ViaCell is continuing to move its operations into 245 First St. in Cambridge, one of a growing number of indications that the city’s commercial real estate market is slowly improving.

It has survived a brutal slump by relying on small deals, but Cambridge’s commercial real estate market has a few large morsels pending that could quicken the market’s tepid recovery.

Plans by petroleum services behemoth Schlumberger Ltd. to open a new research facility in Cambridge appear to be taking shape, with the firm having hired Anne Columbia of the Columbia Group to research potential sites for a requirement that some say could approach 200,000 square feet. Meanwhile, sources said that Biogen Idec is preparing to develop another 100,000 square feet of space alongside its existing home at 12 Cambridge Center as part of the biotech company’s long-term growth strategy.

Those endeavors and the Broad Institute’s search for upwards of 160,000 square feet in Cambridge are certainly welcome news for a market that went from being one of the country’s strongest to one where more than one in four square feet of commercial space is presently empty.

“I think that ratio is going to improve by the end of the year,” said Trammell Crow Co. principal Joseph Fallon, whose firm recorded a slight decrease in Cambridge’s availability rate in the first quarter of 2004, from 27.7 percent to 26.6 percent.

While barely noticeable, the decline offers a measure of hope for the coming months, said Fallon. “There have been more companies out peeking around,” he said, adding that, “things just feel a little bit better.”

Meredith & Grew charted a similar outcome, estimating that the overall Cambridge vacancy rate fell from 24.1 percent at year end 2003 to 22.5 percent three months later on the strength of 270,000 square feet of positive absorption. In its first quarter overview, M&G said there are currently 20 tenants with space requirements totaling 360,000 square feet circulating in Cambridge, although the firm cautioned that much of that demand represents a lateral movement and not actual growth. Such would seem to be the case in the Biogen expansion, for example.

For the most part, Cambridge has relied on deals under 30,000 square feet, said M&G, with no major pacts above 27,500 square feet signed in the opening quarter of the year. But the overall volume of deals did increase to 30, representing 310,000 square feet of leasing activity, M&G said.

Fallon concurred that the recent surge in Cambridge has come from tiny tenants, but maintained that pattern appears to be changing for the positive. Trammell Crow represents Biogen Idec for its real estate needs, but Fallon declined to discuss that firm’s supposed construction goals alongside 12 Cambridge Center, referring inquiries to the company itself.

Calls to Biogen Idec were not returned by press deadline, but sources insisted the firm is preparing to launch its latest development project in Kendall Square, where it has built hundreds of thousands of square feet in recent years. It would continue the firm’s stated intentions to occupy space it owns rather than leasing, which could potentially mean a loss of space in other Cambridge properties that the firm is currently renting in Kendall Square.

‘The Place to Be’

In any event, there does appear to be some solid movement in Cambridge, with one strong sign being the continued move of ViaCell into 245 First St. in Cambridge. Fallon and colleague Michael Brown represented the tenant in that deal, while Robert Richards and Steve Purpura of Richards Barry Joyce & Partners were brokers for the landlord, Equity Office Properties. ViaCell is already moving into the office space, and should be settled into the laboratory portion by year’s end.

Nearby 25 First St. has also seen a spurt of leasing, with Richards Barry Joyce & Partners representing ProfitLogic, Sapient and Atlantis Components in deals totaling more than 80,000 square feet, most of which will be recorded as second-quarter velocity. The landlord of 25 First St. was represented by Paradigm Properties. “We’ve been very active in Cambridge,” said Richards, although he and other specialists cautioned that the city nonetheless faces a long road to recovery.

“There are definitely more people out looking, but the competition among landlords and sublessors is steep,” said Richards. “There are still a number of choices available.”

RBJ&P also recently handled a leasing assignment for Schlumberger to occupy space at 320 Bent St., owned by Lyme Properties. Richards would not offer details. Sources said it is a fraction of the size being looked at for Schlumberger’s research facility, which will be relocated from Connecticut. Columbia also would not talk about the specifics of the larger deal except to acknowledge she has been given the plum assignment.

“I am absolutely representing them,” said Columbia. Lyme Properties is considered by some to be a frontrunner to build the research lab, possibly on a site on Binney Street located adjacent to the 320 Bent St. building. It is unclear whether Schlumberger would entertain sites outside of Kendall Square, but nearly all the previous discussions have focused on that market. Suburban buildings have attracted their share of Cambridge-centric companies in the past few years, but Fallon said the prime location and attractive rental rates should keep the core research area in vogue moving forward.

“I think Cambridge is a good market overall, and will continue as the place [companies] want to be if possible,” he said.