Catbird seat.

• Author: Martin, Cathy
• Position: STATEWIDE: Triad

Greensboro is getting its tallest new building since 1990, reflecting renewed interest in a downtown district that has lagged the national urban-renewal trend. The nine-story office tower will overlook First National Bank Field, home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers minor-league baseball team.

The $24 million project is being developed by a joint venture of Winston-Salem-based Gemcap Cos. and Carolina Investment Properties, the Lexington-based real-estate firm led by Robin Team that has developed more than $350 million in the Triad since 1984.

Team's son, Coleman, had been looking for about a year for downtown office space for the Tuggle Duggins law firm, which needed to move out of Lincoln Financial's regional headquarters building. (The Philadelphia-based financial-services company is taking over leased space in the former Jefferson-Pilot headquarters tower to house its own staff.) When Donald Moore, president and general manager of the Grasshoppers, raised the idea of an office building adjacent to the ballpark, Tuggle Duggins' managing partner Nathan Duggins loved the concept, Coleman Team says.

The 30-lawyer firm's move gave the developers a "bird in the hand," says Zac Matheny, president of the Downtown Greensboro economic-development group. Tuggle Duggins will lease the top two and a half floors of the 112,000-square -foot structure.

While Triad office vacancy rates were 9.6% in the first quarter, based on a CoStar report, there isn't a lot of "new, modernized" space downtown, says Team, who is brokering space in the new building. "[The market] is lacking exactly what we are providing. People are looking for a place to build a company, a place where they can attract and retain talent." Various prospective tenants seeking about 20,000 square feet have expressed interest, he says.

The Grasshoppers offered the property as equity for an undisclosed stake in the project. The site now serves as a plaza, opening to the privately owned stadium. The team's managing partners include Wes Elingburg, a retired LabCorp executive, and real-estate developers Cooper Brantley and Len White.

About $400 million in projects are underway in downtown Greensboro, Matheny says. Those include the $80 million Tanger Center for the Performing Arts and Carroll at Bellemeade, a $65 million mixed-use project...