"At current rates, premier property rates in Cambridge will soonexceed $70 per sf," says Darryl Morse, director of the Bostonoffice of Insignia/ESG. According to figures released this week byhis firm, the average price for class A office space in Cambridgeis now $51.49 per sf, up dramatically from the $34.21 per sfaverage posted at the mid-year mark. Top-tier properties arealready signing deals in the $60 per sf range with no signs ofslowing down.

Ted Wheatley, a principal with the Codman Co., agrees thatCambridge has come a long way from the early 1980s, when mostcommercial space was comprised of aging industrial buildings andretail supporting Harvard and MIT. Largely because of those famousschools, which have spun off a number of internationally knownhigh-tech and biotech companies, demand for office space is ascrisp there today as anywhere in the country.

"The Cambridge market is fully matured, and rent levels will beon a par with Boston from here on out," says Wheatley. "Biotech andhigh-tech absolutely dominate and drive Cambridge the same wayfinancial services drive the market in Downtown Boston."In recentmonths, for example, companies such as Biogen, Amgen and Genzymehave announced major expansion plans in Cambridge, with Genzymeearlier this month acknowledging it will build a 350,000-sfcorporate campus at the site of a former gas plant. MillenniumPharmaceuticals made a similar-sized commitment as well, with plansto lease 400,000 sf in several new buildings at the University Parkat MIT mixed-use complex in Central Square.