Office Space Rents in Boston, MA
Asking prices for office space in Boston vary and are generally influenced by such factors as the property location, the building quality rating, and the proximity to amenities like restaurants, cafes, and entertainment venues, as well as how convenient access is to and from public transport, airports, and thoroughfares.
Most commonly, the cost in any location will first be influenced by the property class rating, which can be A, B, or C.
Meanwhile, Class B space in Boston asks $35.68 per square foot, on average.
Overall, the average rent for office space in Boston is $66.66 per square foot.
Meanwhile, the minimum rental rate in Boston is $25 per square foot.
Top Locations to Rent Office Space in Boston, MA
There is no one-size-fits-all answer as to what the best office space for rent location is in Boston. The best neighborhood or submarket match for you will depend on what are the most relevant factors to your business and your employees. You will most likely need to consider what works best for the type of business you need space for, the size of your company, the employee demographics, and of course the company budget.
However, a good starting point for finding your best options is to look at the areas where there is a high concentration of office property listings. These areas are typically well-connected to a range of access routes and are also home to a variety of amenities that serve the convenience of both workers and visitors.
In Boston, the greatest concentration of office for rent opportunities is in Cambridge.
For your consideration, the average rent for office space in Cambridge is $122.11 per square foot, but you should expect some price variation across the market, depending on factors like location and property class.
Submarket
No. of Listings
Avg. Asking Rent
Class A&A+ Rent
Class B Rent
Class C Rent
Vacancy Rate
Cambridge
78
$122.11
$122.11
17.38%
Boston - Downtown
77
$50.96
$60.65
$33.61
$28.74
13.01%
Boston - Back Bay
52
$68.54
$69.18
$55.58
11.03%
Boston - Central Business District
45
$50.84
$57.05
$48
$40
10.85%
Boston - Seaport Innovation District
38
$59.48
$59.48
22.01%
Key Factors to Consider when Choosing an Office Space for Rent in Boston, MA
The quality of an office property can be judged based on subjective factors such as the prospective tenant’s preferred architecture style, the overall design of the surrounding area, as well as the amount and/or diversity of amenities available within a convenient distance.
Some quality factors, however, are considered to be mostly objective, and have been somewhat standardized as top things to consider when looking for a specific quality of space for your business. These include construction grade and building quality ratings, sustainability certifications, the total age or the property, as well as any renovation work that was done.
A local breakdown by property class shows that about 56.9% of total office space listings in Boston are in properties rated class A.
An additional 14.99% of total represents trophy class or class A+ space.
Class B space makes up 26.69% of total space available in Boston.
Class C space listed for rent locally accounts for 1.43% of total opportunities on the local leasing market.
If considering quality space by property age, the Boston market is also a mixed bag in this respect. About 71.86% of local office properties were completed before the year 2000.
Office space delivered in and since the year 2000 makes up 28.14% of the local market and adds up to a total of 8,086,818 square feet.
However, a certain age of completion of the original structure does not necessarily mean that a property is too old. Older properties are often considered to have excellent bones and are good subjects for adaptive reuse redevelopment or extensive renovation to modernize the interior space. With that in mind, you should consider that roughly 2.91% of all office properties here are buildings that have been renovated at least once since 2000.
Boston, MA Office Space for Lease by Building Class
- Class A+
- Class A
- Class B
- Class C
Modern quality standards also take into account the property’s sustainability minded design, which is largely standardized by certification processes such as the LEED program. In Boston, you can find 404 listings for rent that are in LEED-certified or LEED-proposed properties.
So-called “green” office space includes several types of certification and accounts for about 47% of the Boston market.
The local market is home to 54 LEED-certified office building(s). Certification can range from basic LEED requirements to Platinum, which is the highest achievable level of certification awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Currently, Boston has 4 LEED-proposed office building(s) awaiting certification.
Finding Office Space for Rent in Boston, MA Near You
If you have a certain point of interest in mind for renting an office in Boston, it’s easy to navigate local leasing opportunities around it. Using our interactive search map, you can zoom in to your preferred location and then customize your search area around that specific point of interest by selecting “Radius” from the Search Mode options menu. Establish the center of your desired search area with one click on the map, and then expand the radius as much as you need to. Browse the resulting list of available office spaces for rent to find the best match for your location and other business needs.
Data was provided by Yardi Research Data and refers to office properties at least 25,000 square feet in size. Prices shown reflect the average rate per square foot.
85 Newbury Street, Back Bay, Boston, MA
