Robert Martie, senior vice president of Gale & Wentworth ofFlorham Park, NJ, which owns the property now called the MountPleasant Executive Center, says that Westchester's office markethad lagged behind other suburban locales such as New Jersey andConnecticut. Activity in Westchester is now intense and availablespace is on the decline, however.

"It was like somebody turned on the on-switch in January 2000,"he recalls. Gale & Wentworth acquired the property situated on67 acres in November 1998. Last year, IBM vacated the site, whichhad served as headquarters for its Latin American operations sinceit was built in the 1970s.

Martie says that until this year activity at the property waslight. But when available space in Jersey City and in prime marketsin Connecticut was all but filled up, suddenly corporations beganto look more seriously at Westchester County, he says.