» Office is coming back, albeit slowly. Real estate firm research arms differ on the extent of the comeback.

» Altamonte Springs and the tourist corridorare doing better than Lake Mary.

» Orlando job growthtends toward the tourism industry, and it takes awhile for growth in that sector to translate into more office jobs.

»  Verizon’s new 220,000-sq.-ft. office projectbroke ground this year in Lake Mary.

»  Construction begins this quarter on the Golf Channel’s new gateway structure at its expanded headquarters — a total of 163,000 square feet — at Sand Lake West in south Orlando, says CBRE. To the extent there is new office construction,it’s for such single-tenant users.

» CNL Center I and II at City Commonshas asking rates of $30 per square foot, a level not seen since before the recession.

» In sales, Stiles Realty’s Orlando office and Divaris Real Estate sold AIG’s 64,695-sq.-ft. Class A Baldwin Park office complex, a repositioned property, for $8.64 million to a private investor.

» In multifamily, the 300-unit Crosswater at Lakeside Village sold to Atlanta-based REIT Post Properties for $48.5 million, or $161,667 per unit, a record per-unit pricesince the downturn in suburban Orlando, CBRE says.

»  Industrial vacancies are down,and rents for Class A and B properties show increases as availability falls. That said, Orlando’s market isn’t as strong as those elsewhere in Florida.

»  West Palm Beach-based McCraney Property, in a joint venture with New York’s Clarion Partners, broke ground on 243,000 square feet of speculative industrial in John Young Business Park and recently wrapped up construction of Dade Paper’s 150,000-sq.-ft. central Florida distribution center and offices in the same park.

» Retail is Orlando’s shining star. “We’re seeing things pick up,” says Drew Forness, president of Winter Park-based Forness Properties. “Landlords can be more bold with their negotiations. You’re seeing a little more velocity in the market with tenant interest.” Rent increases will depend on the market. “You’re seeing kind of a slow creep upward,” he says.

Big Box

In a sign that empty big-box spaces are being revived, Old Time Pottery is taking a former Bealls store that sat empty for three years at Sand Lake Corners, says Drew Forness (above) of Forness Properties.

Orlando - Commercial Market
	Vacancy Rate		Avg. Asking Rent
Sector	Quarter 2 2012	Quarter 2 2013	Quarter 2 2012	Quarter 2 2013
Industrial	11.6%	10.4%	$4.90	$4.90
Retail	9.6%	9.2%	$16.23	$15.04
Office	14.4%	13.6%	$19.15	$19.22
Source: Colliers International