Washington Mutual Signs 106,000-SF Lease

MELBOURNE, FL-Vacant for five years, the former 106,000-sf home of a Wal-Mart store will be getting a new tenant in first quarter 2004. That’s when Seattle-based Washington Mutual Inc. plans to open an $8.4 million financial services center, staffed with about 600 workers, to serve customers nationwide, Brevard county planning and development staffers confirm to GlobeSt.com.

The site is about 60 miles southeast of Downtown Orlando. The county confirms Washington Mutual has signed a 12-year-lease. Area brokers familiar with the deal tell GlobeSt.com the aggregate value of the lease is estimated at $12 million, or about $10 per sf. The building is at Babcock Street and Eber Road, not far from the nearby community of Palm Bay.

A Washington Mutual spokesperson says the bank chose Melbourne, on Florida’s Space Coast, over eight over cities that were being considered. The names of the finalists were not disclosed.