The law firm wants to make its offices more modern andefficient, says Tim O'Brien, president of locally based ResourceCommercial Real Estate LLC. He and Sam Smith represented thetenant, while Dan Richardson with CB Richard Ellis, which managesthe building, represented the landlord. "They're using thisopportunity to re-plan their space," says O'Brien. "They're goingafter the trend of standardized, one-size offices, as opposed tohaving different-sized offices for partners. Also, they're goingwith a centralized conference floor, instead of having conferencerooms on each floor, allowing for easier scheduling." The tenanthas hired Gensler to redesign the space, and move-in is expected byDecember.

O'Brien says the building has had some troubles. "I'm not sureof the occupancy now, I know they've done some leasing, but latelast year the vacancy was at about 20%," he says. He declined toquote the lease rate. The average rate for the downtown runs atabout $20 per sf. "The office market here doesn't have theextraordinary growth, but we don't have the extraordinary valleys,either," O'Brien says. "We're not by any stretch depressed, we'resteady. Companies that are growing organically are the bulk of theabsorptions." The 14.6-million-sf CBD had an 11.7% vacancy rate inthe first quarter, but had almost 100,000 sf of negativeabsorption, according to a Grubb & Ellis report.

O'Brien tells Globest.com that there will be a lot of musicalchairs continuing this year for downtown office space. "There'smore deals like this coming. Safeco Insurance, for example, waslooking to possibly move to the suburbs when its 125,000-sf leaseruns out at 500 N. Meridian next year. However, since they wereacquired by Liberty Mutual earlier this year, that might bepostponed for awhile," he says.