Work at Boston Internet City in Allston was halted a month ago when developer Cabot, Cabot & Forbes decided to pursue alternate uses for the planned telecommunications facility.

When it comes to chasing the telecommunications market, commercial property owners who made the wrong call are hanging up, but most seem unwilling to try again later.

While some real estate professionals insist that the need for facilities to service the burgeoning telecom industry has only halted temporarily, the retreat from that sector is perhaps even more dramatic than the stampede of landlords who rushed in to attract such uses during 2000. Brokers, engineers and architects are all being employed to retool telco projects in hopes of finding an alternative use.

“Everybody was in that business last year, and now everybody is trying to get out,” acknowledged Philip Giunta, a principal with CB Richard Ellis/Whittier Partners. “It’s the exact opposite of what happened 12 months ago.”

Spaulding & Slye Colliers broker David A. Martel seconded that notion, maintaining that “every one of the [telco] projects around here is looking at a repositioning.” Martel, whose firm was retained last year to convert a Watertown warehouse into a so-called switch hotel, said the lack of available capital for technology companies dried up demand virtually overnight. By one estimate, 44 percent of the country’s telco properties are presently vacant, an alarming statistic for any product type.

One of the more desperate attempts to turn around a telco concept is occurring in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. After seeing its full-building tenant disappear amidst collapsing stock prices last autumn, Cabot, Cabot & Forbes is aggressively pursuing other uses for its 450,000-square-foot Boston Internet City project. The former storage warehouse is located along the Massachusetts Turnpike Extension.

CC&F has retained Meredith & Grew to seek a new tenant, a need which some say is hastened by the project’s hefty $100 million price tag. On the strength of the lease with Globix, CC&F had moved full speed ahead to convert the building, but was forced to halt construction a month ago when it became apparent that the revival of the technology market will be a prolonged one.

“We thought it just was not a wise direction to trust the future of the building to,” CC&F President Jay Doherty said last week. In order to attract other uses, with a focus on biotech and pharmaceutical companies, CC&F must first redesign the property. Among other things, architect Elkus/Manfredi has modified the facade to increase the window lines, while a three-story, 20,000-square-foot atrium will be carved into the interior. With only a handful of employees usually needed to run a telco building, such additions as windows and atriums are typically not required.

Aesthetic improvements are not the biggest challenge for CC&F, however, with some industry observers questioning whether the location is mainstream enough to lure alternate commercial tenants. One broker familiar with the property claimed last week that “it’s not that easy to get to.”

“I can’t imagine anyone needing to [invest] $200 a square foot in their space going to that location,” said the broker, who requested anonymity. “If you’re going to do that, you’re going to go to Technology Square or Kendall Square [in Cambridge].”

Not so, said Doherty, insisting he is “very confident in the location for that purpose.” Doherty said his firm has received an encouraging response from laboratory users, predicting a parking ratio of two vehicles per 1,000 square feet leased would be a decided advantage over Cambridge or the medical area.

“By far, the major focus of our marketing is in lab and pharmaceutical manufacturing,” he said. “Our goal is to lease it to one of the major companies in that field.” The parking would be provided by building an underground garage, one which Doherty said would be about five levels. He said it is unclear at this point as to how many spaces that would yield.

Market Comeback?
Perhaps the most difficult change would be a conversion to office space, largely due to concerns about traffic. Allston resident Raymond Mellone, part of a community task force which has been monitoring the building’s development, said one of the chief reasons the telco proposal was accepted was due to the lack of vehicle trips that would be generated.

“Office space would be tough,” he said. “We’d probably dig our heels in on that.”

According to Doherty, however, Mellone and his neighbors need not lose any sleep over such concerns. “It is not a building that is intended at this time to be redone as an office building,” he said, especially given the growing options available for office users. Not only is lab space in shorter supply, Doherty said the high ceilings, solid floors and excess power supply that made telecom a good fit for the building are also requirements for biotech and medical research needs.

One intriguing possibility that has arisen of late is with nearby WGBH-TV, the public television powerhouse that recently confirmed plans to build a new headquarters up the street in Brighton. Mellone said the possibility of WGBH going to CC&F’s building has been raised in recent meetings, although Doherty said the notion came more from the residents than from his company, given WGBH’s current presence in the area.

WGBH-TV currently occupies 280,000 square feet in 12 Allston buildings. Spokeswoman Jeanne Hopkins said last week that her firm has been approached by CC&F, but said that “nothing has been firmed up.”

“We’ve listened to them, and we are keeping it as an option as we consider all options on what we might do,” said Hopkins. “Right now, we’re not definite on anything.”

Another rumor in the market is that Harvard University might be in play to either lease or acquire the building from CC&F, with one broker maintaining that the school had considered buying the structure prior to CC&F’s purchase. When asked whether the two parties have met, Harvard spokesman Joseph Wrinn would only say that “we don’t discuss business matters,” while Doherty dismissed the talk as people “spinning theories.”

“We own the property and are developing it, and we continue to do so,” he said.

Beyond office space, Mellone and Boston City Councilor Brian Honan, D-Allston-Brighton, both said they believe the neighborhood recognizes CC&F’s plight, and pledged a willingness to work out potential solutions.

“I sense a high level of frustration” by CC&F, said Honan, who nonetheless praised the company for being forthcoming about their evolving strategy. “I feel confident we can work this issue out,” said Honan.

“It hasn’t been adversarial,” agreed Mellone. “They’ve been a class act all along.”

About the only thing that seems clear at present is the death of Boston Internet City as originally conceived. But while switch hotels are on hold or have been quashed throughout metropolitan Boston in the past few months, not everyone feels the product type should be completely dismissed. Martel noted that conversion to uses such as industrial may be undoable because landlords sunk so much money into their buildings for switch space, while others predict that patient developers could see the market revived over the near term.

“I feel very strongly that the market will come back,” said Meredith & Grew principal Leigh Freudenheim, a specialist in telecom buildings.

Freudenheim concurred that repostioning is the main approach in vogue right now, but said there are some who appear willing to ride the situation out. “It may take another nine to 12 months for the market to readjust, but I do think we’ll see demand again,” he said. In fact, Freudenheim said deals are getting done across the country, but in more manageable chunks of 20,000 to 30,000 square feet, vs. the massive deals struck during 2000.