Michael Griffin: And then my second question is just on Tampa, circling back on the developments and the presence there. Obviously, it’s a growing market. But I’m curious what makes it as attractive as it is? I mean I was reading somewhere recently. I think Tampa has around the same population growth over the last decade as Little Rock, Arkansas. I’m not saying a little rock bad per se, but like you’ve got Midtown West, you majority leased to Tampa Gas Electric, I think, starting the county. So maybe talk about why that’s such a beneficial market, if you could.
Ted Klinck: Well, we’ve been in Tampa since I think the ’90s. And I think has been a good long-term performer for us. If you look at our assets there, they’re largely in Westshore and the CBD, are the 2 best business districts there. And then when you drill down specifically on these assets, Midtown East, that is in part of a 22-acre Midtown Tampa mixed-use development. There’s really a unique type project for Tampa and the success we had at Midtown West. If you remember, right before the pandemic, I think as maybe summer or fall in 2019, we started a 150,000 square foot office building, 100% spec. And during the pandemic, we completed it on time, on schedule. And we leased it up on time and better than our pro forma from a rental rate standpoint.
So just the demand that we saw that is looking for a mixed-use, integrated mixed-use project in Tampa was — gave us the conviction to go in Midtown East. And as you’re not Midtown East, it is larger build, it’s about 438,000 or 40,000 square foot building that Tampa Electric, TCO, is going to be buying a condominium interest in that building. So we’ve only got about 140,000 square feet of office to lease up. But we just think it’s a unique mixed-use environment that’s very vibrant. It’s again it’s going to help companies recruit and retain their employees.
Brian Leary: Michael, it’s Brian. I might just add on. If we think of all of our different markets having different ages in their life, many of them are further along in their development and evolution. And Tampa has fundamentally kind of changed its perception. Maybe years ago, sort of known this back-office kind of location, some defense connectivity with CENTCOM headquarter there. What’s happened really over the last few years and accelerated by the pandemic and the outward flow of companies from maybe the gateways, I think we’ve mentioned this before, Tampa is the one relocation destination for companies out of the Northeast into Florida. It’s not South Florida, it’s Tampa. So that’s a great story. In terms of the little rock growth rate, we’re definitely looking to that.
But we’ve seen the quality of the customers that are leasing space, as Ted mentioned, in Midtown. And now our Midtown West is north of 97% leased. The combination of the diversified economy in Tampa, they’re spending billions dollars of expanding the airport. You’re seeing new investment with folks from around the country in Downtown through the Water Street development in Midtown, what we’re doing with our partners there. It feels like Tampa is kind of taking its next seat at the table with the likes of Raleigh and Nashville and Austin and Charlotte. It feels like that.
Operator: Our next question is from the line of Ronald Kamdem with Morgan Stanley.
Ronald Kamdem: A couple of quick ones. Back on the leasing, is there a way to sort of quantify what the pipeline, what the activity is? And then maybe just some qualitative comments on sort of tech and some of the life science hubs that were in some of your markets. Just curious what you’re seeing from them.
Brian Leary: Ron, Brian here. I’ll take the first shot and let Ted and Brendan grade my paper. Couple of things. We have low exposure to tech in general. I think you probably know that. Not that we’re down on tech, it’s just as a fact. As you look into the crystal ball of what we’re seeing in second quarter already, a few weeks in, Nashville, Raleigh are going to be stuff we talk about next quarter, we feel pretty good about. Even Richmond is going to have something to talk about. Tampa was our leader this quarter, the 112,000 square feet. The momentum continues there following on kind of Michael’s question. So in general, those markets, we like the economics that are coming in, As Ted kind of mention, is something that people ask.
Is it more expensive to do deals? What are the fundamental economics around the leasing that’s going on? Yes, it’s competitive. We haven’t seen costs come down per se in the build-out of spaces. Has it leveled out, we believe so. And we’re optimistic that as other projects are slow down that maybe we have a chance to pick up some things there. For those deals that will give us term and have the credit, we’re inclined to win those deals. I have kind of a bad joke with our entire leasing team. That I’m more optimistic about renewing someone who’s in the portfolio than is not. And we have the ability within our own portfolio to look ahead 2 years, 3 years with renewals and maybe do deals, work with customers in a way that the private side singularly financed building that we compete with might not be able to.
Ronald Kamdem: The other one is I had that same question on 1800 Century Boulevard in the 10-Q. If I could ask it a different way. Obviously, it’s not core, as you mentioned at the top. But if I could ask it a different way, is there — is this idiosyncratic? Is there — was there something unique about how they were using the buildings that you sort of looked at this and say, “Okay, that sort of made sense?” Were there any sort of clues just looking at their usage versus other tenants, maybe that kind of shown this was coming?
Ted Klinck: Yes, Ron. Well, certainly, they were slower. Like most government users, they’re slower on the return to work over the last couple of years. But really the ability have been in there forever. So space is tired. It does need to get redone. So I think it’s probably a hybrid work combined with just needing to reconfigure their space like we’re seeing in others. Obviously, there — they’re in a building that’s built in 1975. So it’s an older building, right? So there’s CapEx not only to retenant it, there’s the BI, the TI associated with their lease, but they’re just building capital that will need to be invested in that asset on a sort of an irregular floor plate. So it’s just really — they’ve been there a long time, and they are reevaluating their space like a lot of folks are.
Ronald Kamdem: And the last one, if I may. Just the license insurance deal you did in the quarter at a pretty good rate. Obviously, Brendan went through sort of the funding plans. And you’re well funded. I’m just curious, are you getting more calls from life insurance companies in terms of other assets where there’s interest, there’s opportunity down the road?
Brendan Maiorana: Yes, Ron, it’s Brendan. Thanks. We were pleased with the execution on the mortgage at BofA Tower. I would say, I mean, in general, we are predominantly an unsecured borrower. So mortgages are not something that we’re looking to do a lot of. However, the benefit of us having a largely unsecured asset pool with a high-quality portfolio of assets is there are those options that are out there, should we choose to pursue some mortgages. So I think it’s an option that’s open to us. and we’ll evaluate whether or not it makes sense. But we do want to balance the unsecured pool that we have out there with others. And just as a reminder, I mean, we’re in great shape from a liquidity standpoint. So I mean we can fund all of the development pipeline and all of our debt maturities through the expiration of the line, which is in March of 2026, without the need to raise any additional capital.
So it’s not something that we actively need to go out and raise capital, it’s just an option should we choose to do so.
Operator: Next question is from the line of Dylan Burzinski with Green Street.
