With similar projects driving commercial activity to the north and west of Boston, Conroy is proposing what it considers the first telecommunications data center in the South market. The 200,000-sf, two-story building would help telecom providers service the financial, high-tech and insurance industries that have come to dominate this 9.7 million-sf office market.

"Nobody has tapped into the South yet," says broker Christopher P. Tosti of CB Richard Ellis/Whittier Partners. "Somebody is going to put something there, and we are happy to be the first ones in."

CB/Whittier is marketing the space on behalf of Conroy, but Tosti he believes the developers will build on a speculative basis, if necessary. If permitting goes smoothly, he says the building could be completed by the end of 2001.

Although the threat looms that a competitor could retrofit an existing building, Tosti says he believes 2 Hancock St. has benefits that would still make it an attractive option for telecom users, the most critical being a major fiber-optic line that runs along the front of the property into Boston. MCI already has a presence along that line, while similar companies such as C2C Fiber and Neescom are preparing to enter the network as well.

In addition, 2 Hancock St. should be considered attractive because it is being built with telecom companies in mind, Tosti notes. Along with 15-foot clear ceilings, it is being designed with 200 pounds per square foot of load capacity, redundant power supplies and non-combustible materials.

As in other parts of the country, the telecom phenomenon is sweeping Boston of late, with several gigantic deals completed recently. CB/Whittier has participated in several of those transactions, including the 450,000-sf pact just signed by Globix Corp. for a former warehouse in Boston's Allston neighborhood.