13,000 Square Foot Clearwater Lease

Ultimate Medical Academy, a healthcare technical college leased approximately 13,000 square feet in the 5 story building located at 1255 Cleveland Street in Clearwater.  The will be located on the first and second floors.

Brown and Brown Go Green

Brown and Brown will move from their home at Colonial Center Bayside to a Hallmark Development building located at 83 Park Place Blvd. in March of 2010. Brown and Brown will occupy approximately 10,000 square feet at this new environmentally sustainable location. 83 Park place will be certified by the Green Building Council's LEED program after completion.

4200 West Cypress Sells for $24 Million

The 10 story, 220,000 square foot Westshore office building formerly owned by TIAA-CREF was purchased by Highwoods Properties Inc. for $24.7 million.

It is estimated that the occupancy of the building is above 90% and has an NOI of over $3 million per year. Highwoods will look to improve the property and will be marketing the remaining office space for lease.

Highwoods, a REIT (NYSE: HIW) based out of Raleigh, NC now owns over 2 million square feet of office space in the Westshore submarket of Tampa Bay.

Belcher Commons Renews Several Medical Related Tenants

Belcher Commons, located just north of Gulf to Bay on Belcher Road renewed two medical related tenants totaling approximately 5,500 square feet. Florida Dental Center and Gregory L. Dokka, D.C. PA were the two tenants who decided to continue their tenancy this 112,000 square foot office park in Clearwater. Belcher Commons is owned by Arcis Investments Inc. and was renovated by them after their purchase in 2004.

First American Title Renews in Countryside

Amongst these harsh times for real estate related companies, First American Title showed their strength and committed to a 5 year lease renewal in Clearwater's Countryside Place office building. The company will occupy approximately 37,000 square feet in this 2 story building. The building located on Enterprise Rd. just East of US Highway 19 N, is located in the Countryside node of the North Pinellas office market and is one of this market's largest renewals this year.

Downtown Tampa's Tallest Building Goes Green

Downtown Tampa's tallest office building received an accreditation from the Green Building Institute. 100 North Tampa was constructed in 1992 and is 42 stories above ground. Between the period of March 1 and May 31st, this building generated 311,165 pounds of trash, of which 74% was recycled. Furthermore, in order to reduce water usage, the building was reported as being retrofitted with 173 faucets, 140 toilets, 14 shower heads as well as HVAC modifications. They also changed air filters to increase the indoor air quality.

In many instances, going green can actually be profitable and rather cheap to implement. Most of these changes will provide the owners with a very short, if not immediate, payback cycle on their investment.

Humana Medical Renews their lease at Netpark

Reported as one of the largest lease deals in the Tampa Bay Area this year, Humana Medical Plan Inc. renewed its lease at NetPark. Netpark, the former mall located on Hillsborough Avenue is home to some of Tampa's largest tenants. Humana's office space holds approximately 1,000 employees in 170,000 square feet. The lease is estimated to be roughly $18.5 million in value.