Fast-growing law firm Haynes & Boone moves to uptown Charlotte office tower Legacy Union

Fast-growing law firm Haynes & Boone has moved its Charlotte operations.

The Dallas-based firm signed a 10-year lease at Legacy Union SIX50 for 24,000 square feet on the building’s seventh floor. Justin Riess, Haynes & Boone’s Charlotte office managing partner, said the firm moved in on April 1.

Since opening a Charlotte office in 2019, the firm has grown from two attorneys to 22 attorneys and four staff members. In 2023 alone, Haynes & Boone added six partners and six associates to its roster. The move to Legacy Union more than doubles the firm’s office space; Riess said Haynes & Boone occupied about 11,000 square feet in the previous office.

Riess said the rapid growth was the catalyst for finding a longer-term office space the firm could continue to grow into. The office was designed to give Haynes & Boone employees room to work individually and collaboratively.

“Typically, we do short-term leases because it gives us more flexibility to move as we grow,” he said. “But we finally have a space where we can comfortably bring in clients and have attorneys visit from out of town, which was part of our long-term plan.”

JLL executive managing director Chris Schaaf and senior vice president Conner Brennan brokered the deal on behalf of Haynes & Boone. Schaaf said the firm’s need to expand came at an opportune time.

“The priority was to create a unique and compelling work environment … Buildings that quickly rose to the top align with that ongoing flight-to-quality trend,” he said. “The reality is, finding a full floor in a Class A tower, whether it’s in uptown or South End is challenging. That side of the market, supply side, is very healthy.”

Charlotte-based Barringer Construction was the general contractor on the office upfit; San Francisco-based Studios Architecture designed the space. Haynes & Boone has 19 offices in the United States across California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia. It also has international offices in London, Shanghai and Mexico City.

Legacy Union SIX50 at 650 S. Tryon St. is now 95% leased with 19,363 square feet available on the fourth floor, according to CoStar data. The building is an 18-story, 362,000-square-foot office tower that is part of Lincoln’s ongoing Legacy Union project. Raleigh-based Highwoods Properties acquired the office tower from Lincoln and Goldman Sachs Asset Management in August 2022 for $201.2 million. Lincoln continues to manage the building.

The local real estate company broke ground on the project’s fourth office building at 600 S. Tryon St. in August 2022. That 24-story, 415,000-square-foot tower at the corner of South Tryon Street and Brooklyn Village Avenue is expected to deliver at the end of this year. Charlotte law firm Robinson Bradshaw is anchoring the building with a 102,000-square-foot lease across the building’s top four floors.

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