Studley's Lechter Says Office Tenants Are in Catbird Seat

ATLANTA-Despite improved office vacancy rates that still hover around 20%, tenants shopping for space here have a wide array of choices at favorable rent ranges, Andrew Lechter, a newly named executive vice president in the local office of Studley, tells GlobeSt.com.

“Every time a report is issued about the ‘bad’ state of the market, remember that these reports are viewed through the landlords’ perspective,” Lechter says. “Most businesses lease space, and for them, the current environment is very favorable, as the number of choices are quite high and the overall costs of occupancy are very low.”

The broker says a little-understood fact in the current market is that “many tenants are paying the same amount in rent per sf today as they were 10 or 15 years ago. Is there anything else which businesses buy in which this is the case?”