Hines confirms it has contracted to buy two of the six acres at the site from landowner Woodruff Arts Center for an undisclosed sum. Industrial real estate brokers tell GlobeSt.com the price will be about $1 million per acre or $22.96 per sf. Woodruff bought the land in 2000. The unnamed tower would be the first phase of the Symphony Center venture.

Hines hopes to hedge its bet with a long-term lease being negotiated with locally based law firm King & Spalding for 400,000 sf or 64% of the building's rentable area. King & Spalding would occupy the top 14 floors with an option to expand in later years. Hines and law firm officials couldn't be reached by press time.

But area office brokers intimate with the project tell GlobeSt.com the lease is probably for 20 years at an average rent of $26 per sf. That would make the aggregate value of the lease about $10.8 million per year or a total $208 million. It would be the largest leasing contract of its kind ever signed in metro Atlanta, area brokers tell GlobeSt.com.