Today in Globe Business

Office rental rates fall in Hub

Boston’s office market is experiencing the sharpest drop in rental rates in nearly a decade, with the supply of vacant space continuing to increase as employers cut back during the economic slowdown.

Average asking rents in Greater Boston plunged to $28.11 per square foot in the second quarter of 2009, a 12 percent decline from the same period last year, according to Lincoln Property Co., a real estate services firm. Rents are at their lowest level since 2001.

The drop-off is being felt throughout the market, from downtown Boston to the outer suburbs, reflecting the pervasive impact of the recession. Those shedding space include financial and law firms in Boston, pharmaceutical and technology firms along Interstate 495, and Cambridge consulting companies.

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Economy's woes check in at hotels

The news is bad for Boston’s hotel industry this year, but it will be better in 2010, according to recent forecasts released by two local hospitality consultant groups.

As Americans cut back on business and leisure travel during the recession, occupancy and room rates, as well as revenue per available room, are expected to fall dramatically this year. But the studies suggest Boston-area hotels have reached bottom, and the numbers are expected to improve next year.

At Boston-area hotels, revenue per available room - a key measure that factors in both occupancy and average daily room rates - is expected to fall 19.5 percent this year compared with 2008, according PKF Hospitality Research. In 2010, the decline is expected to be just half a percent.

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Citibank chief has ties to Boston

Former Bank of America president Eugene McQuade, once one of Boston’s most powerful banking executives, faces perhaps the challenge of his professional life: Turning around Citigroup’s massive US banking unit.

McQuade, who helped build FleetBoston Financial into a regional behemoth before helping to engineer its sale to Bank of America, was tapped yesterday to become chief executive of Citibank, the nation’s third-largest bank, with more than $1 trillion in assets. His appointment was part of a major shuffling in Citi’s executive suites by chief executive Vikram Pandit.

McQuade, 60, faces the challenge of cleaning up Citibank’s troubled balance sheet and paying back $45 billion in government aid the company has received since last fall. McQuade estimated it would take two to three years to turn the bank around.

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Patients OK as Genzyme cleans up drug facility

A nearly monthlong halt in the production of two drugs that treat rare genetic disorders has not yet caused significant hardship for those who depend on the treatments, according to patients and advocates.

“We haven’t heard any real upset in the patient community thus far,’’ said Jack Johnson, a Missouri man who takes Fabrazyme, one of the drugs made by Cambridge biotechnology company Genzyme Corp., and who also runs a support and information group for people with his disorder.

Genzyme shut down its Allston production plant last month after it found a virus had contaminated a piece of equipment used to make the drugs. Although the virus is not believed harmful to humans, Genzyme decided to undertake a massive decontamination effort as a precaution.

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BOSTON CAPITAL: Tally up the decade

Jim Tobin says 10 years is long enough to run a company. It certainly should be enough time to decide what kind of job he did.

Tobin, 64, announced his intention to step down as chief executive at Boston Scientific Corp. just two weeks ago, and today is his last day in the top job at the Natick medical device company. Tobin’s decade as CEO encompassed two extraordinary events: the development of Boston Scientific’s intensely-followed drug-coated stent for cardiac patients and the company’s disastrous 2006 acquisition of Guidant Corp.

The official company assessment: Attaboy! Boston Scientific highlights the company’s business expansion and introduction of new products that help patients around the world over the past 10 years. It points to a more diversified business and a pipeline filled with new products on the way. “Jim led Boston Scientific through a period of tremendous growth and diversification that transformed the company,’’ chairman Pete Nicholas said at the time of Tobin’s retirement news.

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