Leasing activity bounces back from prior quarter
In a reversal over the prior quarter, office leasing activity in Tampa Bay jumped 14% quarter over quarter with slightly over 1 million square feet (msf) recorded, although year over year leasing activity was down 18%. New York Life Insurance Company inked a full building lease of 119,341 square feet (sf) at Renaissance VII, one of seven buildings in the 70-acre, Class A Renaissance Center complex in Northwest Tampa. This new lease allows the tenant to consolidate and upgrade its current Tampa operation from its present location spread out over 3 buildings into a singleClass A property whose larger, more efficient floorplates enabled a reduction of 33% of its footprint. In another significant lease, one of the area’s largest law firms, Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, renewed and expanded its presence by approximately 10% in one of Tampa CBD’s trophy buildings, the Bank of America Plaza. In fact, the vast majority oftop transactions over the quarter were in Class A properties underscoring that the trend by occupiers in choosing high-quality office space with attractive amenity packages, despite often higher rents, shows no sign of letting up.