Serge Vishmid in the West Los Angeles office of Grubb & Ellis, who represented Prudential in the transactions, tells GlobeSt.com that the financial services company renewed the leases anywhere from a year to three years early. Most of the renewals run for five years.

In some cases Prudential consolidated space from more than one office into another location, Vishmid says, while in other cases the deals were simple renewals. In several instances, the company has sublet space to other tenants as part of the restructuring of its space requirements.

The transactions include 28,158 sf at 620 Newport Center Dr. in Newport Beach; a 15,774-sf early renewal at 16501 Ventura Blvd. in Encino; 9,506 sf at 2121 Rosecrans Ave. in El Segundo; 7,000 sf at One Pointe Dr. in Brea; 5,647 sf at 100 N. Westlake Blvd. in Westlake Village; and 4,013 sf at 3281 Guasti Rd. in Ontario. Terms of the leases were not disclosed, but based on the going rates for space in the submarkets involved, the Prudential deals are believed to total about $17 million.

In addition to the Southern California deals, Prudential also has renewed 10,000 sf in Fresno in a deal put together by Vishmid. The Prudential leases are one of the latest examples of the early renewal trend in Southern California office markets--as well as elsewhere in the country--where tenants are taking advantage of flat demand for office space.

The Prudential transactions "covered a lot of ground in a lot of different submarkets, but basically the theme is the same--restructuring existing leases on much more favorable terms," Vishmid says. "It's basically retooling the leases in a down office market.