Grubb puts the current vacancy at 11.3%. A report from the local office of GVA Smith Mack confirms that a CBD office recovery is underway. It puts direct vacancy at 10.9% and the total, including sublet space, at 12.5%.

"We projected the recovery of the CBD office market to have some legs and extend into 2006, continuing the positive momentum in 2005 where we saw tenants expanding, on average, by around 20%," Matthew Wright, Grubb's research services manager, tells GlobeSt.com. "Downtown, we expect further reductions in vacancy, a result of continued strong tenant demand, and, in part, due to the pending residential conversion of the upper portion of Two Liberty Place, which will remove a large block of vacant space from the competitive inventory." He declares the recovery is "unmistakable."

Of the new construction, the GVA Smith Mack report notes that Cira Centre, Brandywine Realty Trust's recently completed 727,725-sf tower, is just 2% vacant. "Speculation persists as to the viability/possibility of a second Cira office tower west of the (Schuylkill) river," the report says. As GlobeSt.com previously reported, Liberty Property Trust's 1.2-million-sf Comcast Center, now underway, is approximately 80% pre-leased.