Riverside and Singerman outline mixed-use overhaul of Charlotte towers
301 South Tryon - Rendering - Office Entrance
By Elise Franco | April 27, 2026
Chicago firms Riverside Investment & Development and Singerman Real Estate have a detailed plan for a $200 million overhaul of the former Two Wells Fargo Center complex.
They also know enough about such a complicated redevelopment to be open about the need for flexibility as the project moves forward.
The joint venture paid $36.5 million for the site in a sale that closed on April 23, according to Mecklenburg County property records. That price bought an 11-story office tower built in the 1950s and redeveloped in the 2000s by Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) as well as a 30-story office tower built in 1971. An atrium was added eventually built to connect the buildings. The site totals 3.4 acres.
"It's been a little bit of a Frankenstein ... When the (30-story tower) was completed it was the tallest building in Charlotte, and so it's an important one in the city's history," Tony Scacco, president of Riverside, told the Charlotte Business Journal. "If you fast forward to the early 2000s, Alive After Five and so many community-related elements were centralized at this asset, so it's been a hub."
Scacco said the firms are being intentional in how historical characteristics will be worked into the reimagined site.
"We're pursuing some avenues that try to leverage the historic nature of the building," he said. "I think the plaza and the atrium create both a complexity but an opportunity for revitalized public (space) in terms of active programming and redesign of the spaces to function, again, as a hub in the center of Charlotte."
The redevelopment plan for what is now known as 301 South Tryon will be comprehensive. It calls for remaking the 30-story tower into 275 multifamily units in the top half of the building with 200 hotel rooms below. A minimum of 250,000 square feet of renovated office space is planned in the 11-story building, as well as 30,000 to 40,000 square feet of retail across the site.
The existing plaza will be remade to add green space and connectivity to other nearby office and retail properties.
Scacco said the scope of the project could change as the firms work through permitting and capitalization this year. That could mean additional office space and slight adjustments to the number of apartment units, he said.
Construction will begin in early 2027, Scacco said. Redevelopment of the 11-story office building is expected to deliver first, in early to mid-2028 with the remainder of the project completed in late 2028 or early 2029, he said.
The developers acquired the property from Wells Fargo, records show. 301 South Tryon carries a tax value of about $204 million, according to county records.
Scacco said Riverside was already eyeing 301 South Tryon when it broke ground on Queensbridge Collective, its first Charlotte project, in May 2023. CBRE officially listed the property for sale in June 2023.
He said challenging capital markets kept Riverside from pulling the trigger then, but discussions picked back up in early 2025. It was around that time that Riverside decided to bring Singerman on as a joint-venture partner, Scacco said. The firms aligned in perspective, interest and ability to redevelop the site.
"We'd cleared the deck in terms of initiating all phases of the Queensbridge deal and had a little bit better visibility into market conditions," he said. "We knew (301 South Tryon) is where we wanted to place our next bet for a lot of the same reasons we love the Queensbridge site — there's the scale and locational quality that allows us to execute a true live-work-play hub."
Kiley Carter, principal at Singerman, said in a statement to CBJ that the property's central uptown location and diverse options for redevelopment are what helped sell the firm on its partnership with Riverside.
"We expect this critical, high-visibility location to thrive with thoughtful redevelopment," she said. "We are excited to partner with Riverside, who has quickly established a reputation in the Charlotte market for best-in-class product quality, amenities and collaborative approach.”
Scacco said the partners are taking seriously the comments and requests from longtime patrons of the property's existing retail like Johnny Burrito and Mimosa Grill. He said some existing businesses will change out to support the future of the development, but those two will remain.
"We've heard innumerable times that we can't do anything with Johnny Burrito, so I want to assuage the market's concerns ... We're listening to people's feedback on that. As for Mimosa Grill, how often does a restaurant stay open for 30-plus years?" he said. "There's some interesting legacy as well as new opportunity that we want to make sure we're thoughtful on in how we approach it."
Riverside broke into the Charlotte market in late 2021 with the $35 million acquisition of the 2.75-acre site that was formerly home to Midnight Diner and Uptown Cabaret at West Morehead and South Tryon streets. The first phase of Queensbridge Collective, a 42-story, luxury multifamily tower called Vivian, delivered there earlier this year.
Phase two broke ground in late 2025 after Charlotte's largest law firm, Moore & Van Allen, announced that it would anchor the building with a 206,000-square-foot office lease. The second building will be a 43-story tower with 400,000 square feet of office space across the top 19 floors and 304 multifamily units at the bottom half of the tower. It is expected to deliver in 2028.