C&W officials say that leasing activity in White Plainsaccounted for 40% of the total transactions in Westchester Countyin the last three months. The Downtown White Plains office vacancyrate dropped from 24.7% last September to 18.2% after the firstnine months of this year.

"Westchester County, and White Plains particularly, is anattractive place for technology companies because of the tremendousfiber infrastructure," says Kenneth M. Krasnow, regional managingdirector for C&W's Westchester and Connecticut operations."Even though White Plains' rents may reach an all-time high of $35per sf by year's end, they will remain lower than prices found inManhattan or Fairfield County."

CW reports that office vacancy rates in the eastern section ofthe county dropped to 9% at the end of the third quarter and thesouthern tier of the county saw its rate slip to just 5.5% at theend of September 2000. Krasnow says that despite the volatility inthe dot.com sector, Westchester County saw a number of transactionswith dot.com related companies that either expanded theiroperations or launched new products at county-based offices.