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The era of big speculative office buildings-towers constructed before tenants are lined up-had been over for years. Or at least it was until 2002, when Boston Properties accidentally became the proud owner of a spec building at the very worst of times.
Arthur Andersen, the prime tenant for the developer's 47-story office tower at 7 Times Square, had suddenly declared bankruptcy. Boston Properties, the big real estate investment trust owned by Mort Zuckerman, was left with a 1.2 millionsquare-foot building two years from completion and facing a market where vacancy rates were rising and rental prices were falling.
"We knew we had a Herculean task," says Peter Turchin, a senior vice president at CB Richard Ellis, the leasing agent for the $600 million property that was to have been half-occupied by Andersen.
Remarkably, that task is now more than half completed. Today, 700,000 square feet have been leased in a series of four deals, leaving 500,000 square feet available. Mr. Turchin predicts that the building will be 85% leased by year's end.
Quick turnaround
With neighbors such as the Reuters Building, across West 42nd...