Glenn Blumenfeld of Radnor, PA-based Tactix Real Estate Advisors, tells GlobeSt.com the lease is a 10-year extension, and FMC spokesman Jim Fitzwater confirms it is for 156,600 sf. Tactix partners Blumenfeld and Sal Ambrosio negotiated for FMC. Craig Scheuerle, SVP in the local office of Grubb & Ellis, negotiated on behalf of REIT Management & Research LLC, which is headed here by Dave Campoli and is the local management agent for the owner, Newton, MA-based HRPT Properties Trust.

Terms of the lease are undisclosed. Blumenfeld says only that, "it was a good deal for the tenant and the landlord." Neither Scheuerle nor Campoli could be reached at press time. In a first-quarter 2004 report from Grubb & Ellis, Matthew Guerrieri, research services manager, says, "landlords in the CBD are finally dropping their asking rates significantly as the threat of more vacancies on the horizon loom while they continue to compete for any tenant who may be shopping."

According to the report, the average asking rental rate for class A office space in the CBD dropped to $24.46 per sf during the first quarter of this year, down from an average of $25.04 per sf in the fourth quarter of last year.

"We achieved our primary goal of staying in Center City Philadelphia, which ensures commuter accessibility for our more than 400 employees and avoids the business disruption impact associated with a move to a new office location," says Richard Papsin, FMC's director of operational services. FMC is a diversified chemical company that provides agricultural products, specialty chemicals and industrial chemicals. It employs about 5,300 worldwide.