In fact, James Fagan, senior managing director and head of Cushman & Wakefield's Fairfield and Westchester County division, expects rents in Downtown Stamford, CT to reach $60 a sf by year's end and $50 a sf in the near future in Downtown White Plains.

Cushman & Wakefield reports robust leasing activity caused the office vacancy rate in Fairfield County to drop to 13.6% at the end of the second quarter. The vacancy rate has fallen 30% over the last three years due to large corporate requirements and an influx of financial services firms into the Greenwich/Stamford markets, Cushman & Wakefield officials say. The brokerage firm states the vacancy rate in Westchester County fell from 15.4% a year ago to 14.8% at the end of the second quarter, despite some large corporate givebacks of space of late. Newmark Knight Frank puts Westchester's office vacancy rate at 11.7% at the end of the second quarter of 2007, down from the 13.6% rate 12 months ago. The brokerage firm, which has operations in Greenwich, estimates the 2Q07 vacancy rate in Fairfield County at 11.6% down from the 12.8% rate a year go.

In Fairfield County, C&W notes that the former Equity Office Properties portfolio, through its new owner Blackstone Group and contract vendee RFR Holdings LLC, are now charging tenants up to $90 per parking space per month, which could add up to $4.75 per sf to the rental rate depending on how many spaces a tenant requires. By mid-2007, landlords in Downtown Stamford were seeing class A rents climbing toward $50 a sf, while in Downtown White Plains rents for prime blocks of class A space have secured rents of more than $40 a sf. C&W has the direct average rent for class A space in Downtown Stamford at $40.06 and in Downtown White Plains at $34.83 at the end of the second quarter of '07.