Downtown Broward Office Market Looking Up for Owners

BROWARD COUNTY, FL- Due to declining direct vacancy rates and increases recently in average asking rents property owners are expected to “gain the upper hand in negotiations in the coming months” in the Broward County Downtown office submarket, states a newly released market update by CB Richard Ellis.The Cypress Creek submarket, the report states, is where tenants should be looking and property owners should be looking for deals that make sense. Most of the submarket’s net absorption this year has been in class A product, but conditions are expected to improve as many large tenants are considering locating here.In the nearby Plantation submarket, Offices at the Fashion Mall, recently converted to class A office space, has contributed to a rise in the overall vacancy rate from 11.5% to 17.7% in the second quarter, and the class A rate rising from 2% to 16.7%. The project is 81% vacant, according to the report.In the Commercial Boulevard submarket, both vacancy rates and average asking rates dropped, with class B vacancy rates falling from 18.1% to 14.6%, due to most leasing activity occurring in this class. Southwest Broward remains one of the county’s strongest performing submarkets, having just 152,000 sf of direct space available. Meanwhile, Northwest Broward has the lowest vacancy rate in the county, according to the CBRE report.