BOSTON—Statistics don't lie when it comes to the strength of the Boston commercial markets in 2015. Coming into the year, the city's Downtown posted its highest office space absorption in almost a decade.
Brokerage firm Cassidy Turley reports that Downtown Boston closed the year with nearly 2 million square feet of positive absorption—he strongest year since 2005.
This was the year of large deals in Boston with the first quarter delivery of State Street's 500,000-square-foot building at 1 Channel Center to WeWork's 100,000-square-foot at 745 Atlantic Ave. to three deals totaling more than 250,000 square feet at 500 Washington St.
Asking rents in the Midtown submarket (which overlaps the Downtown Crossing neighborhood) increased 48% in the past 12 months, while in the Seaport, rents appeared to level off, rising just 3% in the past year, the brokerage firm states.
The Cambridge market once again saw the scenario of rising rents and shrinking availability in 2014. The region's 8.3%, office vacancy is still tight and overall asking rents jumped nearly 15% in the past year, Cassidy Turley states. Lab space absorption that totaled approximately 350,000 square feet was the strongest it had been since 2006.
Mixed-use development was the major trend in the Boston suburbs. Among some of the notable projects included: 1265 Main St. and CityPoint in Waltham; Assembly Row in Somerville; Stations Landing in Medford; Market Street in Lynnfield; Northwest Park in Burlington and Arsenal Street in Watertown.
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