Downtown Market Slowly Picking Up

BOSTON-While the city here has been hit hard by the recession coupled with the economic aftermath of the terror attacks, an industry insider tells GlobeSt.com that the area appears to have survived the worst of the fallout.

“There appears to be a trend,” notes William P. Barrack, a principal at Spaulding & Slye Colliers. “Cambridge’s vacancy rates went up first, six to eight months later the downtown area followed, then the suburbs started to feel it.” Barrack notes that availability rates for the downtown area spiked in the second and third quarters of 2001 but most firms have solidified their space needs by now.

Of course, the numbers for the fourth quarter of 2001 are not pretty, especially when compared with the same numbers from the year before. Vacancies rate for this area are at 5.2% for this last quarter compared with 1.5% for the year before. The availability rate is at 11.7% for this quarter compared with 4.5% for the year before, with available space including both direct and sublease space whereas vacant space includes only direct space. This area saw a negative absorption of 1.9 million sf as opposed to last year when the fourth quarter saw a positive absorption of 2.3 million sf.