Local partners buy mid-town Chase building for $3M

Mid-town Monroe's largest building, which was most recently occupied by Wingspan as a call center, has been bought by local investors.

Monroe developers Joe Holyfield and James Moore and Louisiana rice mogul Elton Kennedy paid $3 million for the 105,000-square-foot, seven-story office building on Tower Drive.

They bought the building, called Tower Place, from JPMorgan Chase, which had leased the building to Wingspan when that company bought Chase's call center business in 2013. Wingspan closed its operations there this spring.

"We're excited about it both as a business opportunity and for a chance to bring jobs back to our community," Holyfield said. "We're hoping to find a company with at least 500 jobs and there's already been a lot of interest. I think we'll be able to find somebody this year."

Tower Place sits on 6.2 acres and is among the signature buildings at or near the western entrance of the Tower Drive corridor. Premier Plaza, known as the Black Box and also owned by Holyfield, is the other.

Holyfield has developed much of the Tower Drive during the past decade into what is considered the city's highest end retail, office and professional corridor.

North Louisiana Economic Partnership is marketing the building.

"Two site consultants have already expressed interest," said NLEP President Scott Martinez. "It's highly marketable because it's wired for immediate business and because of the work force pool available. Monroe has a large number of employees who have worked in that sector, whether it be with Chase, Wingspan or Accent Marketing."

Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo said he's glad the building is in local hands.

"This is clearly an important part of our inventory of marketable buildings and sites," Mayo said. "And these partners have shown that they're interested in growing our city in addition to making good business decisions for themselves. It's great news for the city."

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