Have We Hit the Bottom Yet?
Erik Anderson, Commercial Partners Realty, Inc.

For months now, we've all been hearing the gloom and doom news that there's another round of foreclosures in the commercial real estate industry. We have certainly seen some reduction in sale prices, but it's nowhere near what you might imagine if you only paid attention to the mainstream news. The truth is, businesses are still operating. Buildings are still being purchased and leased.

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Plasma-Therm Leases St. Petersburg Facility
Tampa Bay Business Journal

Plasma-Therm, LLC leased a 23,850-square-foot manufacturing facility in St. Petersburg.
The company, which was bought by management in 2009, signed a 10-year lease for the office and warehouse at 9900 18th St. N.
Plasma-Therm, founded in March 1975, was sold to Unaxis, a large Swiss industrial conglomerate, in 2000 and was rebranded Oerlikon.

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BB&T Signs $11 Million Lease
Tampa Bay Business Journal

BB&T, headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C., has signed a 51,000-square-foot, 10-year lease at the 36-story Park Tower office building, taking over space previously occupied by Colonial Bank. In August, BB&T (NYSE: BBT) acquired Colonial’s assets from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. after the Alabama-based bank was placed in receivership.

The lease between Branch Banking & Trust Corp. and Sterling American Property Inc., the landlord, is valued at $11 million. BB&T will occupy all of the 12th, 23rd and 25th floors, plus part of the 24th floor. The bank also has a retail branch on the first floor at the corner of Madison and Tampa streets. BB&T’s commercial real estate lending group and residential lending operations also will be located in the building. In all, more than 100 bank employees will work from Park Tower.

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Momentum Building in Economy
Rex Nutting, MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The U.S. economic recovery won't be derailed by financial turmoil in Europe or by high debt levels here at home, says Jim O'Sullivan, chief economist for MF Global.

The U.S. economy is strengthening month by month. "Growth is coming in better than expected," O'Sullivan said, "consistent with enough upward momentum to more than offset the impact of the turmoil" in Europe.

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