• Boston
• Cambridge
• 128/Mass Pike
• 495/Mass Pike
• 495/North
• 495/South
• North
• Northwest
• South
• << back to Greater Boston

The South market is the suburban market directly south of downtown Boston, anchored by Quincy and Braintree along I-93 and Dedham, Westwood, Norwood, and Canton which are clustered around the interchange of I-93 and Route 128 (I-95).  Major employers in the South market, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, State Street Corporation, Reebok, Allied Domeq (Dunkin Donuts), One Beacon Insurance, and Meditech take advantage of the market’s lower cost real estate, access to and from Boston and Rhode Island, public transportation options by the MBTA subway and commuter rail, and educated labor force. The market has long been utilized by Boston firms as a back office location and boasts a diverse industry mix including financial services, health care, retail/consumer goods, technology, and services.  The South market also has the largest industrial real estate base close to Boston.

The South office market welcomed the arrival of the Braintree Business Center in Braintree during the second quarter. The highly-anticipated, 160,000-square-foot, Class A building was delivered vacant and brings additional quality office space to the marketplace. Also contributing to the number of highquality Class A available space options was J. Jill’s 126,879 square foot sublease at 4 Batterymarch Park in Quincy.

The addition of newly available space caused both the vacancy and availability rates to increase by approximately a percentage point compared to last quarter. The second quarter vacancy rate was 15.2% and the availability rate was 19.4%. During the past three years the South office market has remained remarkably stable with an availability rate never straying from a range of 18.2% to 20.5%. After achieving cyclical lows in both the volume of vacant and available space in the first quarter, the market has returned to a level comparative to that of the second half of 2007.

LEASE

MFS Investment Management

100 Hancock Street, Quincy 41,482 SF

New Relocation

UBS Financial

1099 Hingham Street, Norwell 21,525 SF

New Relocation

Highland-March Executive Suites

25 Braintree Hill Park, Braintree 20,369 SF

New Relocation

SALE

350 Granite Street, Braintree

June 2008

$27,025,000 ($160/SF) 168,217 SF

160 University Avenue, Westwood

February 2008

$13,500,000 ($279/SF)

48,435 SF

Stetson Medical Center, Weymouth

September 2007

$16,000,000 ($157/SF) 102,061 SF