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CHICAGO-In a slight reversal of fortune, the West Coast hastaken over as the growth engine for the current national officemarket, according to recent second quarter numbers provided toGlobeSt.com by locally based Jones Lang LaSalle.Eight markets dominated by technology and energy firms are thestrength of the slight national vacancy drop to 17.3%, JLL says,while the Mid-Atlantic cities that led the country out of therecession slow to a crawl.

John Sikaitis, director of office researchfor Jones Lang LaSalle, tells GlobeSt.comthat the energy and tech market regions such as SiliconValley, Seattle, Portland and Austin make up almost 70% of thenation’s office occupancy gains in the first half of the year.Silicon Valley has seen about 1.8 million square feet of positiveoccupancy growth this year, followed by about 800,000 square feetin Seattle and 500,000 square feet in Portland. Los Angeles,Denver, Dallas and Houston also saw large occupancy gains.