SunTrust Plaza at Church Street Station Wins Coveted Golden Brick Award of Excellence

By George McGregor Last updated Sep 3, 2020 Share with new partner:

Suntrust Plaza at Church Street Station Birdseye View — With 200,000 square feet of office space and 180 hotel rooms, the soaring Energy Star certified structure is a contemporary, versatile addition to downtown Orlando’s historic district. Featuring ground level retail, meeting space and nine parking levels with 600 parking spaces, the tower is designed to meet the functional and aesthetic demands of a thriving city center. As evidence of the demand, the tower has only one complete floor, the 12^th with 29,131 square feet still available for tenants.

ORLANDO, FL – Downtown Orlando is undergoing another commercial real estate renaissance and competition for recognition is sky high. But one standout project – SunTrust Plaza at Church Street Station – has earned singular distinction by winning the Golden Brick Award of Excellence from the Downtown Orlando Partnership. The light and spacious 28-story, mixed-use tower – a Lincoln Property Company project designed by HuntonBrady Architects ‒ joins an elite list of Golden Brick Award winners from past years.

With 200,000 square feet of office space and 180 hotel rooms, the soaring Energy Star certified structure is a contemporary, versatile addition to downtown Orlando’s historic district. Featuring ground level retail, meeting space and nine parking levels with 600 parking spaces, the tower is designed to meet the functional and aesthetic demands of a thriving city center. As evidence of the demand, the tower has only one complete floor, the 12^th with 29,131 square feet still available for tenants.

SunTrust Plaza at Church Street is the first high-rise office building built downtown in a decade, and its key positioning at the corner of South Street and Garland Avenue places it “at the front door to downtown Orlando,” says Thomas Chatmon, Executive Director of Orlando’s Downtown Development Board.

Scott Stahley, Executive Vice President of Lincoln Property Company says the firm’s long history of success in the Orlando market and its close working relationship with city leaders and the business community gave Lincoln the confidence to tackle such a major, admittedly high risk project. The future of downtown Orlando is bright, Stahley says, and HuntonBrady, which has played a major role in shaping the city’s skyline through the years, proved to be the perfect choice to design the landmark tower.

Mauricio Maso, Vice President and Design Principal with HuntonBrady, says the architecture-interior design firm was thrilled to be asked to take on the challenge of designing SunTrust Plaza, with its high profile location overlooking Interstate 4 and just a short walk to Orlando City Hall. With glass facades and spacious floor-to-ceiling windows, the building, which took two years to construct, offers panoramic views of the city from all angles.

HuntonBrady, founded in Orlando in 1947, was so pleased with the final result that it moved its own offices into the tower, joining an A-list of prominent tenants including SunTrust Bank, which consolidated all of its local operations in the building.

Prominent features also include a southbound SunRail commuter stop and a unique 18^th and 19^th floor “sky lobby” for the integrated hotel, with the latest high-tech security.

As the nation’s economy rebounds in 2021 and 2022, Florida, and particularly metro Orlando, are forecast by economists to help lead the way in residential, retail and commercial growth. Orlando leaders say SunTrust Plaza at Church Street Station helps set the stage for that new era of growth in the heart of downtown, for years to come.