Two months ago, Equus Chandler LLC of La Jolla, CA bought the 104,000-sf office building in downtown Chandler, changed the building name and set about on a repositioning trail. Jeff Hartland and Laurel Lewis is the Grubb & Ellis Co. team in Phoenix holding the leasing assignment.

The building's lead tenant, USA Group, vacated about 68,000 sf to drive the challenge at hand. Hartland tells GlobeSt.com that the task isn't discouraging despite the soft economy. Potential tenants, he says, are looking for good values, which the brokers and building owners are providing to the market. "We are one of the better price options in the southeast valley," he says. The triple play for three-year leases boosts occupancy up at least two notches to 18% or maybe 20%. Cook Financial took 1,800 sf; Odyssey Partners, 1,785 sf and the law firm, 429 sf. The going rate is $17.50 per sf in the 15-year-old office building.