The CBD started to feel the market's downturn harder in the first quarter. Vacancy rose to 19.71% from 12.96% while average rent dropped to $29.05 per sf from $30.25 per sf. The heat's turned up in the CBD with CarrAmerica Realty Corp.'s 300 W. Sixth coming on the market. That, in turn, opened space at the Chase Bank Building and Lavaca Plaza, when law firms moved out of those buildings and into 300 W. Sixth.

Outside of downtown, the northwest and far northwest submarkets are almost mirror images of each other, Svec says. Most of the northwest submarket's vacant space is direct lease while most of the far northwest vacancy is sublease. "That's because all those companies went out there (in the far northwest) and thought, 'Well we'll build all this space' and now they have that space sitting there," she says.

Three years ago, large companies flocked to the far northwest submarket, committing to hundreds of thousands of sf that they ended up not needing. Tenants such as Janus, the mutual fund company; Charles Schwab, the discount broker; First USA Visa, the credit card company; and Motorola Co., the cell phone and chip company, all have sublease space on the market. "Just looking at that, it seems it'll be another year before we see big chunks of space absorbed," Svec says.