Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

October 18, 2018

Mixed results on MetroWest industrial, office markets

Photo/Google Notable industrial leases in MetroWest include expanded space for Couture Brands at 19 Brigham St. in Marlborough, Colliers reported.

The MetroWest property market had a stronger third quarter for occupied office space but weaker results for industrial space.

Third-quarter market analysis from Boston firms Colliers International and Hunneman showed a mixed picture on the strength of the market in MetroWest.

Both real estate firms reported a shrinking of total industrial occupancy: a 4.4-percent rate reported by Hunneman and a 8.6-percent rate by Colliers, with both rates coming from surveys to property owners put out by the firms. In both cases, the firms reported a shrinking of so-called absorption, or total occupied space: a negative 144,000-square-foot absorption was reported by Colliers and a 73,000 negative rate by Hunneman.

Per-square-foot asking rates in what Hunneman calls its 495 West area — Hudson, Marlborough, Southborough, Hopkinton, Berlin, Northborough, Westborough, Upton and Holliston — were $9.32 per square foot, only slightly less than the asking rate across the Boston region over all. Asking rates were slightly lower in Framingham and Natick, which combined also had a 4.4-percent vacancy rate for the quarter.

Notable industrial leases in MetroWest include expanded space taken by Couture Brands at 19 Brigham St. in Marlborough, Colliers reported.

As for new-construction industrial space, Colliers noted a 427,000-square-foot two-building center being built by Campanelli of Braintree in Bellingham, and TA Realty of Boston's 220,000-square-foot warehouse underway in Northborough.

Despite the weaker absorption rate for new industrial space, MetroWest's vacancy rate for the quarter ending with September was better than the office market's.

The office market in Hunneman's 495 West territory was 17.3 percent and 16.1 percent for Framingham and Natick. Both of those regions have had negative absorption rates for 2018, Hunneman reported.

Colliers reported slightly higher vacancy rates for office space in its 495 West market — Framingham, Hopkinton, Hudson, Marlborough, Maynard, Milford, Natick, Northborough, Southborough and Westborough — at 19.5 percent. The total occupied office space for the quarter grew in the region by 150,000 square feet, Colliers reported.

Sign up for Enews

WBJ Web Partners

0 Comments

Order a PDF