Strong leasing activity of the last few years slowed substantially in 2001, with companies shedding both employees and space, dumping large amounts of sublease space back on the market, according to the report by Insignia/ESG Research Services.

Firms have halted expansions while putting some 1 million sf of sublease space back on the market, a large portion of it in Sorrento Mesa, University City and the Del Mar Heights area.

The area's office market has been hit hard by the collapse of the dot-com and high-tech industries, resulting in nearly 381,500 sf of negative absorption in the fourth quarter. Downtown posted negative absorption of 94,777 sf for the quarter and 148,281 square feet in negative absorption for the year.

The North County was another hard hit by the demise of high-tech and dot-com firms, according to the report, posting 365,495 sf of negative absorption in the fourth quarter and 335,748 sf of negative absorption for the year. North University City, Del Mar Heights and Sorrento Mesa were especially hard hit.

Construction activity in the greater San Diego slowed somewhat in 2001, however, it remained relatively healthy: there are more than 1.6 million sf of office projects under construction in the county.

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