Although officials at NASA are also looking at comparable sites for an estimated 100,000-sf facility in Texas, Virginia, Alabama, Ohio and Mississippi, GlobeSt.com sources say the federal agency is expected to go with the Orlando site because "it feels it can cut the best deal here" for taxpayers, either on a leasing or build-to-suit basis.
NASA officials will confirm only that they are looking for a property large enough to consolidate 10 separate national offices now each doing payroll, purchase orders and general administrative work. The consolidated facility, to be called the NASA Shared Services Center, would employ 500 workers at an average annual salary of $50,000.
"If you're thinking of putting 500 workers into an office building, you are going to need a minimum 200 sf per worker to start off," an independent Orlando office planning specialist tells GlobeSt.com. The required building size would be at least 100,000 sf, says the source who has been involved in office space planning previously with the federal General Services Administration.
Winning the NASA contract would be the deal of the year for Central Florida Research Park, metro area office analysts tell GlobeSt.com. "It would give a tremendous boost to this (East Orange-University) submarket," says Bobby Palta, executive director, market analytics and GIS, Colliers Arnold.
The University/Research Park submarket is home to about 60% of the 781,699 sf of new office space delivered in 2003, says Lisa M. DeVore, research director, Advantis Real Estate Services. That submarket, however, is also suffering double-digit vacancies totaling 19.4%, including sublease space. In 2002, University/Research Park was one of the hottest office leasing hubs in the area, posting a yearend vacancy level of 9.5%.
Although there is a total 500,000 sf of available space for lease at Central Florida Research Park, GlobeSt.com sources say NASA would probably lease space in a build-to-suit structure rather than step into existing quarters.
One development group being mentioned in the broker community as possible builders of a NASA complex is Boston-based Taurus Investment Holdings and New York-based Greenstreet/Niosi Capital Partners. In July 2003, the two firms jointly acquired three existing office and flex-space buildings and 27 acres of prime developable land in Central Florida Research Park for $25.3 million, as GlobeSt.com previously reported. At that time, Taurus president and CEO Peter A. Merrigan told GlobeSt.com the joint venture planned to develop four 60,000-sf buildings on a 32.5-acre pad adjacent to the properties.
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