CHARLOTTE-The Queen City's west side is beginning to shed its traditionally industrial image and appears to be on the brink of a major makeover.

CHARLOTTE-First Citizens Bank & Trust has purchased First Union National Bank's 30-year-old SouthPark branch for $4.26 million, according to county records. First Union maintains the purchase price covers the branch's real estate and not the branch's assets and deposits. The per sf-price makes the transaction one of the highest ever recorded in the state.

CHARLOTTE-The locally-based developer confirms in published reports he is buying dirt, but won't say what he has in mind for the land assemblage, estimated at 1,000 acres. Southwestern Mecklenburg County is one of the last frontiers relatively untouched by developers.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC-The locally-based online firm continues to gather support from the Federated Associations of the National Lumber & Building Materials Dealers Association.

CHARLOTTE-Net absorption in 2000 was one million sf versus 2.19 million sf in 1999, reports Commercial Carolina Corp. The vacancy level is expected to creep higher as 918,000 sf of new product enters the market this year.

CHARLOTTE-The area's development pipeline shows no signs of slowing down despite national signs of a wavering economy. At least four major commercial projects are either under way or coming out of the ground shortly.

CHARLOTTE-The 12.5-acre Catawba Village Center project is just outside Charlotte on Mount Holly-Huntersville Road off NC 27. The first phase will comprise a 15,000-sf hub anchored by a supermarket. A ground-breaking date hasn't been set.

CHARLOTTE-Locally-based Spectrum Properties says it is no longer interested in buying and developing a 3.3-acre city-owned tract after learning the city continues to talk with other developers on the deal. The city initially selected and then rejected Pennsylvania-based LCOR as the project's developer of record.