"We really don't want to talk about it [the Blake-Lamb purchase]because we feel that a deal is imminent," says Ellen Nemirow,spokesperson for JDL CEO Jim Letchinger. Ms. Nemirow refused toprovide further details.

Local brokers, however, say that the down zoning of theWashington Square area on the city's Near North side has had adramatic effect on the price at which the Blake-Lamb property willeventually be sold. Brokers Globest.com spoke to said that talkwithin the brokerage community is that the down zoning has cut theprice Letchinger was willing to pay for Blake-Lamb, which is ownedby SCI Service Corporation International of Houston, to $5 millionfrom $10 million.

The maximum height for a structure on the Blake-Lamb site underthe new zoning, passed by the City Council two weeks ago, would be15-stories. JDL was planning on putting up a 21-story building onthe site.