Boston warehouse demand stays strong

There was continued strong demand for warehouse space in the first quarter of 2007 in the Greater Boston area, according to the real estate firm Richards Barry Joyce & Partners LLC.

The manufacturing space sector saw a mixed performance, also a continuation of a recent trend, the firm said.

There is strong demand for the best space in particular, RBJ said in its indSTATus report for the first quarter.

"Strong demand for a dramatic minority of the state-of-the-art industrial property" was observed, the report said.

"Greater Boston, owing to multiple periods of manufacturing success dating back to the 1800s, has a great deal of older industrial inventory," the report noted.

While that has proved suitable for re-use as the economy changed in previous periods, today things are different. "This inventory largely does not meet modern or high-tech infrastructure requirements," RBJ said.
(By Thomas C. Palmer, Jr., Globe staff)