Founders Hall, the glass-enclosed public concourse you are entering, threads beneath and between the towers of Charlotte's financial district and connects them to the street and to each other. Completed in 1992 as part of the NationsBank Corporate Center complex, Founders Hall was designed as an indoor public space in the European tradition of the galleria — a place where office workers, visitors, and shoppers could move between buildings sheltered from the Carolina heat. The soaring atrium, with its barrel-vaulted glass ceiling, its restaurant, and its gathering spaces, is anchored by the dramatic Bank of America Corporate Center above it.
Charlotte's banking identity was forged here: NationsBank, which occupied this complex, merged with BankAmerica in 1998 to form Bank of America, the largest consumer bank in the United States. That merger was completed and announced from Charlotte, cementing the city's position as the banking capital of the American South. You've just walked through where a regional bank became a national institution.