"Within the next two quarters there will likely be a significantgive back of office space by e-companies and dotcom companies. Alarge number of these companies will fail within this time period,"Ed Tonnessen, executive vice president of Albert B. Ashforth says."They haven't generated profits and the venture capital money thathas been supporting them is drying up. They will be giving theiroffice space back to their landlords, who will have a newopportunity to lease it."

He notes the recent example of Priceline affiliate, Webhouse,which leased 80,000 sf of office space in Greenwich, then closedits doors within three months. "Webhouse was just the tip of theiceberg. Just when the office market is getting tight, some ofthese deals that were done in the last 12 months are going to beundone."

However, because of pent-up demand for office space in FairfieldCounty, it could be just a temporary loosening of the vacancy rate.Because space that becomes available due to the failure of dotcomcompanies could be quickly re-leased, Tonnessen adds he doesn'texpect the office market vacancy rate will change dramatically.