When Idealab leased this space, the company was the classic Internet start-up with companies like eToys listed among its early successes. The Nasdaq was then at its height and incubator companies like Idealab were ubiquitous. Idealab spent several million dollars building out the space that could accommodate up to 205 employees even though the company at the time only had 70. Since then, the high-tech market has come back down to earth, and many companies have gone the way of eToys, which reportedly plans to file for bankruptcy protection shortly. A number of high-tech companies in this area have been forced to sublet office space that they had leased in anticipation of rapid growth.

Idealab, which is headquartered in California, did not return calls by presstime but Bruce Johnston, head of the office here is quoted as saying that the company did not grow as quickly as anticipated. An initial public offering scheduled for this past summer was set aside and the number of employees, who are spread in five offices across the country, has been cut from 250 to 100.