A tale of two markets, one office, the other biotech
The outlook for the downtown Boston tower market has been fairly gloomy.
But while it would be a stretch to say the sun is shining across the Charles River in Kendall Square, it’s worth taking note of a couple trends.
First, in contrast to the downtown tower market, the biotech, lab space driven East Cambridge market is showing some key signs of life.
Boston Properties recently reported a pair of leases totaling more than 80,000 square feet for its Cambridge Center addresses.
And while the biotech industry has had its share of turmoil over the last several months, lab vacancy rates nationally have risen only slightly, to 14.5 percent, according to one recent report.
CresaPartners, in the firm’s recent second quarter report, highlights the contrast between the struggling downtown office market and Cambridge’s still thriving biotech sector.
“While the vacancy rate is slowly rising, average asking rents for Cambridge office and laboratory space have remained steady since the beginning of the year,’’ CresaPartners notes. “Unlike Cambridge, Boston rents have been decreasing, as demand for commercial real estate remains sluggish throughout Greater Boston during the continued economic slowdown.”