DeWITT - Investment firm RBC Wealth Management, formerly called RBC Dain Rauscher, plans to leave its downtown Syracuse office this summer to relocate to a larger facility in DeWitt.
The decision to move sparked from RBC Wealth Management's desire to improve its office access to clients and the need for additional space to house regional administration, says Bill Branson, regional director of the northeast sector of RBC Wealth Management.
The firm's 18 local employees (10 investment advisors, four division managers, and four support staff) will move from RBC's 5,500-square-foot office at One Lincoln Center in downtown. Syracuse to a 12,000-square-foot office at 5790 Widewaters Parkway in DeWitt. RBC had operated at Lincoln Center for 25 years.
Branson could not yet provide an exact move date. He says RBC is currently renovating its future office space. CBD Builders, LLC, based at 100 S. Salina St., is doing the renovation work for RBC. Branson couldn't provide an estimate on how much the work will cost.
RBC Wealth Management selected the DeWitt location because of its convenient accessibility to highways and large amount of parking spaces, Branson says.
"Widewaters is a very pleasant place and easy to get to," he says.
The firm needed additional space because the company's northeast regional administration recently moved to the Syracuse office.
"Part of the reason for new space in general is that regional administration has not been in Syracuse before," Branson says. "This will require more space for us."
RBC decided to move the regional administration to Syracuse because Branson already worked in Syracuse, a RBC spokesperson says.
Three management officials moved from Boston to Syracuse, where the northeast sector is now managed, an RBC spokesperson says. These employees are included as part of the office's 18 employees.
Branson couldn't say whether or not the office will add staff once the move is completed.
Hub Properties Trust, based at 400 Centre St., in Newton, Mass. owns the DeWitt property as well as the Lincoln Center office space, Branson says.
The DeWitt building was assessed for $4.5 million in 2007, according to the Onondaga County Office of Real Property Tax Services Web site.
Branson couldn't provide lease details or financial information about the Syracuse office.
RBC Dain Rauscher changed its name to RBC Wealth Management in March to combine companywide investment services, Branson says.
"It allows business units to communicate more effectively and it will provide. better service to clientele," Branson says.
The firm no longer uses the name Dain Rauscher.
RBC Wealth Management says it serves "affluent and high net-worth clients in Canada, the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia." The firm provides asset management . and trust products and services through RBC and third-party distributors.
RBC has about $500 billion of assets under management and more than 3,600 financial consultants, advisors, private bankers, and trust officers.
RBC is a division of RBC Capital Markets Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY).
The RBC Wealth Management division operates in the United States with more than 160 locations in 39 states. RBC also operates offices in Rochester, Canandaigua, and Buffalo.
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