Darby & Darby has been located at 805 Third Ave. for the last 17 years and will move all of its 200 employees to its new site by spring 2007. This marks the fifth major lease signed in the building. Andrew Baum, managing principal of Darby & Darby, tells GlobeSt.com the process of searching for space and signing the lease, "once we kicked it into high gear it took about four months."

Baum tells GlobeSt.com the new building has numerous advantages over the company's old digs. "At 7 World Trade Center we will be on two floors. Where we are now, we're spread over four floors. Plus, the larger floor plates are going to allow us to do more to maximize our efficiency as a company."

Baum says the terms of the deal were in line with rates in the building and the area, and that state and other government incentives aided the decision to move Downtown. While participants in the deal would not discuss pricing, judging from previous deals in the building, the price was probably around $50 per sf.

Darby & Darby joins a growing list of organizations moving their headquarters to the 1.7-million-sf 7 World Trade Center, which opened in May. Leases signed to date include: New York Academy of Science (40 ,000 sf); Manseutto Ventures (40,000); Silverstein Properties (40,000); and Ameriprise (20,000). Including space taken by the architects designing the subsequent towers at the WTC (20,000) and Moody's signed letter of intent for 600,000 sf, aggregate space taken to this point is 840,000 sf.

Simon Wasserberger of CB Richard Ellis handled the negotiations of the lease with Roger A. Silverstein of Silverstein Properties. Darby & Darby was represented by Moshe Sukenik and Mark S. Weiss of Newmark Knight Frank.