By Dr. Peter P. Kozel, Ph.D.Senior Managing Director, Consulting GroupFirstService Williams        Just like the national economy, Manhattan office market fundamentals seemed to hit a wall as 2008 ended and 2009 began. The office availability rate for Manhattan as a whole–space that is being activity marketed for leasing–increased from 9.7% at the end of the third quarter 2008 to 12% at the end of the first quarter of 2009. In Midtown, the increase in the availability rate was even larger, rising from 10.4% to 13.3%. The availability rate in Midtown is now already higher than it was in mid-2003, the…