FORT LAUDERDALE, FL—With American Express moving out of the building after 10 years, Avison Young wasted no time looking for a replacement tenant at Weston Park of Commerce in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Weston, FL. The company inked a 52,960-square-foot single-user transaction at 1725 North Commerce Parkway on behalf of ownership, TA Realty.

The tenant is Altegra Health, a national vendor of technology-enabled, end-to-end payment solutions that provides health plans and other risk-bearing organizations with the data they need to manage member care and ensure appropriate reimbursement. The company is relocating from Miami Lakes, FL. Tony Jones of Cushman & Wakefield represented Altegra.

“Once it was clear that American Express would be vacating the building, ownership engaged Avison Young to begin seeking a replacement tenant,” says Greg Martin, a principal with Avison. “We were able to fulfill the goal of securing a single tenant to occupy the asset, in part due to the building's above-market parking ratio, in advance of the property's vacancy."

According to Avison, the new lease underscores a percolating demand within the Weston / Southwest Broward submarket for large contiguous space requirements. The deal was the last available contiguous space over 50,000 square feet off the market—office or industrial—in Weston. 

In 2014, Broward County posted an employment growth rate of 3.7% overall outpacing the State of Florida's rate of 3%. Business expansion activity coupled with new-to-market tenants contributed to continued positive absorption throughout Broward.

“The Weston submarket is experiencing a tightening of the market,” says Martin. With limited new construction underway, there is pending demand for large blocks of quality office space in the Southwest Broward market to accommodate the current tenant base.”