MIAMI—The Maitland Center submarket in the Orlando area has seen a big turnaround in recent months. It's official the region's second largest office submarket with an inventory of 5.7 million square feet, according to CBRE.

With an uptick in leasing activity and increasing lease rates, the total vacancy rate dropped to 10.3% in the first quarter 2017. That's down significantly from 16.5% in the first quarter of 2016.

Institutional investors see these numbers and are rushing into the Maitland market. In 2016 and 2017 alone, investors acquired 21 properties in Maitland Center, a total of 1.13 million square feet and a sales volume of $95.263 million. So far in 2017, there has been a 43.4% increase in the total square feet sold and a 17.2% increase in the total sales volume year over year.