Has the increase in leasing activity finally trickled northward? Commercial real estate brokers say they’re starting to notice an uptick in leasing by companies moving businesses downtown.
One example: The leasing activity at the CityPlace Tower office building.
A Fortune 500 company from western Palm Beach County is close to signing a deal to lease 6,600 square feet of space in the tower. The unnamed company would be on the 8th floor, which also houses Neuburger Berman, an asset management firm, and RBC Wealth Management, said Kevin Probel, vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle. The firm handles leasing and management of the 18-story, 300,000-square-foot CityPlace Tower along Okeechobee Boulevard.
In April, Watermark Medical, which evaluates sleep patterns through at-home testings, moved to West Palm Beach’s EcoPlex “green” building at Centrepark West. The move followed a merger with SleepMed, the largest private sleep diagnostics and therapy provider.
The LA Fitness gym, which is coming to CityPlace, is proving to be an attraction to potential tenants eying space in the CityPlace Tower. “LA Fitness has been a big talking point for us,” Probel said. “It’s been a huge advantage.”
Probel said the gym frequently comes up during tower tours. The gym, which is taking over the Barnes & Noble bookstore by year’s end, is within walking distance of the office building.
If the deals are completed, occupancy in the tower will rise to 93 percent from 90 percent.
Meanwhile, another company also is relocating and expanding to West Palm Beach. This one is coming to the Reflections office buildings on Australian Avenue.
Granite Telecommunications LLC, based in Quincy, Mass., is moving and expanding a sales and support center from an existing location in Boynton Beach, said Peter Reed, principal with Commercial Florida Realty Services in Boca Raton. At Reflections, Granite Telecommunications will lease 7,800 square feet.
“This deal represents positive absorption for the Australian Avenue corridor,” Reed said. “It’s not just another West Palm Beach shuffle,” where tenants are lured from one building downtown to another. With this and other deals, “West Palm Beach is starting to wake up,” Reed added.
Reflections consists of two buildings, 400 and 450 Australian Avenue. Together, they total 130,000 square feet. The Granite deal brings the buildings’ occupancy to 77 percent, Reed said.
And then there are the secretive dealings for the city’s “tent site,” a property located on Okeechobee Boulevard at Dixie Highway. The land, once caught up in the Digital Domain fiasco, now remains available to potential employers. Up to three candidates are vying for the property but their identities are secret. Mayor Jeri Muoio has stressed that she wants to boost the number of companies based in West Palm Beach.
Source: Palm Beach Post
