"It's just a pure supply/demand dynamic," says Insignia/ESGbroker Daryll Morse. "You've got companies that need to be inCambridge, and they are willing to pay more to be there."

According to sources, Atlanta-based iXL is in late-stagenegotiations to take nearly all of Building 300 at TechnologySquare. Now under construction, the 175,000-sf building is one offour that owner Beacon Capital Partners is planning to develop atthe park, acquired by the company in 1998 for $123 million.

"That's the buzz on the street," says one broker familiar withthe iXL deal. The source agrees that companies would normally exacta discount out of such a large lease, but says Cambridge owners aresimply in too strong a position for that to occur. Because hiscompany is exclusive leasing agent at Technology Square, Morsedeclined comment on the iXL lease, but he does acknowledge thatthere is at least one 100,000-sf deal in the market that willcommand "north of" $60 per sf. "That really is right on the mark,"says Morse. "You can throw out the window anything that's happenedbefore."