Flagler Closes 5-Year, Nearly 70,000 SF Lease Renewal with The Main Street America Group at Deerwood North

Long-term Lease Ensures Company’s Commitment to Jacksonville After Relocating in 2003

Coral Gables, FL (Vocus) August 19, 2010

Flagler has announced it recently closed a five-year lease renewal with The Main Street America Group for the company’s 67,694-square-foot corporate headquarters located at the Deerwood North business park at 4601 Touchton Road in Jacksonville, Fla.

The lease secures super regional property/casualty insurance company Main Street America, including its Florida-based carrier, Old Dominion Insurance Company, as a tenant in the Class-A office building for five years, ensuring a long-term commitment to the Jacksonville market after relocating its headquarters to the area from Keene, N.H., in 2003.

Flagler’s Senior Director of Leasing, Ross Carrier, represented Flagler in the transaction and Lou Nutter of CB Richard Ellis represented the tenant.

“Jacksonville is a strong business community and has provided our company with excellent opportunities for profitable growth,” said Tom Van Berkel, Main Street America’s Chairman, President, and CEO. “Our move to Jacksonville has been the springboard for our geographic diversification, as we have entered nine new states in the past few years and significantly increased our market share. We have been particularly pleased with our corporate headquarters location at Deerwood North, which has provided our employees a modern and professional work environment with easy access to a host of amenities, all while serving the needs of our independent agent-customers in an accessible location. We are pleased to renew our lease with Flagler and maintain our strong presence in Jacksonville.”    

One of Flagler’s largest office parks in Jacksonville, Deerwood North is located in the city’s growing central business corridor and is comprised of four Class-A office buildings totaling nearly 500,000 rentable square feet. The business park boasts numerous notable tenants including Arizona Chemical Company, Fidelity Investments, Carolina Casualty Insurance and IBM Corporation. The park is accessible from Interstate 95, Florida 9A, J. Turner Butler Boulevard, Southside Boulevard and is near the Tinseltown retail center and St. Johns Town Center.

“We have enjoyed our ongoing relationship with Main Street America since they relocated their headquarters to Jacksonville seven years ago,” said Karl Hanson, Flagler Vice President Market Officer, North Florida. “We love to see industry leading companies like Main Street America committed to keeping jobs in the Jacksonville community and expanding their business presence.”

For more information about Flagler’s Deerwood North or its other regional property offerings, contact Flagler brokers Gary Cox or Ross Carrier at (904) 565-4100 or visit http://www.flaglerdev.com.

About The Main Street America Group
With roots dating back to 1923, The Main Street America Group is a super regional insurance company that operates six property-casualty insurance carriers: NGM Insurance Company, Old Dominion Insurance Company, Main Street America Assurance Company, MSA Insurance Company, Great Lakes Casualty Insurance Company and Grain Dealers Mutual Insurance Company. Based in Jacksonville, Fla., Main Street America offers a wide range of commercial and personal insurance, and fidelity and surety bond products to individuals, families and businesses throughout the United States.

With more than $815 million in premium written exclusively by 1,500-plus independent insurance agents, the 87-year-old company insures more than 600,000 policyholders in 25 states and writes bonds in 44 states. A.M. Best Company rates The Main Street America Group as an "A" (Excellent). Main Street America is the founding company partner of Trusted Choice®, the global branding program of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America. For more information about Main Street America, please visit http://www.msagroup.com

About Flagler
Flagler is one of Florida’s oldest and largest integrated, full-service real estate companies. Flagler owns, manages, leases, or has under development approximately 13 million square feet of Class-A office and industrial space located in strategic markets throughout Florida. In addition, Flagler provides third-party construction, property management, and brokerage services and owns 4,400 acres of Florida land, of which 1,650 acres are entitled for up to nearly 19 million square feet of development. Headquartered in Coral Gables, Fla., Flagler is owned by private equity funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group LLC. For more information on Flagler, visit http://www.flaglerdev.com

CONTACT: Taylor Mueller at (904) 280-7960

COMPANY CONTACT: Kathleen Rodriguez at (305) 520-2448

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