One of the largest office leases signed in North Carolina's Research Triangle in 2025 completely turned around the fate of a vacant Durham office building, showcasing how investing in a building can overcome office demand that, even years after the pandemic's end, remains somewhat sluggish.
In recognition of its impact, the deal earned a CoStar Impact Award for lease of the year in Raleigh-Durham, as judged by an independent panel of local industry professionals.
Aspida Financial signed a nearly 90,000-square-foot lease just before the end of the year to take three floors at the Imperial Tower building at 4820 Emperor Blvd. Built in 2009 near the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, the 11-story, 264,598-square-foot complex had served as Iqvia's headquarters for years before the life sciences company relocated to an office campus about 6 miles north.
Rather than allow a prime property to sit idle, building owner Drawbridge Realty launched a $10 million plan to reposition and upgrade the building. Aspida, a rapidly growing financial services firm with more than $27 billion in assets, seized the opportunity to anchor the reimagined building as its headquarters in Durham, securing highly visible logo signage along Interstate 40 and reaffirming its commitment to the city where it was founded.
About the deal: The Aspida Financial deal is expected to bring an estimated 1,000 employees to its new office once building renovations are completed later this year. For Drawbridge, the deal brought about a successful conclusion to repositioning a large single-tenant office building into a multitenant property in a post-pandemic world. The repositioned building is set to feature a litany of tenant amenities that include a lounge and game room, waterside patio, cafe bakery and coffee shop, golf simulator, athletic fields, and pickleball and sports courts. The property is part of the larger Imperial Center campus, which offers walkable amenities such as a paved trail, food trucks, hotels, restaurants and additional services.
What the judges said: "In a struggling RTP/RDU submarket, this large takedown of vacant space may be the turning point in a submarket looking to rebound from a half-decade of changes to the way work is done," said Brett Cox, senior research analyst at JLL.
"It was by far the largest deal and creates the most high-paying jobs," added Ross Diachenko, senior vice president with Foundry Commercial. "It also injects new energy into an office market corridor that was hit especially hard during the pandemic."
They made it happen: Executive Vice Presidents Robin Anders, SIOR, Ryan Gaylord and CEO Greg Sanchez, SIOR, of NAI Tri Properties represented the building owner in the lease. Partners Matthew Cooke and Gardner Gibson of Davis Moore Capital represented Aspida Financial.