If landlord concessions are factored into the equation, that increase could be even more since the strong demand has all but wiped out landlord givebacks, he notes. In Cambridge, rents for class A space increased about 10% during the same period, rising from $26.13 per sf one year ago to a current $28.73 per sf.
The demand has put Waltham second to Boston as the most expensive office market in Eastern Massachusetts. Fueling that demand has been both a flight to quality and a maturing technology community whose employees prefer a more suburban office setting, says Carroll.
A cooling of Cambridge's office market, where more buildings are being converted into lab and residential space, coupled with a lack of parking , has also helped spur Waltham's growth, RBJ&P vice president Ron Friedman tells GlobeSt.com. Given the tightness of the class A market and the city's location, Friedman says it won't be long before Waltham experiences a building boom. "We anticipate that shortly," he says, noting that it may be 2007 before developers feel comfortable enough with the area's strong demand to begin new projects.
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