North I-680 Corridor Office Vacancy Rising

WALNUT CREEK, CA-Vacancy in the North I-680 Corridor Office submarket rose 2.2 percentage points during the first three months of the year and now stands at 13%, according to the latest report from the local office of Colliers International.The vacancy rate here has risen for the past four quarters. The current vacancy rate is the highest the submarket has seen in more than two years. “We are seeing full service rents soften slightly in response to the vacancy rates slightly increasing,” says Ed Del Beccaro, managing partner with Colliers Walnut Creek office. “Exceptions include the Concord class A market, which still has vacancies below 10%.”Class A asking rents in the submarket have fallen from $2.32 per sf to $2.11 per sf, while overall average asking rents across all classes have declined from $2.16 per sf to $1.87 per sf this quarter.Colliers re-classified the North I-680 Corridor office inventory in the first quarter of 2004 to include and more accurately report across all office product types. The study maintains statistical accuracy, with the addition of 1.7 million sf primarily in the class C and Office/Flex Inventory.