Leasing Activity Pushes Occupancy Past 90% at One Gateway Center

James L. Elcock of Meredith & Grew tells GlobeSt.com that the nine-story office building at 300 Washington St. in Newton Center is drawing interest from prospective tenants looking for a more urban atmosphere instead of a campus setting like that offered by many office parks along Route 128. "If someone is looking for an alternative to Boston, Watertown and the Back Bay, Newton Center offers an intriguing market," Elcock says. "It has great access to the Massachusetts Turnpike, ample parking and public transportation and there are restaurants and shops nearby."

Those features were enough to persuade five new tenants to sign leases in the past few weeks, Elcock says. Signing the largest lease was Unidine Corp., a firm that provides food and dining management to hospitals and senior service facilities, which inked a deal on 8,000 sf. EBS Insurance Brokers Inc. took 6,500 sf, while biotech firm Novelos Therapeutics inked a deal on 2,250 sf. StratComm and the US Department of Commerce also signed on as tenants, taking several smaller spaces in the building, Elcock says.

Terms of those leases were not disclosed but Elcock says space in the Newton Center property generally rents in the $26- to $27-per-sf range. The building, owned by JF White Properties, has a large mix of small to mid-size firms on its tenant roster, including Strategic Communications, Catalyst Health and Technology Partners and Talking Solutions Corp. The recent leases were handled for the owner by Elcock and John A. Carroll III, also with Meredith & Grew.