Simmons, which began its Bank of America Center tenure in 1984on one floor, currently has 32,000 on four floors in theeight-story penthouse bank of 700 Louisiana St. Louis Cushman, vicechairman of Cushman & Wakefield Inc., says the set-up wasn'tparticularly efficient. "That, combined with the company's need toexpand, meant they needed to relocate," the tenant rep says.

Cushman says Simmons looked at other buildings in the CBD forpossible relocation, but ended up staying put after ironing out aplan to change floors. "Ultimately, given their longstandingpresence at the Bank of America Center, that was always their firstpreference," he says. In October, the firm will move to floors 18and 19, which have 30,000-sf floor plates. Cushman says the floorplates offer everything that's necessary, including a cushion forfuture growth.

The 95%-leased building was acquired last summer by the NovatiGroup of Dallas and an affiliate of Stamford, CT-based GeneralElectric Pension Trust, advised by GE Asset Management. JohnSpafford, senior vice president and director of leasing withlocally based PM Realty Group, tells GlobeSt.com that the newowners' first priority was to find a practical solution forSimmons' space requirements.