MIAMI - Strong retention efforts are leading to large renewals in Miami even as more tenants tour space. Meanwhile, office leasing activity is weakening across Broward’s key submarkets and Palm Beach’s southern and northern markets are strengthening industry clusters. So says the latest Jones Lang LaSalle market report.

Retention efforts are paying off for landlords, as some major renewals are inked in the Miami office market, including Norwegian Cruise Line’s 199,000-square-foot renewal, indicating that key corporate users are choosing to stay in Miami. While Miami’s total vacancy rate hovers at about 20%, existing office tenants are touring the market for space, such as accounting firm Marcum LLP, Morrison, Brown, Argiz & Farra, and HomeServe USA.

“Many tenants are extending for three or five years, which certainly is a sign of confidence,” Jonathan Kingsley, a senior vice president at JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. “We're seeing shadow space or sublease space come off the market. So these are all gentle signs only in submarket to submarket that are good signs of recovery that we are heading in the right direction.”

Leasing activity in Broward’s key office markets remains weak, with the county experiencing a total vacancy rate of 19.1%, according to JLL. Suburban markets were responsible for most of the leasing activity, with Cypress Creek representing the most active submarket. Despite the slowdown in leasing activity, construction begun on two office buildings totaling 70,000 square feet in Miramar. It’s the first project to break ground since 2009.

In Palm Beach County, the majority of leasing activity that took place in northern submarkets were renewals, including State Farm and AT&T, with landlords still aggressive to keep creditworthy tenants, JLL reports. While the county’s southern submarkets mainly saw new tenants in emerging industries signing leases, such as the lease data center operator Equinix signed.

“I haven't seen the same excitement from the institutional investment community to invest in the Palm Beach County market,” Kingsley says. “It may take some time until the opportunities have exhausted themselves in Broward and Miami-Dade, rent rolls stabilize and buildings become positioned where they make sense for seller to sell and for buyer to buy.”