CAMBRIDGE, MA-Another significant block of office space has beentaken off the inventory here, as technology firm ChoiceStream Inc.has signed a lease for 40,000 sf at 210 Broadway. The deal comesamidst tightening vacancies and rising asking rents for theCambridge commercial real estate market, a surge that continuesdespite a letup in leasing velocity during the summer months.

“The third quarter was pretty quiet,” reports Meredith &Grew EVP Joseph Flaherty, who did nonetheless negotiate theChoiceStream transaction along with VP Tucker Hansen. John Millerof Lincoln Property Co. was broker for the landlord, MetLife, whichhas owned the four-story, 80,000-sf building for two years.

A veteran of the Cambridge market, Flaherty says the fourthquarter appears to have a modicum of momentum at the outset, andexpresses hope that it will be sustained to end 2007 on a positivenote. Among the major pending deals are Google for about 60,000 sfin Kendall Square and Juniper Networks, said to be close on acommitment for a similar amount of space in a nearby property.Technology firms have been a leading driver in Cambridge this year,even though biotech and pharmaceutical companies remain a dominantforce.