"We looked at several other buildings and we found some less expensive options in our search," says Thomas Ford, a broker with Henry S. Miller/TCN Worldwide's local office, "but none compared to Crawford's current building in terms of location or quality." Crawford has been a tenant for six years at 3100 S. Gessner Rd., which is owned and managed by BMS Management.

Ford tells GlobeSt.com that Crawford new pact offers a slightly reduced rate from its previous lease. "We got some reductions because of the market," he says, adding the building's quoted rate is $15.50 per sf. As part of the renewal, Crawford redesigned its space layout to be more efficient, says Ford, who teamed with Tim Moresco of Richard Bowers & Co./TCN Worldwide to handle the deal.

Crawford is the lead tenant in the 135,000-sf building. Built in 1981 and renovated three years ago, the structure is now more than 85% leased.