Courtesy photo

Greater Hartford’s office vacancy rate dipped for the second consecutive quarter, according to research by brokerage Cushman & Wakefield, but 1 in 4 square feet of office space in the region is still unoccupied.

The vacancy rate dipped 30 basis points between the first and the second quarters to 25 percent, even, from a five-year high of 25.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Major leases concluded in the second quarter included a nearly 26,000-square-foot relocation and expansion of engineering firm Fuss & O’Neil at 755 Main St. in downtown Hartford and roughly 16,000-square-foot leases each at 400 Executive Blvd. in the western part of the region and 855 Winding Brook Drive on the eastern side of the region.

Overall, though, positive absorption in the second quarter came from the eastern, southern and northern ends of Hartford’s suburbs modestly offsetting nearly 31,000 square feet of negative absorption in downtown Hartford and nearby neighborhoods and around 15,000 square feet of negative absorption in the Western end of the metro. Year-to-date the region has seen 65,591 square feet of positive absorption following 237,450 square feet of leasing activity.

The  14.35 million-square-foot class A market had a 26.7 percent vacancy rate compared to the 9.22 million-square-foot class B market’s 25.5 percent rate. Average class A asking rent ended the quarter at $22.78 and class B average asking rent landed at $19.24.

In addition to the 5.58 million square feet of direct vacancies metro-wide in the second quarter, nearly 700,000 square feet was being offered for sublease.