Garry Holmes, President of R.W. Holmes, was part of a group of trendsetting Boston-area realtors who spoke at the Waterfront/Westin Hotel in Boston in June. The packed panel was part of an event hosted by NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association and SIOR, the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors. The panel, moderated by NAIOP CEO David Begelfer, also featured Debra Gould (Cushman & Wakefield New England); Steve Purpura (Richard, Barry, Joyce & Partners); Travis D’Amato (Jones Long Lasalle) and Coleman Benedict (HFF).
Holmes went into detail about the resurgence of commercial and industrial rentals in the Metro West area, citing many companies’ need for larger facilities. General Electric, for example, needs 400,000 square feet; Motorola requires at least 200,000. Biogen, an industry leader for biotechnology, has opted to retain 175,000 square feet of its Weston property even as the company is moving a significant percentage of its assets into Cambridge. Holmes also pointed out that NAI Hunneman had just leased 60,000 square feet in Burlington to Foliage, a software company.
“There’s so much demand in the market and lack of supply, that I really think we’re going to surpass those peak rents that we achieved back in 2008,” Holmes said. “You know things are going well when you see rents over at Wellesley Office Park now over $40 per square foot.”
Holmes also discussed the owner/occupant movement, where businesses such as MathWorks, athenahealth and Granite Telecommunications have opted to buy and renovate properties for their companies.
“Do not discount the suburbs. There is so much media attention right now on Cambridge and the Seaport and rightfully so, but there is tremendous growth and momentum in the suburbs,” Holmes concluded.