"Newmark Knight Frank's leadership in the business community and experience in this neighborhood made it the clear choice for this project," says Jeffrey Sussman, president of Louis Dreyfus Properties. Newmark's Robert Silver, executive managing director, Scott Brown, associate, and Neil Rubin, associate, will handle the leasing of the nearly vacant building.

Sussman tells GlobeSt.com that the building has only one tenant and is by most respects completely vacant. The 152,000-sf building is being converted into a "very modern office space," according to Sussman. The lobby will be fully renovated and the building will receive new elevators, air conditioning, washrooms, windows and new wood floors. Offices will have the loft-space feel complete with exposed ceilings when complete. He declined to tell GlobeSt.com the total construction costs saying only that they are "spending a lot of money."

Once the renovations are complete this fall Sussman says the building will qualify for LEED certification for its energy efficiency. Green renovations, he says, is the wave of the future. "It is a very smart thing to do it is good for the space; it is good for people to be in a building with better air. It is going to become the norm."

A little more than 8,000 sf of the space in the buildings base will be retail, although Sussman says the space hasn't been leased by any retailer yet.