Kendall Sq. is lone bright spot in local office market

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

The second quarter's lone bright spot in the local office market was the East Cambridge/Kendall Square submarket, where 125,000 square feet of positive absorption was recorded, said Colliers Meredith & Grew, a Boston-based commercial real estate firm.

In the East Cambridge/Kendall Square submarket, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. contributed to this positive result by subleasing 143,000 square feet of former Alkermes Inc. space at 88 Sydney St., the firm noted in a market snapshot. (Alkermes, also a drug maker, recently disclosed plans to relocate to Waltham.)

Commenting on the overall local market, Colliers Meredith & Grew executive vice president Ron Perry said in a statement: "The overall vacancy rate increased a full percentage point during the quarter – from 16.6 percent to 17.6 percent – as total occupied space decreased by 1.5 million square feet. This represents the third consecutive quarter of net negative absorption and a reduction in net occupancy of over 3 million square feet during the first half of 2009. While there are signs that the pace of the economic contraction is slowing, companies still are either giving back space in response to workforce reductions or choosing to stay put and execute short-term extensions until business conditions stabilize."