Having Boston's subway network across the street and quick access to Interstate 93 and Route One are among the pluses of the Schrafft Center, says Stevens Group principal Debra Stevens, who negotiated the lease on behalf of nTag along with Christopher McMahon of GVA Thompson Doyle Hennessey. The tenant is creator of an interactive identification badge for use at trade shows and other networking events. Sabrina Tarantino and Bill Bush represented Flatley in-house.

The commitment by nTag comes in the wake of a torpid beginning to 2007 for the Charlestown office market, during which signed leases were a rare occurrence. According to figures compiled by Jones Lang LaSalle, there was negative net absorption of 2,600 sf in the district during the first quarter. Cushman & Wakefield had negative absorption of 16,000 sf. Charlestown also ranks with the highest vacancy among the city office submarkets, with C&W registering a 16.6% mark and JLL pegging the rate at 18.5%. The average vacancy rate in Boston after the first quarter was 7.5%, says C&W, while JLL estimates it at 8.2% overall.

C&W's Charlestown review tracks 2.04 million sf, compared to 1.9 million sf in the JLL review, in both instances making it the smallest Hub submarket. The district is also on the low end price-wise, with C&W putting the achieved rate in Charlestown at $26.60 per sf and JLL listing the asking rent at $26.78 per sf. By comparison, C&W has the overall city average achieved at $37.50 per foot versus JLL's figure of $41.07.