Page 49 - BusinessWest April 28, 2021

Commercial Real Estate
Progress Report
Commercial Market Shows Movement, but Questions Linger
PBy George O’Brien
at Goggins has been selling and leasing real estate in and around Northampton for almost a half-century now. It’s very safe to say that he knows that market better than anyone.
And he feels comfortable now, a full year and change after COVID-19 first arrived in this region, in saying that the Northampton market has “bottomed out, and is start- ing to work its way back to what it had become.”
He bases this assessment on a number of things — from new leases being signed for some vacated properties down- town to interest in some other buildings for sale and lease, to the lease rates themselves, which, he said, haven’t changed appreciably in 20 years now.
Roughly 14 months after COVID-19 arrived in Western Mass., the commercial real-estate market is showing some signs of life, especially with industrial properties, which are in considerable demand, with limited supply. But as companies start to return to their offices, questions remain concerning just how much space businesses will need long-term and how much demand there will be for the large inventories of space now, or soon to be, available.
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
APRIL 28, 2021 49
BusinessWest