"Our company is very excited about our relocation to 22 CrosbyDr.," says Data Intensity CEO Kevin Kennelick, who credited thecompetitive rental rate as a leading reason for the selection. Thebuilding, he says, "afforded us a cost-effective solution to stillbe in a class A office park with other similar technology focusedtenants." The company wanted to keep close to the Route 128 loop,he adds, and needed to expand from its footprint at 1601 TrapeloRd. in Waltham. Citing industry sources, GlobeSt.com first reportedthe Data Intensity lease last week, but no official confirmationwas made until after press deadline. Brokers for the landlord wereTorin Taylor and Richard Ruggiero of Cushman & Wakefield.

An increasing number of tenants are looking to the Route 3corridor as a way to find rental relief, according to GVA Williamsprincipal John Hennessey, who joined colleague Steven Lombardi innegotiating the lease for Data Intensity. Rates in both DowntownBoston and core submarkets such as Waltham are again approachingrecord levels as new property owners such as the Blackstone Groupseek to justify pricing paid for buildings acquired in the flood ofoffice building sales flowing through Massachusetts in recentmonths. "Bedford is very well-positioned geographically forabsorption activity," says Richards Barry Joyce & Partnersresearch director Brendan Carroll.

According to Carroll, adjacent Burlington and Woburn have seensharp rent increases in the past year as firms move up Route 128similarly to Data Intensity, and Bedford offers an escape routeshould the pricing become too over-heated for properties frontingthat roadway. There is certainly plenty of space--Bedford has thesecond highest amount of office vacancy of any suburban communitycovered by the RBJ survey, with Carroll estimating the current markat 38.1%, well above the 24.3% vacancy for the Route 128 Northsubmarket, which has 24.1 million sf. The 3.2-million-sf Bedfordoffice inventory is almost entirely class B, with just 508,000 sfof class A space, and vacancy in that category is a fraction of theoverall amount, with just 5.3% unoccupied.