"There is a lot of unfilled demand from Dearborn Plaza that we'd like to meet," says Matt Ward, vice president at Alter Group, which is based here. "We own a 28,000-sf parcel just two blocks away at Illinois and Clark. We are going to duplicate the type of facility we built at Dearborn Plaza at the site, probably in 2001." While the proposed-development is still in the very earliest planning stages, Ward estimates that the new building will be 17-stories and cost anywhere from $80 million to $100 million to build.

Ward refused to comment on growing speculation that Alter Group will be joining a partnership of developers and financial interests in a major high-tech development initiative. Sources say, however, that Alter Group's participation in the partnership will represent a major investment on the developer's part.

Ward says the new building at Illinois and Clark will have the latest high-tech amenities, as does the recently completed Dearborn Plaza. Located at Dearborn and Kinzie Streets, Dearborn Plaza, which is 93% leased just 30 days after completion, has the very latest in broadband and other connections, a 12-KVA electrical riser that allows for virtually unlimited power expansion and a generator farm to allow tenants to install backup power systems.