Scott recently brokered one of the biggest lease transactions of 2009 so far at a newly constructed 49,000-square-foot building within Enterprise Center at 3150 SW 15th St. in Deerfield Beach. Tenant Advanced Media Technologies Inc. relocated and expanded from a space on Powerline Road and SW 10th Street, and will use the new building as its corporate headquarters, Scott explains. Enterprise Center, which totals 1.5 million square feet, enjoys a vacancy rate of only 3%, with permits for another 107,000 square feet that will be built based on demand, he says.

In terms of investment sales in Broward County, brokers are confident that 2009 will see a closer alignment between buyers and sellers. Last year ended with more than a 50% year-over-year decline in sales, much of which was due to the financial markets crisis and investors not willing to step off the sidelines, Cushman & Wakefield reports.

"During the second half of 2009, we'll see more user-buyers making plays for properties," Tangalakis predicts. "Institutional portfolios will continue to trade, primarily in the class A product line. At this point, class B and C user buildings are going to be trading close to the $80-per-square-foot price range, so it would behoove an owner/buyer to acquire an existing facility and ramp it up, rather than start with ground-up construction."