TAMPA, FL—It's the largest office lease in Tampa so far this year. The ink just dried on a 62,114-square-foot lease at Memorial Center. The 183,047-square-foot class B office building sits in Westshore's central business district at 4919-4921 Memorial Highway.

Ken Lane, managing director and principal of Avison Young's Tampa office, completed lease for the landlord, Tampa Memorial Center. JP Morgan Chase renewed its lease. Leasing activity is picking up in Tampa, according to market reports, thanks to an absence of new construction and downward pressure on vacancy rates that's driving up rents.

“We are seeing a trend of tenants feeling greater urgency to complete transactions and looking to begin discussions further out from lease expiration than in previous years,” says Lane. “With more than 100,000 employees living within three miles of the property according to the 2012 census, the appeal of this market, and in particular this building, we believe we will continue to see an uptick in leasing activity, increases in asking rents and a sustained downward trend in vacancy throughout the next year.”