Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | November 3, 2025 | Worcester Business Journal 15 H A L E Y WA R D From luxury residences like Forte in Brookline to commercial spaces across New England, Haley Ward creates environments that welcome & inspire. LOCATIONS • Auburn • Leominster • Maynard • Northborough HALEYWARD.COM Real Estate * In January 2024, the U.S. Census Bureau changed its methodology from Metropolitan Statistical Areas to Core Based Statistical Areas. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, Unadjusted for Worcester Core Based Statistical Area Building permits for new housing in Greater Worcester 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 1999 '00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10 '01 '12 '13 '14 '15 '16 '17 '18 '19 '20 '21 '22 '23 '24* gistics space in modern times, a 607,000-square-foot site in Uxbridge sold for $120 million in February to Boston-based Rockpoint. e company cited a strong demand for preeminent space in the region. Top office spaces shine, the rest suffer is year has been more of the same for many office building owners, as sites without amenities or top-tier locations have had no means to adapt to the rise of hybrid or work-from-home firms, said Bartholomew. "It's kind of sad when you go into these lobbies," he said. "ey used to be full of life and busy, and there's just no life in the buildings. Office buildings are feeling a lot of pain, specifically the ones that are older, class B, class C, buildings just without ameni- ties. ey're done. ere's only so low that landlords can go, because of the mortgages they have with banks." e 12-month sales volume for office buildings in the Worcester metropolitan area sits at $69.2 million, compared to the 10-year aver- age of $108 million. e state of the office space market has caused traditional investors to look elsewhere, particularly industrial prop- erties, Glickman said. "Investors were focusing on buying office towers, but with the office markets going south, there's still all that money that needs to be invested," he said. "A lot of it went to industrial." Office buildings with top-rate ame- nities and locations have fared stronger in Central Massachusetts, even as major cities like Boston and New York struggle with an abundance of this type of space. "It's the same old story: To hire in the best and brightest, you want them to work in the best and brightest of spaces," Bartholomew said. e five-story office building at 111 Speen St. in Framingham built in 1985 has completed a $5-million renovation, according to the property's website. e higher-end building serves as corporate headquarters for energy equipment and solutions firm Ameresco and has a 7% vacancy, about half the average vacancy rate in the Greater Boston real estate market. e demand for top-tier office space in Worcester has reached the point where, if trends continue and market conditions, there could be appetite for the construction of new class A space in Worcester, Peter Dunn, chief devel- Evan Koogler, com- mercial real estate agent at Kelleher & Sadowsky Associ- ates opment officer for the City, said in a September meeting of the Worcester Redevelopment Authority. Koogler agreed with this notion. "If you have a tenant who is looking for 5,000 to 10,000 square feet, in a city like Boston, you might have 25 or 30 buildings," he said of class A space. "Here in Worcester, you might have two or three options. If rent contin- ues to increase, and we hit a certain point where new construction pencils out for class A office space, it could definitely happen. It's something to watch." W

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