By Katie Burke CoStar News
National law firm Polsinelli is making good on its ambitious growth plans in the Philadelphia area with a deal to roughly double its office space to accommodate its expansion.
Within a few months of making its regional debut, the Kansas City, Missouri-based firm signed a deal to take over two floors at the Three Logan Square tower, Polsinelli confirmed. The expansion means it can grow its 60-person regional workforce to about 120 employees.
The long-term deal with Brandywine Realty Trust totals about 40,800 square feet across the 11th and 12th floors of the building at 1717 Arch St. Polsinelli earlier this summer made its debut in the Philadelphia area, where it has been working from about 21,650 square feet on a higher level within the more than 1 million-square-foot tower.
The firm's growth in the area meant it soon outgrew the space, and Polsinelli began looking for alternatives both within the Brandywine-owned building as well as elsewhere across the Philadelphia-based landlord's portfolio.
The law firm expects to shift to the expanded space by mid-2025 once finish-out work wraps up.
The legal industry collectively signed on for about 17 million square feet nationally in 2023, according to a recent Cushman & Wakefield report, an assertive rebound from the early years of the pandemic when law firms were pulling back on deals or hesitant to take on new space.
The burst of new leases has also pushed the legal sector to the forefront of the national office market as other industries remain wary about making long-term commitments to office space.
Legal boost
Law firms' emphasis on space in high-end buildings has helped prop up leasing activity across the United States, as many have prioritized office decisions in the nicest and newest properties.
Some major law firms have increasingly used office space as a tool to attract and retain talent, often moving into newer, higher-quality space in a boost to landlords of top-tier buildings. While some law firms have opted to reduce their real estate portfolios and hop to smaller spaces in newer properties, other firms have signed some of the country's largest deals in the past couple of years.
Law firms across the country "are expected to continue to be in the market for office space given their proclivity for in-office work and apprentice-based business model," according to the Cushman & Wakefield report.
Law firms accounted for roughly 9% of all office leasing activity last year in the country's largest legal markets, including Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and Atlanta, according to Cushman & Wakefield. That's almost double the share that law firms accounted for in 2022.
For Brandywine, more than 60% of the new leases it signed in the third quarter account for what CEO Jerry Sweeney attributes to the "flight to quality" trend.
The landlord's Three Logan Square tower is already home to a party of law firms that have expanded to the downtown tower in recent years. National law firms Post & Schell, Barnes & Thornburg and Flaster Greenberg have all recently relocated to or expanded within the building, according to CoStar data.
Once it moves into its newly expanded space, Polsinelli will be one of the tower's largest tenants.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.