A view of the once and future Vine Center
Lexington, KY – Built in tandem in 1982 with the current Hilton Hotel in downtown Lexington, the former World Trade Center will return to its original name, the Vine Center Office Tower, this summer as the Webb Companies, the building’s developer, has taken back management of the 17-story office building.
Webb Companies President Woodford Webb said his company purchased ownership interest in the building at 333 W. Vine from its partner Madison Capital Management of Denver for an undisclosed sum and started marketing and managing the building’s 241,826 square feet last week.
The Webb Companies, which has maintained a level of ownership in the building since its was developed, is now looking to lease the 21 percent of the building that is currently unoccupied, 51,363 sq.ft., including two full floors of 14,816 sq.ft. each.
With the addition of the nearly quarter million square feet in the building that has been called the Bluegrass Corporate Center since the World Trade Center Kentucky moved to another location two years ago, the Webbs now manage more than 3 million square feet in 152 properties.
“As we recruit new tenants for downtown it gives us one more choice to offer in terms of the type of building, price ranges, location and that sort of thing. We’ll be at every corner from the corner of Mill and Vine to the Financial Center, to CentrePointe,” said Webb Companies Executive VP of leasing, brokerage and operations, Ken Michul.
In addition to the space at what the company plans to rebrand as the Vine Center this summer, the Webbs are looking to fill 17,000 sq.ft. at the Finical Center (the Big Blue Building) and 75,000 feet, a total of five floors, in the office building slated to be constructed at CentrePointe.
In a meeting earlier in the month about the CentrePointe design, it was revealed the CentrePointe office building could be up to 12-storys, up from 10, if the demand is there in pre-construction.
As far as first floor spots in the CentrePointe block, Michul said all but two retail storefronts totaling 7,000 sq.ft. had been leased. Tenant announcements are pending.