For W.R. Grace's Alabama real estate school online, which is taking the entire 10-story tower in a 15-year lease with renewal and long-term purchase options, the late-summer move will mean settling in a city chosen over about 100 which were considered. For the Boca Raton office market it will mean a 3% drop in overall vacancies and a general shot in the arm. Crocker & Co. recently sold the Crocker Tower and Crocker Plaza office buildings as well as Crocker Center's two office towers, its retail center and the land under its Marriott Hotel to Teachers Insurances and Annuity Association (TIAA). TIAA, part of the TIAA-CREF pension system, was the mortgage lender for Crocker Plaza, Crocker Tower and Mizner Park.

Nearby, Ackerman says, Office Depot in April doubted the size of its corporate headquarters and relocated to 150,000 sq. ft. at The Arbors office park. In this instance, says Office Depot CEO David Fuente, immediate and future space needs were behind the decision. Corporate staff was increased from 310 to 400 employees, and "the move gives Office Depot the facilities to house the personnel and equipment necessary to support our rapid expansion during the coming 10 years."

A continuing concern of corporate real estate executives is that of efficient management, both in day-to-day operations and in overall affairs. Philip Hammel, director, real estate and facilities, for Unisys Corp., McLean, Va., says, "We apply the concept of asset management. We have a lot of both owned and leased properties, and holdings measured in the millions of sq. ft., so good management is a necessity."

Like other corporate real estate executives, Hammel utilizes data from NACORE, BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association) and other professional organizations to develop standards for operation and efficiency; like most others he must also create his own database to do a thorough job. "In monitoring energy usage, for example," he says, "we gather statistics on (Unisys) usage, and compare them to a geographical baseline developed through (the above sources.)"

Because Hammel's concerns are with defense systems, his corporate real estate activities are "market specific, and business plan driven. As business plans change (which government contracts can do fairly quickly, he notes) we have to respond. It is difficult to get a government contract for more than three years, and we have to limit the terms of our leases to the terms of the contract."

Anthony Bower, senior vice president, Sun Bank, Orlando, also works hard to establish base data for operating and management standards in order to keep corporate real estate costs to a minimum. "BOMA cost indicators, for example," Bower observes, "are set up primarily for office buildings. We have a lot of branch properties, with 2,000 to 10,000 sq. ft. So we are formulating our own peer group to get operating cost standards - assembled according to similar size and aged properties. We look at each property's operating cost per sq. ft."

Bower says that for financial organizations as much as, or perhaps more than, other businesses, "it is most important nowadays that everybody should be trying to reduce operating expenses. The way to do that is to understand your expenses, which you can't do unless you have indicators.

We begin with such areas as building maintenance, utilities, insurance, taxes and depreciation - and we break each of these down further. So if we think we've been doing a good job with cleaning, or landscaping, (with one property) we can take advantage of what we learn from that."