Mass Mutual's Babson finds a perch downtown.

• Position: Statewide: CHARLOTTE REGION

MassMutual Financial Group is raising its Queen City profile with a 25-story office tower overlooking Charlotte's downtown ballpark. Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, MassMutual's real-estate investment arm, will begin construction on 300 South Tryon this fall. Babson Capital Partners, a subsidiary of Springfield, Mass.-based Mass Mutual, will occupy 200,000 of its 633,000 square feet. Babson opened a Charlotte office in 2002, when it acquired Wachovia's institutional debt-management business, which then had $3.7 billion in assets. Babson now manages nearly $200 billion and employs 1,008 worldwide. Once...