H&R Block Closes Office Deal for Total 170,000 SF at Deerwood North

Flagler signed H&R Block subsidiary Option One Mortgage Co. to a 59,690-sf class A lease at the 113,168-sf, four-story Deerwood North 400 building within the four-building, 497,000-sf Deerwood North business park. Flagler officials declined to disclose lease details. H&R Block and Option One previously leased a total 110,310 sf at the park."

However, area brokers familiar with Flagler's projects tell GlobeSt.com the 59,690-sf lease was probably for 10 years at an effective rent of $20 per sf. That would bring the aggregate value of the lease to $12 million, or about two-thirds the cost of the estimated $17-million building, area construction sources tell GlobeSt.com.

Jacksonville area brokers tell GlobeSt.com the estimated aggregate value of the 170,000 sf leased by H&R Block and Option One Mortgage is in the $34-million range, based on a $20-per-sf-rent.

"Deerwood has been a very strong market for Flagler," company president G. John Carey says in a prepared statement. "The lease with Option One is a great way to launch Deerwood North 400."

Jerry Mallot, executive vice president of the Jacksonville Chamber's Cornerstone division, hails the Option One lease as "a perfect fit, with existing space and new construction to meet the company's expansion requirements." Option One plans to have a full-time staff of 600 at Deerwood North 400. The 13-year-old, Irvine, CA-based firm expanded its operations to the Jacksonville area about three years ago.

Steve Pisarik of Colliers Seeley in Irvine, CA and Victor Narussas of Colliers Dickinson in Jacksonville negotiated the lease for Option One. J.J. Conners and Gary Cox of Flagler represented their firm and will continue to market the balance of space in the building.