Empty office buildings in Innsbrook area draw tenants

Innsbrook’s Class A building vacancy rate of 36.2 percent has dropped to 12 percent during the past 12 quarters, according to analysis from Jones Lang LaSalle.

A large portion of that positive net absorption – the rate at which rentable space is filled — was a result of Allianz’s move to Deep Run I off West Broad Street in the first quarter of 2013. In addition, JLL said several other corporations are looking to cut expenses by consolidating locations in larger buildings.

“Buildings with large footprints enable companies to minimize duplicity in design and layout and get more people on single floors and in less space. These work-place strategy initiatives are instrumental for organizations to reduce occupancy costs and hedge against a stalling recovery and inflation,” James E. Appich, a senior vice president in JLL’s Richmond office, said in a statement.

According to JLL, several additional large blocks may be coming off the market soon because of lease negotiations at Deep Run I and Deep Run III, two 300,000-square-foot-plus buildings located off Mayland Drive that used to be the headquarters location for Circuit City Stores, before the company went out of business.

So far, the buildings have drawn several tenants. Alianz Global Assistance USA is leasing four of five floors at Deep Run I for its headquarters location. At Deep Run III, Essex Bank and Travelers Insurance recently signed leases, with the bank taking 27,487 square feet and Travelers signing up for 71,817 square feet.

The JLL analysis notes that all of the former full-building vacancies were located on the south side of Broad Street, away from the central density of the Innsbrook submarket.