200 South Orange, formerly known as the SunTrust Center and Sun Bank Center, is a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

located in the

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. Rising to , it is the tallest multi-story building in Orlando and

Central Florida Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the Gr ...

outside of

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

. Completed in 1988, it has 35 stories and 30 floors of usable office space. Originally named the ''Sun Bank Center'', the name changed after

SunTrust Banks SunTrust Banks, Inc. was an American bank holding company with SunTrust Bank as its largest subsidiary and assets of US$199 billion as of March 31, 2018. The bank's most direct corporate parent was established in 1891 in Atlanta, where it was h ...

began its series of mergers and acquisitions in the 1990s. It was originally built to serve as the Florida headquarters for SunTrust Banks, but as recently as 2009, SunTrust has vacated over in an effort to downsize.

Details

Designed in contemporary

postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

style, the building has a beige and green color scheme accented in blue hues. There are 35 stories with 30 floors of usable office space. The tower has a six-level parking garage and its lobby is an eight-story atrium. The building is topped with four green pyramids and the upper five stories is actually one large floor that provides panoramic views of Orlando and the surrounding area. However, this floor is not open to the general public. A pre-existing skyscraper is integrated in the center's design. This original building, which was re-faced during the 1987-1988 construction of the main tower, was the original First National Bank at Orlando. This original building was built in 1958-1960. Later the building was renovated to suit SunTrust, the windows were changed individually instead of keeping the windows a stripe, and was the first of six branch banks of what would become Sun Bank, and then later SunTrust. The building name has changed from SunTrust Center to 200 South Orange due to the move out of the company. They are now located in The Church Street Plaza Tower built in late 2019 which has been renamed SunTrust Plaza. The evening lighting scheme provides amber illumination on the four pyramids and white illumination on the upper floors. There is a restaurant on the ground level of the building. The tower is home to the

consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth coun ...

s of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and the trade offices of

Qingdao, China Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

. The tower's height of is the unofficial height limit of skyscrapers constructed in

downtown Orlando Downtown Orlando is the historic core and central business district of Orlando, Florida, United States. It is bordered by Marks Street in the north, Mills Avenue (SR 15) in the east, Orange Blossom Trail (US 441) in the west, and Kaley Avenue in th ...

. Local architects speculate that the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

has imposed a height limit on buildings in Orlando, because the Orlando Executive Airport is located a few miles east of downtown and its flight path leads over the city center. As a result, 200 South Orange has remained the tallest building in Orlando since 1988.

In popular culture

The building is featured in both the book and

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

versions of

Paper Towns ''Paper Towns'' is a novel written by John Green, primarily for an audience of young adults, and was published on October 16, 2008, by Dutton Books. The novel is about the coming-of-age of the protagonist, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen and his search fo ...

, a novel by

John Green John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author, YouTube Content creation, content creator, podcaster, and philanthropist. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including ''The Fault in Our Stars'' ( ...

. In the story, protagonist Quentin Jacobsen and Margo, his love interest, ascend the tower at night to take in the view of Orlando. During the scene Margo declares the city to be a "paper town."

References

Skyscraper office buildings in Orlando, Florida Office buildings completed in 1988 Skidmore, Owings & Merrill buildings 1988 establishments in Florida Buildings and structures in Orlando, Florida Skyscrapers in Orlando, Florida {{s-end