An East Coast real estate developer announced on Thursday that it would begin construction this summer on two business parks in Utah, including one in Utah County.

St. John Properties, which has a regional office in Pleasant Grove and is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, will develop a total of 525,000 square feet of office space between two business parks in Springville and Taylorsville.

The Spring Pointe Exchange project in Springville will be built on a 17-acre stretch of land located just west of Interstate 15 and will consist of six buildings with enough space for 750 employees total, according to a news release.

Tenant sizes from 1,800 square feet up to 42,600 square feet of space offer businesses straightforward, economical and high-utility space in a covenant-protect, well-maintained atmosphere, a description of the Spring Pointe Exchange project said. The buildings will feature 30-foot wide spaces and 18-foot high ceilings to offer maximum flexibility.

The Beltway West project in Taylorsville, which will be located 9 miles south of the Salt Lake City International Airport, will consist of four single-story office buildings and one six-story building.

The two projects are expected to total $120 million in new capital, according to Daniel Thomas, regional partner for St. John Properties Utah.

During a press conference on Thursday, Thomas said the two projects, combined with the Valley Grove project in Pleasant Grove that began in 2017, bring St. John Properties total investment in Utah-based projects to approximately $500 million.

Thomas said he wanted to express some sensitivity for the challenges businesses are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide leadership during a time of economic uncertainty.

Its not easy out there right now for a lot of them, Thomas said about St. John Properties clients. And were here to talk about investment and spending and growth, and I just dont want to diminish the challenges that our own clients are going through. And so what were hoping is that by talking about this investment that were providing some hope and some leadership looking through the current economic and health challenges.

Gov. Gary Herbert spoke at the press conference about Utahs reputation for being one of the most business-friendly states in the country, adding that the state has tried to live up to that reputation by supporting free market principles and encouraging business development.

We are first and foremost free market capitalists in Utah, and we unfortunately see some of that being forgotten around the country, the governor said. But not here in Utah.

Herbert stressed the importance of Utahns having confidence in how the state will emerge from the pandemic, whether thats confidence that the restaurant they eat at is maintaining health and safety standards or confidence in the private sector to come up with innovative solutions to sustain the economy.

This is an unprecedented and kind of an uncertain time, he said. If people that have capital dont have confidence in where theyre going to invest, most things dont happen.

According to Thomas, the business parks for both the Springville and Taylorsville projects will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified, which is a rating system used by the United States Green Building Council to determine how environmentally friendly buildings are.

The Pleasant Grove-Lindon Chamber of Commerce named St. John Properties the Business of the Year in 2018 for the Valley Grove development project.

Thomas said the Valley Grove project has grown to a total of 85 acres since it was first built in 2017 and that the real estate developer would continue expanding the project.

More information about the business park development project in Springville can be found at http://sjpi.com/springpointe.

Connor Richards covers government, the environment and south Utah County for the Daily Herald. He can be reached at crichards@heraldextra.com and 801-344-2599.

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St. John Properties to build business parks in Springville, Taylorsville - Daily Herald

GKV Architects has unveiled proposals to renovate an existing rental property at 240 West 73rd Street on Manhattans Upper West Side. Known as The Tempo, the building is located in the West End-Collegiate Historic District and could eventually be renamed The Penelope.

The building originally debuted in the late 1920s as The Hotel Commander. Designed by architect Leo F. Knust, the faade is comprised of beige brick, granite, and limestone masonry. Considering the historic location and architecturally significant faade, the project team is required to seek explicit approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. To help ensure all historic artifacts and architectural elements are properly preserved or replaced where required, GKV Architects is working closely with preservation specialists Higgins Quasebarth & Partners.

The proposed scope of work is primarily limited to the buildings north-facing faade along 73rd Street.

Beginning at the ground floor, the project team intends to replace the existing glass and metal canopy and plaque with a new bronzed metal marquee and signage. Renderings also reveal the replacement of the existing main entrance, the installation of new double-hung windows on either side of the entryway, new dedicated entrances for an on-site medical office and service staff, and new security cameras.

Existing conditions (left) and proposed replacement (right) of building canopy GKV Architects

Proposed facade and canopy at 240 West 73rd Street GKV Architects

Above the ground floor, the project team has proposed the removal of all PTAC units. The resulting voids in the faade would be filled with concrete and specked gray brick to match existing conditions.

At the roof, the project team has proposed the installation of VRF condensing units to improve the buildings energy performance, replacement of existing mechanical screens, and construction of a new stair bulkhead in a similarly hued stucco material.

The developing agent responsible for the project is listed as Aimco, dual owner and property management firm for the residential building.

View of existing roof (left) and proposed alterations (right) GKV Architects

View of existing structure and roof mechanical (left) versus updated massing (right) GKV Architects

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GKV Architects Proposes Exterior Renovations For Historic Building on the Upper West Side - New York YIMBY

BBJ

Sunday, May 24, 2020, 00:54

Office (along with logistics) is the commercial real estate sector in the most favorable position concerning the coronavirus crisis and its wider impact and aftermath, in the view of most analysts the Budapest Business Journal has spoken to.

With strong demand fundamentals, Hungarian and regional developers such as Atenor, HB Reavis, CPI, GTC, Skanska, Horizon Development, Futureal and Wing have in recent years been able to move forward with office projects with the confidence that debt finance can be sourced if required, tenants can be found and preleases concluded.

Budapest office supply has continued to boom with vacancy falling to some of the lowest levels on record. At the same time, supply has been relatively constrained in comparison with past cycles and preleases now constitute a significant part of the market; companies looking for quality, well-located contiguous office space have to plan ahead.

Market and societal pressures have exerted an influence on developers and building-owners to meet the demands of tenants and their staff to embrace sustainable development policies. Architects and interior designers are being employed to deliver ever more imaginative projects to meet more sophisticated demands from building users.

With regard to the impact of the COVID-19 virus, Cushman & Wakefield says ongoing projects are proceeding with no delays reported, although permitting processes have slowed.

Office is seen as the second least affected market sector, if the traditional long-term leases are taken into consideration. Clients seem to be advancing new lease plans, the only limiting factor is the lack of office viewings, says Adorjn Salamon, CEO of Eston International, an international associate of Savills.

However, co-working/serviced offices could be put to the test with the current use of home offices. If companies and workers explore this approach [further],then it could change not only co-working but the traditional office approach, Salamon says.

Total modern office stock in Budapest now stands at around 3.7 million sqm, 3.1 million of which is leasable class A and B complexes, according to the Budapest Research Forum (consisting of CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, JLL, Colliers International, Eston International and Robertson Hungary).

The overall vacancy rate in Budapest stands at 6.2% as of the first quarter of the year. Total leasing demand for 2019 amounted to 637,00 sqm, which is the highest annual volume on record. In a Central European comparison, total modern office space in Prague stands at 3.67 million sqm, with a 5.4% vacancy rate, according to the Prague Research Forum.

The market has a potential pipeline of more than 570,000 sqm. Development of large-scale, phased speculative project by developers such as Atenor, HB Reavis and CPI reflects both the positive indicators in the Budapest office market and long-term market confidence in the ability to let and sell a project onto investors.

Cushman & Wakefield have traced an improved pipeline of 180,000 sqm for 2020, 60% of which is pre-let. The first 27,00 sqm phase of the Budapest ONE Business Park by Futureal and the 18,000 sqm first office phase of BudaPart by Property Market were completed in Q1.

JLL has traced 14 office projects that are due to deliver this year, the largest of which is the 34,500 sqm Agora Hub and the 34,000 sqm Agora Tower, both part of the phased 36,000 sqm Agora Budapest project.

Belgiums Atenor has been developing the phased 130,000 sqm Vci Greens office in Vci t with Buildings F and E completing the project. In parallel with this, the developer has also undertaken development of the speculative, phased 85,000 sqm Arna Business Campus in the outer boulevard of Budapest.

Our ongoing developments, Vci Greens F and E as well as Arna Business Campus A, are progressing as per their original plans. We do not have any delay as of today, comments Nikolett Pschl, leasing and development director at Atenor Hungary.

The new supply scheduled for 2021 amounts to 211,000 sqm, all of which is currently under construction, while the new supply expectations for 2022 are about 280,000 sqm, although the vast majority of the latter volume is still in the planning phase and is therefore at risk of kick-off delays, in addition to the actual timeline dragging out, according to Anik Kovcs, head of office agency at CBRE.

Wing has manufactured a role for itself as a build-to-suit developer for high tech companies. The company is due to complete the 22,000 sqm, Univerzum Office Building, a BTS project that will form the Evosoft headquarters at the Nobel Prize Winners Research & Development Park. Simultaneously, the company is developing the speculative, 42,000 sqm Liberty Office Building, adjacent to the BTS Magyar Telekom HQ it was also responsible for.

In what is described by GTC as the largest deal for an office building that is under construction ExxonMobil have signed a 27,000 sqm prelease for the whole of the Pillar office center, located close to the Vci t Corridor in District XIII, due for delivery in the first quarter of 2022.

Another significant prelease was of 11,000 sqm at Green Court, again in the Vci Corridor, due to be delivered by Codic in early 2022. A software development company has signed a 7,500 sqm prelease at Atenors 23,500 sqm Vci Greens Building E.

These preleases reflect the growing confidence of tenants in the market as previously companies needed to see a building close to completion before concluding a letting.

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Strong Office Demand Expected to Continue After the Crisis - Budapest Business Journal

The report on the Environmental Construction Services market provides a birds eye view of the current proceeding within the Environmental Construction Services market. Further, the report also takes into account the impact of the novel COVID-19 pandemic on the Environmental Construction Services market and offers a clear assessment of the projected market fluctuations during the forecast period. The different factors that are likely to impact the overall dynamics of the Environmental Construction Services market over the forecast period (2019-2029) including the current trends, growth opportunities, restraining factors, and more are discussed in detail in the market study.

For top companies in United States, European Union and China, this report investigates and analyzes the production, value, price, market share and growth rate for the top manufacturers, key data from 2019 to 2025.

The Environmental Construction Services market report firstly introduced the basics: definitions, classifications, applications and market overview; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures, raw materials and so on. Then it analyzed the worlds main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, supply, demand and market growth rate and forecast etc. In the end, the Environmental Construction Services market report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.

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The major players profiled in this Environmental Construction Services market report include:

The key players covered in this studyFortumArcadisWhitehead ConstructionCaliberDillon ConsultingAmerican Environmental & Construction ServicesKERAMIDAConcordEisen EnvironmentalEnvironmental and Construction Management ServicesEnvironmental Construction SolutionsEEC EnvironmentalERC TexasTerra HydrLandart SolutionsLindsay & WilsonCid Construction ServicesJ.H. MaxymillianLindmark EngineeringTervitaLand & LakesEagle Environmental ConstructionPacific Commercial ServicesColdenARS International3 Kings Environmental

Market segment by Type, the product can be split intoConstruction OversightPre-DevelopmentProperty ManagementMarket segment by Application, split intoHouseOffice BuildingOther Constructions

Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaCentral & South America

The study objectives of this report are:To analyze global Environmental Construction Services status, future forecast, growth opportunity, key market and key players.To present the Environmental Construction Services development in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Central & South America.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their development plan and strategies.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, market and key regions.

In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Environmental Construction Services are as follows:History Year: 2015-2019Base Year: 2019Estimated Year: 2020Forecast Year 2020 to 2026For the data information by region, company, type and application, 2019 is considered as the base year. Whenever data information was unavailable for the base year, the prior year has been considered.

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Key Market Related Questions Addressed in the Report:

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Assessing the Fallout From the Coronavirus Pandemic Environmental Construction Services Volume Analysis, Segments, Value Share and Key Trends...

A new spur of the Toronto skyline is forming between the Water's Edge Promenade and Lake Shore Boulevard East between Yonge and Parliament streets. In the middle of this new strip of density, theDaniels Waterfront - City of the Artscommunity is moving closer to completion, with a pair ofGiannone Petricone-designed condominium buildings known as the Lighthouse Towers following up on the completed 130 QQE office phase to the south.

The 35 and 45-storey towers topped out a few months apart last Summer, and have been progressing towards completion in the months since. After topping out, much of the easy-to-see progress has come in the form of cladding installation, a task that has advanced considerably since the first exterior details were spotted back in October, 2018. The buildings are now almost entirely enclosed in a window wall system with multiple shades of tan-toned spandrel panels, clear glass, and louvres. As they move closer to completion, the two towers' differing exterior treatments have become more apparent.

Looking east to Daniels Waterfront, image by Forum contributor mburrrrr

To the west, the taller 45-storey tower's exterior includes full-length balconies, which are being clad in glass balcony guards fritted to form a water drop pattern of rippling circles. The majority of the balcony guards have been installed, and the pattern is now quite apparent in views from the west. The remaining balcony guards will be installed following the removal of the construction hoist.

Above the residential floors, a mix of perforated and solid metal panels have begun to extend the ring pattern to the mechanical penthouse floor.

Mechanical penthouse cladding on west tower at Daniels Waterfront, image by Forum contributor mburrrr

The east tower features a very different balcony arrangement, with a series of breaks in balcony slabs forming an organic look on the tower's east facade.

Looking southwest to Daniels Waterfront, image by Forum contributor AlbertC

At ground level, work is progressing on a new retail-lined, east-west mid-block connection between the office building to the south and residential towers to the north. This space dubbed 'The Yard' will connect in the west with the Sugar Beach North park that was built along with the office phase, and will continue east to meet the new Lakeside community planned for the former FedEx Lake Shore lands.

The Yard at Daniels Waterfront, image by Forum contributor ADRM

Construction is scheduled to wrap up later this year, with the two towers set to bring a respective 537 and 426 condominium units to the neighbourhood.

You can learn more from our Database file for the project, linked below. If you'd like to, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.

* * *

UrbanToronto has a new way you can track projects through the planning process on a daily basis. Sign up for afree trial of our New Development Insiderhere.

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Lighthouse Towers Progressing at Daniels Waterfront - City of the Arts | UrbanToronto - Urban Toronto

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The owner-developer of The Waterfront property located south of the Tilghman Street Bridge on the Lehigh River secured a 12-month extension to his original funding agreement with the Allentown Neighborhood Improvement Zone Development Authority (ANIZDA) Wednesday.

The owner also secured a near $2-million increase to his original credit line in order to begin construction on at least one of two proposed office buildings expected to materialize in the very near future.

"One of these buildings is going up and we're starting construction this year," said Mark Jaindl, CEO of Jaindl Enterprises of Allentown, who originally signed at the very end of 2015 to secure NIZ funding to develop a significant portion of the riverfront on the west shore of the Lehigh River on the downtown's eastern end.

Plagued with some unexpected and numerous but necessary infrastructure improvements at the site, construction of several commercial, residential, and parking structures has been delayed to date. However, Jaindl said one undisclosed large tenant for the 645 office building and between 16 to 20 smaller ones for the 615 address are in the works.

The near $2-million approved credit facility increase will be used for design services and building foundation construction elements.

It also will cover HVAC upgrades including air filtration and circulation enhancements, the result of the current COVID-19 pandemic, Jaindl said.

He added construction will not resume for another two weeks on the ongoing improvements to the Tilghman Street Bridge whose completion is forecast to be within the next six to twelve months, according to his construction contract.

In other business, the board approved a request by downtown Allentown developer Center City Investment Corp. for a 17th modification to its current $125 million credit facility amount to include a reduction to an $85 million principle loan amount for projects.

ANIZDA solicitor Jerry Frank said the newest funding agreement between Center City and the authority will be a combined document consolidated with two other agreements.

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Jaindl predicts construction of at least one waterfront building to begin shortly - 69News WFMZ-TV

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When the Agriculture Department launched its One Neighborhood initiative just over a year ago, the broad goal focused on two Cs: Collaboration and cost savings.

Now a year later, the initial success of One Neighborhood convinced Congress to increase the agencys discretionary funding for renovating and fixing its buildings to $128 million, which is twice as much as the agency received in 2019.

Don Bice, who recently left after 32 years in government, including the last two-plus years as USDAs acting deputy assistant secretary for administration, said the impact of the One Neighborhood initiative convinced Congress to open up its wallet a little wider.

What we are doing is getting rid of four leases in the National Capital Region and saving somewhere between $30 million and $40 million annually by moving people into our existing vacant space in both our headquarters complex in Washington, D.C., and in our George Washington Carver Center in Beltsville, Maryland. We are filling in our empty seats to save money and invest that into modernizing our buildings, Bice said in an interview before he left government. We also are using authorities that our appropriators gave us that allows us to use unobligated and expired balances that have already been appropriated and putting those into a non-recurring expense fund that we can then use to modernize our buildings.

Those four leases equal about 430,656 square feet of leased office space, USDA said in its 2019 sustainability report.

Bice, who joined Morgan Franklin, a consulting firm, where he will focus on good government and customer service issues in April, said the estimates to update USDAs headquarters building was $800 million. He said that was a lot to ask Congress for at any one time.

Instead, the One Neighborhood approach is taking a piecemeal approach to modernization from both a facility perspective and moving organizations closer together.

Officials like to use the example of the Foreign Agricultural Service, whose employees work in offices on six different floors of the USDA South Building., of why this One Neighborhood effort is critical to improve the agencys effectiveness.

It can be a 10 or 15 minute walk to go from one part of an organization to another. That isnt conducive to good collaboration when you have to do things like that to interact with your fellow employees, Bice said. We are moving people into neighborhoods. So all the FAS employees will be in one neighborhood so it will be easier for them to collaborate, easier for them to manage and interact with each other. And ultimately, we will be more efficient because rather than having to go floor-to-floor, it might be across the hall or two or three doors down. That will have a lasting impact on how we do business at the department.

He said he knows there are some disbelievers as USDA has been talking about renovations for 20 years but made few real changes.

I think what we will end up doing is putting people in a position of being closer to their fellow employees in their fellow agency, closer to sister agencies that they do business with more often so its a lot easier to interact and collaborate, he said.

Bice said the initial renovation contract will focus on a wing of the South Building. And then as more money becomes available whether through Congress or through savings from reducing lease space, USDA will continue to refurbish other parts of headquarters.

USDA will award a contract in the near future for the first part of the headquarters renovation and then future projects will take about a year as long as there is funding. Bice said in about two years all of the George Washington Carver Center will be completed.

The most important thing is for people to see that we are going to be doing these things so they know it is coming, he said. There are some short term uncomfortableness of trying to fit people into the building before we can give them the nicer space we need to give them. I want to make sure we are well on our way so people can see the space, visit the space and they know what they will be getting.

Part of what is driving the reorganization and modernization is a 2019 survey of employees about what they would like the new building to look like. Bice said because the headquarters facility is nearly 100 years old, traditional amenities like break rooms or places for microwaves or coffee makers dont exist.

He said another example of the inadequacy of the current building is around the conference rooms. Many are designed to hold 20-to-30 people, but employees are looking something more akin to a three-to-five-person room.

When we get this first wing done, they will see what it can look like with a modernized space and they will see the benefits and beauty of huddle spaces and other areas they can collaborate in, Bice said. We will lift up the technology in those conference rooms. Right now its a system of haves and have-nots when it comes to the kinds of technology that we might have in different conference rooms because they are managed by all sorts of different organizations inside the department. We are going to make sure that our chief information officers office manages all our technology in all of our conference rooms and our office of operations does all of the ordering, cleaning and that sort of thing in all of our conference rooms. We will lift all of the conference rooms to technology that is interoperable and that can be utilized across the country.

Bice said the One Neighborhood effort is part of a larger initiative to challenge employees and executives to think differently for what the future of USDA would look like.

I think its a culture change that started in the previous administration and continued in this one, and will continue in whatever the next administration whether the change comes in a year or four years you cant go backwards in how you deliver administrative services. I think we made a lot of great strides in how we deliver services that only will be improved the longer that those things are in place, he said. We stopped looking at things based on the individual agencies we manage. We came in, and what I pitched and the secretary and other policy folks went along with, was an idea that we needed to look differently at how we delivered our administrative services.

Bice said that keeping the administrative services and the mission delivery people connected is important, and USDA created business centers at [the] mission area level. They are now consolidating and delivering all the administrative services at the mission area level.

We are keeping the connection between the mission delivery and the administrative services so they feel like there is a responsiveness and responsive party they can reach out to, to get things done, he said.

Continued here:
In 2020, USDAs One Neighborhood initiative will show what the future looks like - Federal News Network

The City of Boston is getting ready to let construction work resume.

The Walsh administration Tuesday outlined plans to gradually restart many building projects over the next few weeks, with work on most so-called essential projects including large housing developments able to get underway by the end of the month.

In a memo to contractors and developers, the citys chief of operations, Patrick Brophy, laid out dates when projects can resume, as long as they file detailed COVID-19 safety plans with the city. Site work, to prepare for a return to construction, could begin as soon as Tuesday. Certain projects road and street work, hospitals, and small residential projects and open-air work such as digging foundations and erecting steel can start on May 18. Other state-defined essential projects, which include large housing developments, can resume on May 26. That, Brophy wrote, should give contractors time to design safety plans and train their workers in them.

Projects that dont meet the states definition of essential such as office buildings or hotels, for now will not be able to go forward until the state eases its restrictions, Brophy wrote.

Construction has been largely halted in Boston since mid-March when Walsh who was a longtime leader of the regions building trades unions became the first big-city mayor in the country to shut down job sites over coronavirus safety concerns. The move stopped the citys long-running building boom nearly overnight, and threw thousands of construction workers out of work, though it was widely hailed by the citys unionized building trades and at least grudgingly accepted by developers. Cambridge and Somerville quickly followed suit and projects there remain shut down but Governor Charlie Baker resisted calls for a statewide shutdown, saying that many essential projects should continue if they can do so safely.

In the weeks since, large construction companies, unions, and the city have been working on guidelines to safely restart, and as those have taken shape, the Walsh administration has signaled an increasing willingness to re-open. Industry experts expect construction will go ahead at a slower pace, with fewer workers on site and far stricter safety guidelines. But, they say, it can be done safely and needs to be, so that billions of dollars worth of projects can be finished.

The city plans to closely monitor construction sites to make sure safety precautions are being followed, Brophy said, and will launch a construction industry coronavirus testing site with Tufts Medical Center at the Josiah Quincy School in Chinatown.

Tim Logan can be reached at timothy.logan@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @bytimlogan.

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Walsh set to ease ban on construction work in coming weeks - The Boston Globe

Chamber wants new office to be showcase for firms considering move

authors Matt Blois

Williamson Inc. is moving on up. Later this year, the county chamber of commerce plans to move across Interstate 65 to the sixth floor of the McEwen Northside building.

Chamber employees have been working from home during the coronavirus outbreak. The plan is to continue that arrangement until they move into the new office in late August or September, after construction work has been completed.

The larger office space will include a large conference room capable of hosting more than 50 people, a resource chamber members have often requested. Director of Talent Development Nick Biniker said the larger space was one important reason for the move, but added that the organization tasked with bringing new companies to Williamson County also wanted an office space showing the best the area has to offer.

"We're always courting new businesses to move to Williamson County, or businesses that are growing, showing them office developments they might want to go to, he said. For us, it's a huge benefit to be in a place that represents what new development looks like in Williamson County ... We want our office to be a little bit of a showcase of what office development looks like.

The new space will neighbor Mitsubishis headquarters and has a panoramic view of many of Cool Springs largest office buildings. The McEwen Northside development will offer restaurants and retail shops near ground level, and also includes office space, a hotel and apartments.

The development more closely resembles the next wave of construction in Cool Springs. with developments like Ovation, Aureum and the East Works District having similar features.

Were thrilled to be moving to one of the most innovative mixed-use developments in Williamson County, CEO Matt Largen said in a press release. McEwen Northside encompasses all the elements of a live-work-play environment, and sets the bar for the other mixed-use projects planned in the Franklin/Cool Springs commercial corridor.

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Williamson Inc. to move to McEwen - Nashville Post

Rents for office space in downtown Boston could fall sharply this year as companies lay off employees and reassess how and where they work amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to a report out Wednesday.

Estimates from Moodys Analytics project a 12 percent drop in office rents in the city, one of the five steepest declines in the country, as the impact of the pandemic sweeps through the economy, and particularly through dense downtown business districts like Bostons.

It would mark the end of a long run-up in rents and demand for office space in central Boston, though the studys author, Victor Canalog, noted a 12 percent drop would be softer than the crashes of the early 1990s and 2001, and about what the region endured amid the broad economic collapse in 2008 and 2009.

In that context and given the cratering economy and job market things could look a lot worse, he said.

This is the world we live in right now, said Canalog, who is head of commercial real estate economics at Moodys. If we say Its going to be about as bad as 2008 and 2009, thats actually a good thing.

But Canalogs report points to some troubling longer-term trends for cities such as Boston, which thrive on their busy business districts. If employers embrace work-from-home technology, they may ultimately decide they need less office space in general. If, at the same time, they decide they need to spread out workers who do come into the office, it may make sense to relocate to suburban office parks where rents are typically far lower.

If its true that were going to reduce footprint, then there are going to be winners and losers, Canalog said. A company might not move from Boston to North Dakota. There are good reasons they want to be near Boston. But they might move out of downtown Boston to someplace 20 miles away, where they can get many of the same things.

But those are longer-term decisions. At the moment, seven weeks into a public health emergency that has shut down big swaths of the regions economy, the impact on Bostons office market has been muted.

Few new leases have been signed, in part due to the complications of touring and inspecting space, and also because of the broader economic uncertainty. Several large deals in downtown office towers reportedly nearing completion have been put on hold, or scuttled, while companies reassess the market.

But no companies have publicly backed away from signed deals to move in the next couple of years. Some tenants, particularly in tech and life sciences, continue to look for space. And developers with large towers under construction say they still plan to deliver the buildings, fully leased, if perhaps a bit delayed by construction shutdowns.

So far, building owners have been reluctant to lower rents to lure tenants, said Mark Hickey, director of market analytics in the Boston office of Costar, a real estate data firm. Instead theyre offering more concessions or longer-term leases.

But it appears they could face competition from a growing inventory of sublease space, particularly from tech companies that in recent years gobbled up large blocks of office space for future growth, which they may no longer need and may put out for lease at a discount. The real estate firm Colliers estimates there was 1.6 million square feet of sublease space on the market at the end of April, more than Boston had during the real estate crash of 2009.

Even aside from questions of supply and demand, this experience is likely to change how companies view and use office space, said Aaron Jodka, managing director of research at the Boston office of the real estate firm Colliers. The question is how.

Do tenants need more space because of distancing requirements? Or less space, because more people are working from home? he said. I dont know. Its too soon to tell.

Tim Logan can be reached at timothy.logan@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @bytimlogan.

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Study: Rents will fall at downtown office towers - The Boston Globe