First Citizens Bank to Purchase BTI Corporate Center in Raleigh's North Hills

February 2, 2004

RALEIGH — First Citizens Bank today announced that it has signed a contract to purchase the BTI Corporate Center from Highwoods Properties.

The acquisition of the property at 4300 Six Forks Road is subject to the satisfactory completion of due diligence by First Citizens Bank. Financial terms of the sale have not been disclosed at this time. Completion of the transaction is expected by the end of the second quarter of 2004.

Lewis R. Holding, chairman of First Citizens Bank, said the property would be an important addition to First Citizens’ plans for a major corporate office campus in the company’s headquarters market. “Our company has grown tremendously in recent years. The purchase of this office complex will help First Citizens efficiently consolidate its corporate staff in one of the premier business locations in Raleigh,” he said. The BTI Corporate Center occupies 4.9 acres in Raleigh’s North Hills area. It includes a nine-story, 163,000 square-foot building and a multi-level parking deck. The BTI Center is adjacent to more than eight acres First Citizens already owns.

First Citizens Bank will continue to lease space to tenants already in the BTI complex, and Highwoods Properties will continue to lease and manage the property.

Ronald P. Gibson, chief executive officer of Highwoods Properties, said, “First Citizens has been a loyal and long-time customer of Highwoods, and we have worked well together to accommodate their expanding space needs over the years. We are pleased the BTI Corporate Center fits well with their expansion plans, and we look forward to continuing our mutually beneficial relationship for many years to come.”

First Citizens owns property in the block adjacent to the BTI complex bounded by Six Forks and Lassiter Mill roads, Rowan Street and Camelot Drive. In 2000, the bank announced plans for a corporate office complex in the block. The first phase of the complex was completed in 2001 with the construction of a 24,000 square-foot branch and Wake area offices. Construction of an 87,000 square-foot, crescent-shaped building is also planned for the site, but Holding said there is no construction timetable to announce.

In 2001, the bank purchased a 50,000 square-foot building in the block at 16 E. Rowan St., where about 100 First Citizens associates work.

More than 1,600 of First Citizens Bank’s 5,000 associates work in Wake County. Approximately 1,000 of them are based at the bank’s Data Center on Hammond Road south of downtown Raleigh.

Founded in 1898, First Citizens Bank operates 332 branches in more than 200 cities and towns in North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. Headquartered in Raleigh, the bank has $12.6 billion in assets. First Citizens is committed to providing superior financial services to individual customers and small to mid-sized businesses. For more information about First Citizens Bank and its services, visit firstcitizens.com or call toll-free 1-888-FC DIRECT (1-888-323-4732).

Barbara Thompson
(919) 716-2716
First Citizens Bank