Out On 495 West, Downsizing Like Its 2008
As we hurtle towards mid-year, the office market across Greater Boston is kicking into recovery mode.
Back Bay vacancy rates are in single digits and Financial District has seen the amount of empty corporate suites level off. Out in the suburbs, boom times appear not far off for the core of the Route 128 market from Burlington down to Waltham, with software giants and fast-expanding life sciences firms expanding alongside the highway.
But less than 20 miles to the west, the office market along 495 West is a much different story.
While office vacancy in other office markets across the Boston area is steadily declining, along 495 West it is heading up towards the 30 percent market.
Fidelity Investment’s decision to shutter its Marlborough campus dumps another 700,000 square feet ont the market, while EMC is moving a 300,000 square foot data center from Westborough to North Carolina.
That’s a million square feet.
But wait, our tally doesn’t end there. Hewlett Packard has put on the sales block its now empty 740,000 square foot Marlborough campus.
Now we are up to 1.7 million square feet of empty office space along 495 West.
Ouch!
Eventually, the Route 128 market will overheat, forcing companies westward in a search for office space at more reasonable rents.
But until that happens, it could be a rocky few years ahead for 495 West.