Real estate experts around town say a tenant with the size and credit worthiness of ADP could get some very attractive offers in the way of free rent, moving expenses and tenant improvement dollars. They also describe ADP's window shopping as somewhat predictable. "A lot of larger Downtown tenants are in the market examining their options in an attempt to make sure they are getting the best deal they can possibly get when renegotiating or renewing their lease with their existing landlord," one local source tells GlobeSt.

The law firms Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt and Miller Nash are prime examples. Both flirted with owners of Downtown office buildings existing and planned earlier this year before signing new deals with their existing landlords at better rates than they had been paying. ADP's current lessor no doubt knows what the law firms knew: it's often much easier to stay put because it's expensive to move and otherwise a general pain in the butt, with unwanted downtime, unexpected costs and potentially the loss of skilled employees who quit because they don't like the new location.

"The existing landlord will understand that," says the source. "So let's say they have an offer on the table that's 20% less than what's being offered by their existing landlord. The existing landlord isn't going to match it, because he knows the tenant has costs as well, so maybe the existing landlord counters with a 10% discount."

The issue comes down to this: how much of what the landlord would spend replacing the tenant is the landlord willing to spend to keep him.The answer would come easier, no doubt, if it was clear what the office market will look when the lease is to run out on the eve of 2005.