The leasing agent for Sterling Plaza, Richard Larson of ColliersInternational's Bellevue office, says EarthLink's gross price persf was "in the low 20s." The building's owner, Sterling RealtyOrganization Co. of Bellevue, has a sister building in the works onthe same site. The five-story Sterling Plaza II broke ground inJuly and is set for completion in February. It will contain 100,000sf of office space, which has already been leased to a singletenant, Stamps.com, an Internet provider of mailing and shippingsolutions for businesses.

When asked what special provisions Sterling requires of dot-comtenants, Larson answered that letters of credit in the $500,000 to$1M million range are generally negotiated. Though he wasn't sureof the exact amounts asked of EarthLink Inc. and Stamps.com, heremarked, "since (dot-coms) are such a risk, I'm sure they had toput quite a bit down."