JLL's Bekarian and CBRE principal Curtis Cole explain that thelargest blocks taken down in 2007 were never factored into thestatistics because the space involved was not being marketed.Monitor Corp., for example, renewed for nearly 200,000 sf at 2Canal Park after threatening to depart the city altogether, while a250,000-sf lease renewal and expansion by Akamai at 4 and 8Cambridge Center also was struck before the space went up forgrabs. The blockbuster 175,000 sf Microsoft lease at One MemorialDr. was another off-market phenomenon, partly because the landlordallegedly muscled in on tenant options reserved for existingoccupants.

The latter issue provided a bit of melodrama to the Cambridgeleasing scene in 2007, but Bekarian says the greater effect was aboost for the stature of the city as a prime business address.Coupled with the arrival of Google to Kendall Square, the Internetpowerhouses willing to pay upwards of $72 per sf "helped thepsychology of the market," relays Bekarian, and further pared downthe availability. CBRE puts the office vacancy rate in Cambridge ata slim 6.8% versus 7.3% for JLL. DTZ FHO posts a 10.2% rate for the9.7 million sf in its Cambridge survey.

Cole characterizes the office market in 2007 as a "moderate"year, concurring that the high-power arrivals were welcomed andrelaying that buildings offering space improved their positionthanks to the dearth of supply and "significant" accretion ofrents. "There are many happy landlords out there," he says. CBRElists the average asking rent in Cambridge at $44.78 per sf,compared to $52.69 in the JLL review. DTZ FHO puts the mark at$40.24 per sf, well up from the $31.69 per sf the firm recorded atyear-end 2006.