AUSTIN-Congress at Fourth, the 525,000-sf Cousins Properties Inc. building, has signed its fourth and, so far, largest tenant, the Austin-based Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody law firm. It is the third law firm to reserve space in the office tower and it continues the 2002 trend in Austin of lawyers abandoning older buildings for brand-new ones.

Graves Dougherty's move will be short in terms of distance but long in years. It will exit the 251,000-sf Bank of America building at 515 Congress, which was built in 1975. The firm's new residence is a block south on the northeast corner of Congress Avenue and Fourth Street.

At 48,000 sf, the Graves Dougherty lease is the biggest at Congress at Fourth and boosts the building's pre-opening occupancy to 27% or 144,000 sf. The lease term is 15 years.