“Most of the leasing activity in the Jacksonville market right now is from renewal activity and tenants that are taking the opportunity to shop the market,” Karl Hanson, Flagler vice president market officer for North Florida, tells GlobeSt.com.

This is Flagler’s second win for the Deerwood project in as many months. In July, Zurich.-based Adecco Group decided to leave the Modis Building in downtown Jacksonville to take up residence at Deerwood South in the spring of 2011. The recruitment and workforce solutions company signed a 78,292-square foot lease at Deerwood South.

Nutter declined to comment on the Main Street America deal, but Jim Sebesta, vice president at Phoenix Realty Group in Jacksonville, tells GlobeSt.com that the office market is starting to rebound in Jacksonville. The total vacancy rate held steady at 23% in the second quarter, according to CB Richard Ellis. The second quarter closed with positive absorption of 31,274 square feet. Lease rates for Class A office space averaged $20.28 per square foot.

“A lot of our office market was tied directly to the residential mortgage business,” Sebesta says. “When that collapsed, we saw a lot of downsizing and a lot of space hit our market. We got hurt a little worse than some cities. Now, we’re bouncing back.”

Sebesta points to Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group’s decision to open a 60,000 square foot office on the Southside of Jacksonville, along with the Main Street America deal, as signs of life in Jacksonville’s financial services industry.

“With backroom operations for Chase, Washington Mutual and Citigroup here, we saw a lot of financial services professionals laid off,” Sebesta said. “Now, we have the space availability and the labor pool to attract companies looking for good deals.”