Spec Office Building Eyed for MetroWest

Responding to strong activity in Greater Boston’s MetroWest market, the Archon Group is preparing to move ahead on a new office building at its Westborough Office Park. With site work underway, the firm reportedly is hoping to break ground by year’s end. Archon owns four of the five buildings in the park, a 450,000-sf complex built between 1985 and 1988.Archon spokesman Woody McMinn declined comment, but a suburban broker familiar with the deal says the company is proposing a four-story, 194,000-sf building. Although Archon plans to develop on spec, the broker says chances are good that the firm will land a lead tenant early on.

“It’s as hot as anywhere,” the broker says of the area. Still, Route 495/Mass Pike is also the only suburban submarket with a double-digit vacancy rate. Indeed, whereas the suburbs have a 5.4% vacancy, 495/Mass Pike currently stands at 10.4%. The region is enjoying a solid 2000, however, with 891,000 sf of net absorption so far this year.