Glenn N. DesRosiers, a VP with Friedman Real Estate Group,represented the owner, Osprey-Troy Officecentre LLC. He says likethe Troy office market, the 75% occupied building has been goingthrough very tough times, but that he credits the landlords withdoing something about it. He says another, similar Osprey officeproperty in this Detroit suburb were also struggling, but seeing atleast some activity, whereas this complex was not. "The questionwas, why was this same owner in the same market not seeing the sameactivity?" he tells GlobeSt.com. "We were determined to repositionthe buildings."

The landlord did a capital infusion into the five-buildingcomplex, putting in new common areas, carpet and wood paneling,doubling cafeteria space, landscaped the parking lot and put in newsignage. "Also, with the floors that were 25,582 sf or greater,we're charging $15.45 per sf, gross, that's unprecedented in thismarket. Any floors with less sf, we're charging $16.45 per sf,"DesRosiers says. As a further incentive, tenants are being offeredone month free rent for each year they lease.

The moves paid off, he says. "We've seen a deluge oftransactions in 2008, especially in the past six months,"DesRosiers says. "And it's a tough market. Tenants pretty muchthese days can go wherever they want to, we had to be tenacious toget them. Right now it's a tenants market, but at the same time,landlords who have good buildings and have the capital reserves todo improvements and offer incentives, should do okay."