The Golf Club at Ballantyne. The Everett Building will be six-stories and will include a three-story 1,200 car parking deck. Current development plans for the balance of the site associated with this building call for an adjacent twin six-story building also overlooking the golf course that will share the parking deck. When completed, Everett Building will bring the total office development in Ballantyne Corporate Park to over 3.3 million square feet in just 13 years.

"The Everett Building will be built to LEED Gold Standards (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), representing The Bissell Companies’ continuing commitment to sustainability," says Clifton Coble, President of Bissell Development. Everett will be Bissell Development’s fifth LEED building comprising approximately one-million square feet of speculative office space for which LEED Gold Certification is being pursued, representing one of the largest commitments to energy efficiency and design for speculative office buildings in the United States.

The strategic thinking behind what some might call risky and others might call adventuresome is simple – it is optimism about Ballantyne and in a broader sense, in Charlotte’s ability to rebound. In February, 2005, Ballantyne Corporate Park acquired three very large bronze bulls that were prominently placed in the Corporate Park in an area appropriately named Our Park. The bulls in Our Park have been a frequent setting for family and school gatherings and are a favorite photo opportunity for children of all ages. The inspiration behind the acquisition and placement of the bulls is summarized in a plaque in Our Park which reads:

"Bullish on our families.
Bullish on our work.
Bullish on our country.
Add value in all you do."

"We have endured many economic slowdowns in Charlotte and on each occasion our City has rebounded in a more diverse and strong fashion and I firmly believe that this is what is happening now in Charlotte," offered H. C. "Smoky" Bissell, Chairman and Founder of the Bissell organization. "We are starting this building because we think it makes good business sense. We also feel it is a statement to the outstanding business recruitment teams representing our City and region that we will continue to have Class A office inventory available to present to businesses considering growth in Charlotte," said Ned Curran, President & CEO of the Bissell organization.

The building is named for Malcolm E. "Mac" Everett, General Chairman of the Quail Hollow Championship. Mac has played a prominent role spearheading a number of initiatives that have made our community better. "It seems totally appropriate that the start of a building, signifying confidence in our community’s ability to rebound, would be named after a gentleman who has throughout his career volunteered his time and energy with the sole purpose of making our community a better place to live," said Mr. Bissell.