commercial real estate help?

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

Friend of mine is looking very hard for a not-insanely-expensive small office space (~300 sq. ft, approximately, though the size needed will vary with the shape of the space) near Davis or nearby on the red line. Craigslist seemed like a useful answer, but the options he's seen there are skeevy or expensive or both.

Most of what I can find online requires signing up for some service to get details, or is commercial real estate for sale, not lease (i.e., yes, I've tried Google, and I get nothing useful).

What brokers/agencies can you recommend to find some decent small-office commercial listings that don't cost multiple thousands per month?


- about 300 square feet
- not in a basement (i.e., not somewhere likely to flood when bad weather hits)
- shared bathroom is ok
- windows capable of holding an air conditioner
- at least one 12 ft stretch of smooth wall
- within a few blocks of a red line t-stop (davis, porter, harvard, central)
- under $1500/month

Comments

[dmaze]

I work in the Cambridge Innovation Center at One Broadway in Cambridge, not quite on top of the Kendall T. Most of the CIC space is small offices (though it's a little inconvenient if a lot of your business is meeting with customers/clients). They claim space is between $350-1200/person/month (http://cic.us/common-questions/)...but 300 sf is probably several people and this probably qualifies as pricey.

[3rdragon]

I work for Cambridge Innovation Center (disclaimer: NOT in sales or client relationships), and 300 sq. ft. is a medium-large office, by our standards, and yes, likely to be several thousand/month.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

ok, so CIC isn't an option. thanks!

(FYI -- i've heard of several small office spaces right in harvard square that go for less than $1500 a month. they're not co-working spaces, but if anyone's in the market for small office-type spaces close to the T, they exist and don't cost The Earth.)

[mem-winterhill.livejournal.com]

Damn. There was one of those shared-space dealies I saw at some point in the last 6 months. I wonder if I can dig it out of my history.

I remember suggesting to the city at one point that a hugely useful thing for the solo small biz folks would be some kind of co-office space. Anyway--sorry for the vagueness. Will look for this.

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

Well, the price is whatever the price is, and "nearby on the red line" is gonna cost extra. Given that, it strikes me that what you're looking for is quite a small space, probably an unused room in someone else's space, rather than something a building owner would want to lease on its own. You might want to try postering the area, in hopes of catching the eye of some local business owner with an extra room.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

You might find a suitable place here. It lists places in Somerville and Cambridge, too (in addition to Boston).

http://wiki.coworking.com/w/page/16583432/CoworkingBoston

[siderea]

The Craigslist of commercial property rental is LoopNet.com.

[siderea]

The building the Porter Sq Post Office is in has a sign "Office Space for Rent 617 547-7031". I've been in there, and it's smaller offices on the scale you're talking. No idea the rent (if your friend checks it out I'd be most grateful if he were to pass back that intel) or even if the sign lies.