Lease activity for smaller space in Boulder buoys optimism

BOULDER — While economic headwinds persist, an uptick in lease activity, particularly for spaces smaller than 5,000 square feet, has Boulder commercial real estate professionals feeling fairly optimistic heading into the end of the year. 

“There’s obviously still some concerns, some issues. But I think that activity … and the momentum headed in 2025 feels a lot different than 12 months ago,” Becky Gamble, CEO of the brokerage Dean Callan & Co., told BizWest.

In the most-recent quarter in Boulder, “36 leases under 5,000 square feet were executed — the largest number in a quarter since pre-COVID,” according to a new report from Dean Callan & Co.

Gamble said the recent hot streak for small office users is a positive sign for Boulder’s startup scene. “I was super excited to see that data,” she said. “I think it’s a good sign in terms of our ecosystem.”

On the other hand, downtown office vacancy “is still an issue,” Gamble said. “It’s just going to take some time for (vacant office space) to get absorbed.”

Downtown Boulder’s 1.7 million square feet of office space was 29.15% vacant in the third quarter, roughly flat year over year. 

In central Boulder, where there is about 2.1 million square feet of office space, the vacancy rate was 12.25%, down slightly from the previous quarter but still higher than a few years ago.

The same trend can be seen in east Boulder, where the 2 million square feet of office space was 21% vacant in the third quarter. 

For Boulder County, which has about 10 million square feet of office space, the third quarter vacancy rate was 22.2% in the most-recent quarter. 

Gamble noted that the once-redhot life-sciences sector has cooled significantly, with no major deals occurring in the third quarter. 

Venture capitalists’ “willingness to put money into life-sciences deals, which have a tendency to take a while to get that money back,” has waned over the last year or so, she said. “It’s just been very, very slow.”

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