Truist Cinches Major HQ Lease in Winston-Salem

HanesBrands Inc. has leased about 122,600 square feet at the 224,900-square-foot Park Building in Winston-Salem, N.C. The company will be relocating its headquarters to the property, which is at 101 N. Cherry St. in downtown Winston-Salem.

The seven-story Park Building is directly off Salem Parkway. Building amenities include parking in a two-story deck adjacent to 101 N. Cherry, a fitness center, on-site security and, as a downtown property, a location near a number of restaurants, hotels and other establishments.

The company’s current headquarters is in the northern part of Winston-Salem at the 500,000-square-foot 1000 E. Hanes Mill Road, about 12 miles north of downtown, which it plans to sell. The company will start moving downtown in early 2025.

Hanes is a clothing giant, with about 65,000 employees worldwide, producing such brands as Hanes, Champion (athletic wear), Playtex, Bali, L’eggs and others. 

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Hanes recently unveiled plans to sell its Champion brand to Authentic Brands Group in a deal valued as much as $1.5 billion, though the sale wasn’t cited by Hanes as a factor in the move. Much of the proceeds of the sale will go toward debt reduction for the company.

The company was founded as Shamrock Knitting Mills in downtown Winston-Salem around the turn of the 20th century. Hanes took its modern form in the 2000s when Sara Lee Corp. spun off its clothing brands.

The downtown location will “offer opportunities for connectivity” among company employees, according to HanesBrands CEO Steve Bratspies, echoing one of the reasons companies gave during their movement to downtowns in the pre-pandemic 2010s. More recently, however, U.S. downtowns have seen fewer employees coming to work there.

CBRE represented the landlord, Truist Bank, in the deal, with CBRE’s Sam Haus, Will Henderson and Tara Alexander working on the negotiations. Truist also occupies the rest of the building.

Winston-Salem office blues

Recent years have been tough for the Greensboro/Winston-Salem office market. In the second quarter of 2024, overall vacancy came in at 19 percent, up 140 basis points quarter-over-quarter and 320 basis points year-over-year, according to CBRE data. Since the second quarter of 2020, office vacancy has risen by 910 basis points.

During the second quarter of 2024, the Greensboro/Winston-Salem office market saw 20,000 square feet of negative absorption, marking the sixth straight quarter of negative demand, CBRE reported. Leasing activity during the second quarter consisted mainly of renewals, as occupiers experienced stagnant economic growth.

Rents managed to edge up slightly, 3.7 percent year-over-year, which until recently didn’t outpace the overall rate of inflation. Also, office development has ground to a halt in the market, with none planned for the foreseeable future, CBRE noted.