The term is for eight years, according to Timothy Monahan,corporate managing director, and Patrick McGrath, assistantdirector in the local office of Studley. They negotiated on behalfof Maritz. Monahan says Maritz wanted "more efficient andprofitable class A office space that could also help the companyimprove its employee recruiting and retention." Whitney Hunter andDavid Heally of the local Jones Lang LaSalle office, representedMellon Bank.

The aggregate value of the agreement is undisclosed. Accordingto a second-quarter Studley report, the average asking rent ratefor class A office space in the West Market submarket is $26.77 persf, while a Cushman & Wakefield report puts the rate at $26.38per sf, and a Grubb & Ellis report pegs it at $$28.60 persf.

Newton, MA-based HRPT Properties Trust owns the 53-story,1.3-million-sf tower, which was built in 1990 and is located at1735 Market St. Locally based Sunoco relocated its headquartersfrom Ten Penn Center into 221,000 sf in Mellon Bank Center insummer 2005. Tom Flach of REIT Management & Research LLC,HRPT's locally based management firm, tells GlobeSt.com thebuilding is now 96% leased.