July 2013

The Real Reporter – Joe Clements

WALTHAM MA – Duffy Properties has found another loyal tenant and a burgeoning one at that in EarlySense, an overseas medical device company housing its US headquarters at 135 Beaver St. Initially taking 2,500 sf 24 months ago, the company that provides patient monitoring technology has expanded twice in the building, the most recent doubling from 4,000 sf into a new suite on the third floor.

“They are in quite a growth mode,” concurs landlord Steven Duffy, who was introduced to EarlySense by broker Debra Stevens of the Stevens Group. “She did a great job on it,” he says of the tenant representation specialist of her efforts helping the client negotiate each new lease agreement. “We enjoy having them here,” Duffy says of the company whose new space is presently being prepared for occupancy.

Stevens credits a responsive owner, efficient layout and being in a key suburban office market as leading reasons 135 Walnut St. has become the firm’s local home. Room for the necessary growth was attractive as well, she says, relaying that the Route 128 Central market in particular is tightening quickly, making prime venues more scarce and driving rents upward. Mid-year research from Cassidy Turley shows Waltham with a market-best net absorption of 322,000 sf YTD for 9.4 million sf, helping plunge the vacancy rate to 15.1 per- cent from 18.8 percent in year-end 2012.

Terms of the 135 Beaver St. lease were not divulged by either party. One website shows asking rents in the 95,300-sf office building that dates to 1985 at $19 per sf. Duffy Properties, a firm active throughout suburban Boston, represented itself in-house.

The Stevens Group provides transactional representation, brokerage and consulting services exclusively for corporate tenants in the Greater Boston market in addition to representing multi-regional and international clients. As the Boston regional affiliate of ITRA Global, an organization of real estate firms devoted to tenant and buyer representation worldwide, The Stevens Group offers principal-level services for corporate clients in major markets around the world.