After decades living in the shadow of Kendall Square and Innovation District, office space for lease along Route 128 is once again coming into vogue.
The country’s original tech highway is experiencing a real estate revival, with companies from all over the Boston area moving their headquarters there. Waltham, Needham, and other suburbs along the highway offer large, affordable office spaces, making it easier for companies to provide a comfortable, trendy work environment without wasting money on high rents.
Modern companies want to be able to offer their employees food and recreation within attractive, eco-friendly buildings. The suburbs along Route 128 make it easy for them to do all of this. Rents for office space for lease are also attractive: renting a square foot along 128 costs $33, compared to $64 in Kendall Square, though rents will likely rise as more businesses move to the area.
To meet the new demand for offices along 128, local developers are planning to add five new buildings with a total of more than a million square feet of office space for lease. Developers are so confident that they’ll be able to rent these new spaces that many have not even bothered to find tenants before starting to build.