Real Estate

Sometimes, government moves slowly. In the case of the $1.2-million deal Worcester struck with a New Hampshire...

When Worcester officials had agreed last month to sell the former Worcester County Courthouse to New Hampshire...

The amount of available Class A office space —the kind sought by large companies with big rent budgets — is dwindling in the Route 495 West market. But there are still large blocks of vacant space, and the market may have a ways to go before reaching optimal strength. A recent report by Boston commercial real estate firm Transwestern|RBJ found that Class A office availability totaled just a hair above 20 percent in the first quarter, which closed March 31. According to Transwestern, that's the lowest rate of availability in the I-495 West submarket since 2007. “The market is definitely heating up and deals are getting done,” said Marci Alvarado, a commercial real estate broker with Parsons Commercial Group in Framingham.

The Worcester City Council voted Tuesday night to approve the sale of the former Worcester County Courthouse building for $1.2 million to a New Hampshire developer.

Business leaders overwhelmingly support the city's agreement to sell the former Worcester County Courthouse to a New Hampshire developer for $1.2 million, according to early results from this week's WBJ Flash Poll.

Businesses grabbed office space along Route 495 in the first quarter of the year, while space became available in Framingham, Natick and four surrounding communities, according to a Boston-based commercial real estate agency.

The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Joseph Petty have announced their support of the deal to sell the former county just hours before the City Council meets tonight, when it will likely vote on the $1.2 million deal.

A retail building on Bolton Street in Marlborough that houses a Rite Aid pharmacy has been sold for $4.15 million, according to the firm that brokered the deal.

For the second month in a row, foreclosure deeds in Massachusetts fell in February, according to The Warren Group. Deeds, or completed foreclosures, which mark the final step in the foreclosure process.

<i>(From the March 30 print edition)</i> When Grossman Development Group LLC, the force behind a mixed-use project at the site of the former Spag's in Shrewsbury, officially signed two new commercial tenants earlier this month, President Howard Grossman said one factor drove their interest.