The national engineering firm has signed a seven-year, $2.3-million lease for 15,996-sf 18th floor of Equity's 1001 Fifth Avenue, a 372,000-sf office tower recently renamed Congress Center. HDR is currently located in about 12,000 sf at Equity's Lincoln Center, the region's largest suburban office development. EOP is giving the firm a $20 per sf tenant improvement allowance to redesign and redecorate its new space.

Jeff Sholian of Doug Bean & Assoc. and Craig Koppola of Lee & Assoc. represented HDR. Eric Grindy of CB Richard Ellis represented EOP. "They were moving from the suburbs no matter what, and EOP went out of their way to keep them," Grindy tells GlobeSt.com. Adds Sholian: "They got a hell of a real estate deal."

Indeed, though none directly involved would confirm the specifics of the deal, local sources say the negotiated lease rate was around $21 per sf per year, down from an initial asking rate of about $25 per sf and also below Downtown's average class A asking rate, which stood at $23.85 per sf at the end of 2001. The lease commences when tenant improvements are completed, likely May.