Rick Knauf, managing partner for Colliers’ International Peninsula office, minced few words when he called the first quarter of 2009 “the worst” for commercial real estate in eight years.

Almost 800,000 square feet of space was given back to the market, sending vacancy rates on the Peninusla soaring to more than 18 percent. But he noted in the quarterly report, rather than rental rates plunge, activity has simply stopped.

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