SunTrust Center

SunTrust Center
General information
Type	Office
Location	200 South Orange Avenue Orlando, Florida United States
Coordinates	28°32′23″N 81°22′48″W / 28.5398°N 81.3799°W / 28.5398; -81.3799Coordinates: 28°32′23″N 81°22′48″W / 28.5398°N 81.3799°W / 28.5398; -81.3799
Completed	1988
Cost	US$100 million
Owner	Piedmont Office Realty Trust
Management	Piedmont Operating Partnership
Height
Roof	441 ft (134.4 m)
Technical details
Floor count	35
Floor area	654,678 sq ft (60,822 m2)
Lifts/elevators	31
Design and construction
Architect	Skidmore Owings and Merrill

The SunTrust Center is a skyscraper located in the Central Business District of Orlando, Florida. Rising to 441 ft (134.4 m), it is the tallest building in Orlando and Central Florida. Completed in 1988, it has 35 stories and 30 floors of usable office space. Originally named the Sun Bank Center, the name changed after SunTrust Banks began its series of mergers and acquisitions in the 1990s. It was originally built to serve at the Florida headquarters for SunTrust Banks, but as recently as 2009, SunTrust has vacated over 150,000 square feet (14,000 m²) in an effort to downsize.^[1]

Details

Designed in contemporary postmodern style, the building has a beige and green color scheme accented in blue hues. There are 35 stories with 30 floors of usable office space. The tower has a six-level parking garage and its lobby is an eight-story atrium. The building is topped with four green pyramids and the upper five stories is actually one large floor that provides panoramic views of Orlando and the surrounding area. However, this floor is not open to the general public.^[2] A pre-existing skyscraper is integrated in the center's design. This original building, which was re-faced during the 1987-1988 construction of the main tower, was the original First National Bank at Orlando. This 12-story structure was built in 1958-1960. It was renovated to make it look like the SunTrust Center, the windows were also changed individually instead of keeping the windows a stripe, and was the first of six branch banks of what would become Sun Bank, and then later SunTrust.^[3]

The evening lighting scheme provides amber illumination on the four pyramids and white illumination on the upper floors. There is a restaurant on the ground level of the building.^[4] The tower is home to the consulates of Argentina^[5] and the trade offices of Qingdao, China.^[6]

The tower's height of 441 ft (134.4 m) is the unofficial height limit of skyscrapers constructed in downtown Orlando. Local architects speculate that the Federal Aviation Administration has imposed a height limit on buildings in Orlando, because the Orlando Executive Airport is located a few miles east of downtown and its flight path leads over the city center. As a result, the SunTrust Center has remained the tallest building in Orlando since 1988.^[7]

In popular culture

The building is featured in both the book and film versions of Paper Towns, a novel by John Green. In the story, protagonist Quentin Jacobsen and Margo, his love interest, ascend the tower at night to take in the view of Orlando. During the scene Margo declares the city to be a "paper town."^[8]

References