Duke Energy Center

The Duke Energy Center is a 786 feet (240 m) tall, 48-floor (54 floors including mechanical floors) skyscraper in Charlotte, North Carolina. When completed in 2010, it was the largest building in Charlotte (in square footage), second tallest building in Charlotte, and the tallest in the world to use precast double tees built by Prestress of the Carolinas. The building is named for its anchor tenant, Duke Energy, and both the tower and the adjacent cultural arts campus are owned by Wells Fargo.

Sonnenschein will use 35,000 square feet (3,300 m²) on the 34th and 35th floors and Deloitte will use 82,000 square feet (7,600 m²).

Originally, the building was to be known as the Wachovia Corporate Center. It was to replace One Wachovia Center as the headquarters of Wachovia. Wachovia was to occupy 450,000 square feet (42,000 m²) of the 1,500,000 square feet (140,000 m²) tower. Wells Fargo plans to use five of its 14 floors.

Construction

The project was announced in spring of 2004, and official renderings were not released until December 6, 2006. In the original petition to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission, the building was going to be built on a 1.29-acre (5,200 m²) parcel next to 400 South Tryon, with a height of 510 feet (160 m) and 34 floors. The site preparation began with the demolition of a Firestone Tire dealership in February 2006, and on February 28, 2006, the excavation and blasting of a 100-foot (30 m)-deep hole for the below-grade parking garage began. Over 600,000 pounds of explosives were used during its excavation and it took just over 60,000 dump truck loads to remove all of the excavated material from the site, some of which was used in the construction of a third runway at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the largest electric power holding company in the United States, with assets also in Canada and Latin America.

Overview

Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 megawatts of base-load and peak generation in the United States, which it distributes to its 7.2 million customers. Duke Energy's service territory covers 104,000 square miles (270,000 km²) with 250,200 miles (402,700 km) of distribution lines. In addition, Duke Energy has more than 4,300 megawatts of electric generation in Latin America. It operates eight hydroelectric power plants in Brazil with an installed capacity of 2,307 megawatts. Almost all of Duke Energy's Midwest generation comes from coal, natural gas, or oil, while half of its Carolinas generation comes from its nuclear power plants. During 2006, Duke Energy generated 148,798,332 megawatt-hours of electrical energy.

Duke Energy Renewable Services (DERS), a subsidiary of Duke Energy, specializes in the development, ownership, and operation of various generation facilities throughout the United States. This segment of the company operates 1,700 megawatts of generation. 240 megawatts of wind generation were under construction and 1,500 additional megawatts of wind generation were in planning stages. On September 9, 2008, DERS updated its projections for future wind power capacity. By the end of 2008, it would have over 500 MW of nameplate capacity of wind power online, and an additional 5,000 MW in development.

Energy Centre

The Energy Centre, located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, is a 39-story, 530 feet (162 m) -tall skyscraper designed by HKS, Inc.. It is the fourth tallest building in both the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana.

A four story parking garage is adjacent to the tower, one block upriver. The garage is accessible from both Loyola Avenue and South Rampart Street.

The building experienced minor damage during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Some windows near the top of the tower were blown out, however, these windows were mostly false windows that cover the climate control systems on the roof. The ceilings of the overhangs on the street level were badly damaged but have since been repaired.

Location

1100 Poydras Street
New Orleans, LA 70163-1101

The Energy Centre is bounded by the following streets:

See also