Peter Klees, senior vice president with locally based Grubb& Ellis/BRE Commercial LLC, says area watchers had bracedthemselves for a little more negative absorption, but the overallvacancy stayed below 10%. "The first quarter here could be theworst we'll see out of the four," Klees tells GlobeSt.com. "I thinkeveryone started believing the press they saw on the economy afterthe New Year and it gave them pause. We went from going 120 milesper hour to 60 miles per hour, but then again, going 60 miles perhour isn't too bad."

Grubb & Ellis' first-quarter report showed a 9.5% vacancy inthe 259-million-sf inventory. Absorption was down 59,140 sf. At thelast count, there are 7.5 million sf under construction.

Cushman & Wakefield Inc.'s research team clocked a234,576-sf backslide in absorption in Q1. It reported vacancy of7.5% in a 259.7-million-sf inventory, with 5.8 million sf underconstruction and 17.6 million sf on drawing boards.