Triad.

WINSTON-SALEM -- Granite Falls-based Bank of Granite opened its first Triad bank branch here, where the company has had a mortgage office since 1997. It has 20 branches in Caldwell, Catawba, Burke, Forsyth, Mecklenburg, Watauga and Wilkes counties.

WINSTON-SALEM -- Oak Brook, Ill.-based Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust bought a three-building complex here from GMAC Insurance Management for $60 million. GMAC Insurance Management will lease the buildings, which total more than 500,000 square feet.

HIGH POINT -- Southern Film Extruders, which makes polyethylene film for packaging, plans to add 50 workers next year to the 100 it has here. The company is consolidating operations from Atlanta and Fort Pierce, Fla.

WINSTON-SALEM -- Southfield, Mich.-based Critical Home Care, which provides home-care services, medical equipment and mail-order drugs, bought Trinity Healthcare, a medical-equipment provider with more than 50 employees. Terms weren't disclosed. Trinity also has operations in Huntersville and in Georgia.

HIGH POINT -- Pennybyrn at Maryfield, a retirement community run by Catholic nuns, is planning a $75 million expansion that will include 142 apartments and cottages. Pennybyrn needs state approval for other parts of the project, which would increase residents from 175 to 400.

New Breed, a Greensboro-based logistics and supply manager, won a 10-year, $100 million contract to operate a U.S. Postal Service equipment repair center in Kearny, N.J. The company hired 160 to work at the center. In the last six months, it has increased employment at its headquarters from about 185 to 225 to handle new contracts. Total employment stands at about 2,500--350 in North Carolina.

RELATED ARTICLE: Wachovia sells its former headquarters

Jenkintown, Pa.-based American Financial Realty Trust, which focuses on buying and leasing properties occupied by financial institutions, bought the Winston-Salem building from the new Wachovia that was once the old Wachovia's headquarters. Wachovia Center was one of 140 properties totaling 7.6 million square feet involved in a deal valued at $511.9 million. Included were 93 bank branches and other office buildings. Wachovia will lease 4.7 million square feet of the total, including about two-thirds of the 600,000-square-foot Wachovia Center, for 20 years. Wachovia Center's white dome has formed one of the peaks in downtown Winston-Salem's skyline since the 29-story, 461-foot-tall building was completed in 1995. Charlotte-based First Union bought Wachovia and adopted its name in 2001.

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