Renewals Drive Much of Leasing Activity

Recent deals around the country show tenants of all sizes renewing, often for short terms, as tenants and building owners alike wait to see how the recession and eventual recovery will affect demand for office space. Recently in Miami, for example, as reported on GlobeSt.com, insurance and employee benefits agency InSource Inc. signed a renewal and expansion for 13,176 square feet at the Dadeland Towers South building, where it has had its headquarters since the early 1990s. The lease represents an expansion of 1,000 square feet and is the culmination of a year and a half of time in which the tenant considered possibly relocating to another office building., according to a broker in the deal. As Bob Orban, senior vice president and local branch manager with Studley Inc. told GlobeSt.com, if InSource had made a decision earlier while the office market was more robust, it would have likely stayed in its old space and paid rents closer to the Miami metro area's average of $30 per square foot. But while the tenant weighed its options, the building lost another key tenant and the larger fourth-floor space became available.

In other Miami area deals, Vista Healthplan Inc. has signed renewals for 43,000 square feet of office space at two separate locations in South Florida, working with Transwestern. The Coventry Health Care Inc. subsidiary signed a five-year renewal for 18,568 square feet at Lennar Corporate Center, 760 NW 107th Ave. in Miami, as well as a one-year renewal for 24,500 square feet at 300 South Park Road in Hollywood.

Other renewals around the country include an 18,256-square-foot renewal in Roslyn, NY by Network Recovery Services, a collection agency for medical accounts receivable. The renewal is for the company's headquarters at 3 Expressway Plaza, for 10 years.

On the West Coast, some 132,000 square feet of leasing in West Los Angeles buildings recently included more than 110,000 square feet at Equity Office Properties' five-building, 1.2-million-square-foot Howard Hughes Center. Other Westside deals included a 22,000-square-foot commitment by Ground Zero advertising agency at 4235 Redwood Ave. in Marina Del Rey. Ground Zero's five-year renewal was engineered by Madison Partners principal Brad Feld and director Travis Landrum. He notes that Ground Zero has occupied the building since 1998 and, after exploring all of its relocation options throughout the Lower Westside--as well as the economics associated with the lease renewal--the advertising firm decided that it was not advantageous to relocate.