Harris Connect Renews 64,486 SF

CHESAPEAKE, VA-Harris Connect has renewed 64,486 square feet at Crossways II here–a First Potomac Realty Trust property. The company’s lease was scheduled to expire in Sept. 2011, but this renewal extends the commitment to the property through Sept. 2016.

Harris Connect currently occupies 75% of the building, using it as a headquarters. Crossways II is located in First Potomac’s nine-building, one million-square-foot Crossways Commerce Center business park. The Harris renewal, along with other recent renewed leases here–such as a 61,992-square-foot lease with the Coast Guard in Crossways Commerce Center building–have been part of First Potomac’s aggressive leasing strategy, which the REIT put into action when signs of the recession and credit crisis began to emerge more than two years ago.

First Potomac also recently signed a seven-year, 23,580-square-foot lease with CORT Business Services Corp. to occupy a 96,000-square-foot warehouse at the REIT’s Cavalier Industrial Park, which is also located in Chesapeake. That particular lease was for a warehouse–one of three buildings at the industrial park. The new lease transaction not only brought the warehouse to full occupancy, it also brought the entire park to full stabilization.