As of July 1, Westport’s office vacancy rate was 11 percent, down from 15.2 percent a year ago and the lowest it has been since 2002, Ted Hampe, chairman of HK Group, a Westport commercial Realtor, said today.
The Westport Office leasing market has made substantial progress in the last year, particularly since Jan. 1, said Hampe.
“The leasing of a vacant 36,000-square-foot building at 55 Post Road West plus numerous smaller leases have been responsible for this result, and the outlook for the balance of 2005 is favorable,” he said.
HK Group tracks 172 office buildings with square footage totaling 2,620,000 out of which only 289,000 square feet were vacant on July 1. An additional 30,000 square feet was being offered for sublease or future direct lease, Hampe said, which reflects planned tenant moves.
“Therefore, the office availability rate was 12.2 percent on July 1, a dramatic improvement versus last July,” Hampe said.
Westport’s office vacancy rate in 2003 was 16.2 percent and 12.8 percent in 2002. While the current rate is an improvement over recent years, today’s vacancies are still considerably higher than only 6.7 percent in 2001.
Hampe added that on the retail front vacancy levels have dropped to 3.8 from 4.7 percent last year.
Some 53,000 square feet out of an inventory of about 1,405,000 were available at mid-year, according to Peter Jennings, HK’s director of commercial and residential property management services.
