"That is indeed happening," confirms Garry Holmes, president ofR.W. Holmes Realty who is marketing the bulk of the first classproduct coming available. A 17,000-sf block that has a few years ofterm left is being offered as sublease by Boston Scientific, butthe remainder is being made available on a direct basis. Holmeswould not discuss the tenant's reasons for trimming back, but onesource maintains the medical devices company is simply trying to bemore efficient by bringing back employees to its nearbyheadquarters at Prime Park in Natick. "That was their plan allalong," says the source.

Although some observers have expressed concerns about the healthof the economy, Holmes says he is encouraged by the initialresponse to the availability at Cochituate Place. "Fortunately,there are a number of companies around that are growing," he says."I think we are going to get some good activity on it." Thatconfidence is aided by the limited amount of supply available inthe Framingham/Natick submarket, which has been among the tightestoffice districts in suburban Boston for more than a decade. WhereasJones Lang LaSalle puts the Interstate 495/Massachusetts Turnpikeoffice submarket at 14.3%, the Framingham and Natick slice isnearly half of that figure at 7.8%. "We are still doing quite wellout here," relays Holmes, who is handling the Cochituate Placeassignment with R.W. Holmes SVP Craig Johnston.

The sublease piece is on both the second and third floors ofCochituate Place. William Bailey of Jones Lang LaSalle has beenhanded that listing, sources indicate. Bailey and Boston Scientificofficials did not respond to inquiries by press deadline.