MIAMI—Across South Florida there is very little office space under construction. Some say that translates to a huge demand for office space in three to four years.

Stephen L. Smith, vice president of The Hogan Group, whichmanages and leases 1.4 million square feet of office space at Waterford at Blue Lagoon in Airport West, has some advice for tenants whose leases will expire during that time frame. He shares it in the third part of our exclusive interview.

“First, most available land is being developed as multifamily right now,” Smith says. “It's a question of highest and best use. You can make more money right now building a condo than building office.”

Smith sees an opportunity for the land his company owns at Waterford, which will be developed as office space. He is hoping to build another building in the office park within the next two to three years.

“We will have a huge advantage because, again, there is not a lot of office space that is going to be built in the coming years,” he says. “Now, if I were a tenant whose lease expired in the next two to three years, I would be very nervous.”

His advice to such tenants: try to forecast what your future space needs is, and deal with it now. “Tenants will have fewer and fewer options as the economy continues to improve and available space is absorbed,” Smith says. “Brokers and tenants are realizing that it is slowly becoming a landlords market.”

You can still read parts one of this exclusive series: Hogan Hints at New Office Paradigm and on monday check out the final installment, Why Some Office Users Are Moving North.

NOT FOR REPRINT

© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.