Law Firm Signs Near-Record Local Lease

JACKSONVILLE, FL-Downtown was able to hold on to a blue-ribbon tenant recently when Taylor, Day & Currie, a 23-year-old law firm, renewed its 11,459-sf lease for 10 years on the 35th floor of Bank of America Tower. The lease brings the 42-story, 660,776-sf building to 84% occupancy, Brad R. Chrischilles tells GlobeSt.com. Chrischilles, senior vice president, brokerage and Jacksonville director for Trammell Crow Co. represented the tenant. Bev Brown of Parmenter Co. in Fort Lauderdale negotiated for Parmenter, the building’s owner. In a 7.4 million-sf class A office market where the overall vacancy is 21.4%, the renewal was one of the largest lease transactions completed this year, Chrischilles says. But the deal wasn’t easy to do. “When a major law firm decides to move, there are complex issues in both real estate and business,” the broker says. “Trammell Crow Co. did consulting work with the client on the real estate aspects and everything went great.” Although not a mega-sized lease, Chrischilles says the transaction was “significant” for the Jacksonville market.He declined to disclose the value of the lease. But area brokers familiar with the Downtown Jacksonville class A market tell GlobeSt.com the estimated gross value of the lease is $2.8 million or about $23 per sf. The asking average base rental rate Downtown ranges from $18.50 to $23.50 per sf, Chrischilles says.