ORLANDO—Orlando's industrial market is seeing some big deals in 2014. The latest is a 62,000-square-foot headquarters lease at 3851 Center Loop to Blade Runners Commercial landscaping, which serves the likes of Hilton, Home Depot, Haverty's, and Rooms to Go.

Cushman & Wakefield's Lee Morris, Jared Bonshire, and David Perez represented Blade Runners in the full-building transaction. Greg Rebman and Cory Kroeger of KR Properties represented the landlord, Redd Properties.

“We evaluated the potential of purchasing or leasing the building,” says Perez. “This transaction is a lease with a seven-year term and an option to purchase.”

With the transaction, the tenant will relocate its home base within the Orlando market. The site was the former home of Redd Paper, a business that was sold. Redd Properties retained ownership of the building.

“Blade Runners was flexible geographically as they service approximately a 60-mile radius, and searched within a 20- to 25-mile radius of the center of Orlando,” says Perez. “It was a challenging search, however, in that they sought a building that had a nice image, tilt-wall construction, and excess acreage for outside storage. We explored a number of options, and this is the one that fit all of the checkboxes.”

Constructed in 1991, the one-story 3851 Center Loop also features 24-foot clear ceiling heights. The site spans 5.26 acres, meeting Blade Runners' outside storage requirements.

The 62,000-square-foot lease comes at a time when the Orlando industrial market continues to show improved fundamentals. Overall vacancy fell by 1.7 percentage points to 9.5% during 2013, representing the lowest year-end figure since 2007, according to CushWake's latest data. Direct asking net rents also increased year-over-year by 1.6%, even with an upswing in construction. And overall absorption ended 2013 in positive territory. On the investment side, sales finished 2013 at the highest level since 2007, with 4.4 million square feet sold during the course of the year.

“The strong interest by users and investors in this market is a sign of the potential for future growth,” says Perez. “With solid fundamentals, the market is trending for positive growth through 2014.”