"They went out and explored the market pretty significantly. We had to negotiate pretty hard to keep them in the building," Jim Achen, a vice president at Transwestern Commercial Services in Phoenix, tells GlobeSt.com. "We put together an economic deal that was very competitive based upon their cost of relocating to a self-built building on their campus."

Four years ago, American Express leased 130,000 sf at 2512 W. Dunlap Ave., a five-story building and one of two in a 300,000-sf complex. Two years later the company took over the entire building. Prior to the lease expiration, American Express considered a build-to-suit on its corporate campus at 56th Street and Loop 101 in North Phoenix.

Negotiations lasted more than 1.5 years, in what Achen characterizes as a hard-fought play to retain the tenant. The economics associated with renewing, not to mention the property's various amenities, finally won over American Express, he says. "The hotel adjacent to the project is the nicest in the area and the access to their employees is very good," he says.