Current tenants, which include such names as Allen & Co., SunTrust, the National Geographic Society and Loews Cineplex, may be looking at rents rising from roughly $59 per foot to as much as $70, sources say. Coke is also a tenant in the 75-year-old building, maintaining its New York HQ there.

"There are always opportunities that come from existing tenants to free up space they are currently occupying," says one observer. "They might be interested in leaving the building a little earlier. That will give management the opportunity to achieve its highest rent levels."

The vehicle of the increase is a building repositioning that encompasses a new lobby; exterior lighting; upgraded services, such as a concierge; and the possibility of a new state-of-the-art videoconferencing facility. According to leasing agent John Cannon, the current round of upgrades come on the heels of some $10 million in infrastructure improvements Coke has made to the asset since 1997. "We proposed to them that it was time to make improvements that people could see," says Cannon, who shares leasing duties with Howard Rosen.

Cannon reports that Coke had sent a leasing proposal to all the major New York players earlier this year for some 17,000 feet of available space. "They apparently figured all they could do was re-lease it," Cannon says. "But what they got from us was a little different in that we saw it as more than just a transaction but as an opportunity to totally reposition the asset and serve Coke in more of an advisory capacity." Grubb got the assignment last month, Cannon reports.Coca-Cola representatives did not return phone calls.