Kathie Carr, first VP, and George Cauffman, SVP in the Center City office of CB Richard Ellis, represented excelleRX in the negotiations. Bill Luff, SVP in the local office of Trammell Crow Co., represented the building owner, Denver-based Amstar Group.

The agreement represents a significant expansion for excelleRX, which is currently headquartered in approximately 50,000 sf at Penn Mutual Towers at 510-530 Walnut St. Its move to the new headquarters will begin with the relocation of approximately 208 existing executive, administrative and finance staff members this June and continue over the next 18 months, making it the building's lead tenant.

Within four years, the company anticipates creating at least 462 new jobs at its headquarters. In addition, it is locating its pharmaceutical care center for hospice patient support at Three Parkway, and that component is expected to double in size to about 1,000 employees by 2010, according to Calvin Knowlton, CEO. A data center and network operations center will also be located there.

Space in the facility will be equipped with new telephony infrastructure and will integrate "voice-over-Internet-protocol" by directing calls among all sites over the excelleRX wide-area network. Its voice response system is being augmented to allow additional simultaneous inbound and outbound calls. Specialized excelleRX pharmacists and technicians at three centers in the US respond 24/7 to pharmaceutical care inquiries from patients, nurses and physicians. In all, the centers answer more than 6,000 calls a day.

"The relocation represents the dramatic success of excelleRX since its inception nine years ago as well as our expectation for continued growth in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania," Knowlton says. "The new headquarters will provide our employees, most of whom are skilled pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, with an outstanding work environment in the heart of Center City."

Three Parkway was completed in 1970 and completely renovated in 1997. Additional upgrades are currently under way, according to Luff. The 20-story building is the former headquarters of Pennwalt Corp. and later, Reliance Insurance Co.