\u201cCertainly, there are companies still utilizing a flexible work schedule, but I would say for the most part, the companies that I\u2019m speaking to and transactions that have been recently have a more normalized cadence of schedule in the office,\u201d Poole said.<\/p>\n
That has led to two notable trends in the office market: employers are downsizing their overall footprints while seeking highly amenitized, Class-A space that will draw employees back to the office. \u201cWe call it having a commute-worthy experience to come back to the office,\u201d Poole said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TGS-L-JLL-Exchange-Office-30th-floor-01.jpg\")
A caf\u00e9 and kitchen area in JLL’s new Orlando office serves as a hub for employees and clients alike, offering space for informal meetings, events, and day-to-day connection. (Courtesy of JLL)<\/p>\n
JLL\u2019s recent move into the newly renovated 30th floor of The Exchange on Orange located at 200 S. Orange Ave. \u2013 the tallest tower within the three-building, Class A office complex in downtown Orlando \u2014 is such an example.<\/p>\n
JLL was utilizing two floors in an adjacent building owned by the same landlord, Piedmont Realty Trust<\/a>. The firm shed about 5,000 square feet from its previous bifurcated offices, but much of that was occupied by redundant reception areas, restrooms, break rooms and common areas.<\/p>\n Now the more streamlined space brings together JLL\u2019s 70-plus workers across multiple divisions under one roof and onto a single floor. And it offers sweeping 360-degree views of the city, including iconic landmarks such as Lake Eola Park, the Kia Center, and Camping World Stadium.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are the beneficiary of a 30th-floor view, and many of the things inside of our office were meant for teamwork, collaboration, meeting spaces, conferencing rooms,\u201d Poole said. \u201cAll of the technology has been updated, and it provides a nice experience for all of our people to come back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n Piedmont paid $170.8 million in November 2015<\/a> for the 35-story office tower and a second building, as well as a seven-story parking garage. The tallest tower, The Exchange on Orange, recently underwent a $26 million renovation designed to create a hospitality-driven office environment offering best-in-class amenities, including an outdoor courtyard, a new 10,000-square-foot tenant lounge area with billiards, two Top Golf Swing Suites, a conferencing facility with capacity of up to 100 people, and a new eight-story atrium lobby experience.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough our exclusive tenant engagement program and strong amenity offerings, we have positioned the Exchange to redefine the future of the workplace,\u201d said Ben Mullenix, VP, Piedmont Realty Trust. \u201cWe remain laser-focused on being a market leader in defining a hospitality-driven experience enhanced by productivity, collaboration, and connectivity.\u201d<\/p>\n Shayna Hanson, senior VP of brokerage services for Lincoln Property Co.<\/a>, said these types of upgrades help create a sense of community within the building. \u201cOne thing we\u2019re seeing across many of the buildings we represent is a real effort to make the office environment more tenant-friendly,\u201d she said. \u201cThe \u2018live, work, play\u2019 concept is still very relevant. Tenants want their office building to be more than just a place to go sit at a desk.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Piedmont, Lincoln is benefiting from these investments. \u201cWe have been very lucky to have signed a substantial amount deals this year \u2013 and the pipeline for 2027 is looking really positive,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were some large renewals early in the year, and the 3rd quarter has been filled with a lot of expansions.\u201d<\/p>\n While deal volume is down from 2025, leasing activity has increased for the first two quarters of the year, buoyed by notable transactions in the Lake Mary\/Heathrow and University\/Research Park submarkets.<\/p>\n \u201cI would describe the Orlando office market in 2026 as being firmly in the recovery and stabilization phase,\u201d Hanson said. \u201cThe improvement is becoming increasingly evident as leasing activity is strengthening every month.\u00a0 Space requirements are continuing to rise \u2013 where they were sitting pretty stagnant in 2025. We are also seeing a broader range of demand, including corporate relocations, business expansions, and the continued flight for quality.\u201d<\/p>\n Poole noted that the overall office supply is changing, as many tenant users opt to purchase their own buildings.\u00a0 \u201cSo, inventory starts to be eaten up by those users in space,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd furthermore, in other situations, I can point to, like several out east by the UCF\/Quadrangle market, there are other office buildings which are being demolished or redeveloped into kind of higher and better use opportunities on a go-forward basis.\u201d<\/p>\n The growing demand, combined with reduced inventory, pushes the conversation toward new development. This is where Orlando lags behind markets in South Florida, which have robust development pipelines. Orlando hasn\u2019t delivered a major Class-A office tower since 2023, in Lake Nona Town Center, and that building sat largely vacant for two years before luring Siemens Energy.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n The only new construction since then has been the 4-story, 40,000-square-foot building<\/a> being built by Dr. Phillips Charities in The Packing District. It will be delivered this quarter.<\/p>\n Poole said Orlando won\u2019t see any speculative office space built in the near future, but some new construction will likely take place in 2027 and 2028.\u00a0 \u201cThose types of conversations are starting to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the most anticipated projects in downtown Orlando is Westcourt<\/a>, the $500 million sports and entertainment district across from the Kia Center. Turner Construction Company began site development this spring on the 900,000-square-foot district, which will include 310,000 square feet of Class-A office space anchored by the Orlando Magic. The developers, Machete Group and JMA Ventures, have not scheduled an official groundbreaking.<\/p>\n Pre-leasing will determine if other major office projects, like The Edge at Church Street Station<\/a> or Building X at Creative Village, move forward. Hanson offered no update on The Edge, the 32-story mixed-use tower approved for 200,000 square feet of office space, along with apartments, retail and 10 stories of parking.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to get over some of those pre-leasing hurdles to get any building out of the ground,\u201d Poole said. \u201cBut any landlord is going to run a pro forma based on some type of pre-lease-up, and the financing has a lot to do with whether or not they can make those numbers work for their project.\u201d<\/p>\n Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at\u00a0lkinsler@GrowthSpotter.com<\/a> or (407) 420-6261. Follow GrowthSpotter on\u00a0Facebook<\/a> and\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time since COVID decimated Orlando\u2019s economy in 2020, the city\u2019s office market is beginning to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,34752,58467,28,114,49760,1335,139,141,140,480],"class_list":["post-386459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-business","tag-downtown-orlando-developments","tag-downtown-towers","tag-florida","tag-latest-headlines","tag-office-medical","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/TGS-L-JLL-Exchange-Office-30th-floor-03.jpg\")
The office blends functionality with elevated design, featuring a mix of open workstations, private offices, and a variety of conference and huddle rooms to support different work styles. (Courtesy of JLL)<\/p>\n