PHOENIX—During the past year, 73% of the sector's office leasesrepresented occupancy growth. With Northern California holding nineof the top 15 most expensive in-demand technology submarkets—led byDowntown Palo Alto at $98.68 per square foot—tech firms are lookingto other zip codes to fuel their future, according toJLL's 2015 Technology Office Outlook. Expansionfor the technology industry in 2015 is no longer just about theconvenience of cheaper rents or accessing new talent pools in anexploratory exercise. It's a strategic necessity, with firmsstarting to plant roots,

Keith Lammersen, JLL broker, tells GlobeSt.com:"Of special note is that the average office rent in Phoenix's mostexpensive tech submarket (Tempe, AZ) is 78.5% cheaper than SiliconValley's most expensive submarket (Menlo Park, CA) and 43% cheaperthan Seattle-Bellevue's Lake Union. That's a major benefit for techcompanies and a tremendous boon for Phoenix."

Fortunately, according to JLL's report, the same economic forcesthat are pushing rents higher along familiar Northern Californiastreets such as Sand Hill Road and Hamilton Avenue—which at $141.60and $124.44 per square foot respectively are the most expensive inthe United States—are making it possible for the sector to spreadthe wealth into markets such as Atlanta, Detroit, Orlando andPhoenix. In the past year, 34 technology companies expanded intonew locations across 19 markets with more than 2.1 million squarefeet of office space.