The space was occupied by Flying Rhino, which master leased theentire building for five years a couple of years back beforescaling back to 3,000 sf on the first floor this fall and assigningsublease duties to Mike Holzgang and Brad Christiansen withColliers International, who leased it up in 45 days thanks to alease rate that was a couple of bucks below market and a spacealready built out especially for high-tech, creative uses. Acuity,a graphics and design firm, also leased space in the building.

Christiansen tells GlobeSt.com that the cut asking rate wasthanks to Flying Rhino coming to the Pearl District in early 1999,at the beginning of the former warehouse district's rise as opposedto the middle of it. "We had a couple of organizations that hadbasically decided not to make a move because of the economy, butbecause of the opportunity almost came to bat after all," saysChristiansen. "We almost had three different companies competing atthe same time."

Learning.com, a rapidly-growing provider of online products andservice for K-12 educators, relocated from 2,200 sf on NorthRussell that was being shared by 27 employees, chairman, CEO andfounder Bill Kelly tells GlobeSt.com. Now, instead of aLilliputian-like 81 sf each, employees have more like 350 sf, amove that has already begun paying dividends.