Page 31 - BusinessWest January 20, 2025

“My prediction for the next 18 months is that investors are going to come off the sidelines. With optimism comes real-estate investors looking for opportunities, and they create
a great deal
of volume. I’m starting to get the calls back from my usual clients asking me if I see any opportunities out there.”
Indeed, many of those we spoke with see the tide turning on remote work, pointing to major employers such as Amazon, Pratt & Whitney, and even the federal government ordering people back to the office — or moving in that direction — as evidence.
“A year ago, I predicted there would be a gradual return of peo- ple to the office, and we saw a lot of that in 2024,” said Jack Dill, a principal with Springfield-based Colebrook Realty Services, add- ing that this movement, if it can be called that, made this past year better than many in the industry expected it would be. It also gave brokers, real-estate management companies, and investors some confidence regarding the office market.
“Overall, we saw a pretty normal year — whatever normal is,” Dill went on, adding that, to him, that means pre-pandemic. “It was a year of a gratifying amount of activity; going into both 2023 and 2024, people were waiting for the recession to hit, and, gratefully, the economy seems to have achieved a soft landing.”
Bill Low, president of Longmeadow-based L&P Commercial, agreed. He described 2024 as a “funny year,” one in which a white- hot market for industrial properties cooled substantially, but the office market picked up. “And I think that’s going to continue in 2025; it’s not going to be hugely robust, but it should continue to pick up.”
Meanwhile, there are other reasons for optimism among those in this sector, from progress on what could be the largest develop- ment deal this region, or this state, has ever seen — a data-center complex in Westfield (more on that later) — to retiring Baby Boom- ers putting their businesses, and their real estate, on the market.
Space Exploration
Recapping his success in filling a number of vacant spaces at 1350 Main, Plotkin said there were several factors contributing to those lease deals.
Circumstance was part of it, he noted, adding that Discovery Polytech Early College High
School’s quest for a new home in the downtown area eventually prompted discus-
Market
Continued on page 33
>>
Demetrios Panteleakis says 2024 was a transition year, but expects 2025 to be better, especially as investors come off the sidelines.
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