Certainly that has been the case in Waltham, long considered ground zero in the suburban market. A pair of just-completed leases underscores how quickly the rents are rising in that city, with deals now exceeding $60 per sf just a few months after the best achieved rate was in the low $40 range.

According to industry sources, the Red Leaf Group has taken 6,000 sf at Bay Colony Corporate Center, paying $60 per sf. Meanwhile, the Hale & Dorr law firm has opened a satellite office in the same park, and is said to be paying a record $63 per sf for its deal. Calls to Hale & Dorr were not returned, while officials at Cushman & Wakefield, which brokered the Red Leaf lease, declined comment. According to one broker familiar with the rent escalations, the supply/demand imbalance is forcing firms to pay increasing rates or risk losing out altogether. "There's just not a lot of space out there," says the source. "That's the important thing to these companies--getting the space, and not what it costs."

According to a broker following the Bay Colony activity, Red Leaf will abut a tenant that has just renewed its lease. Negotiations for that deal occurred about nine months ago, says the broker, with a lease rate of $33 per sf. Shortly after that, NAI Hunneman Commercial Co. represented a tenant in a sublease of class A space at Waltham's 880 Winter St., tying up the 43,000-sf block for $42 per sf.