John Hennessey SIOR, principal and Donald M. Hause, both of GVA Thompson Doyle Hennessey & Stevens, represented Arnold Worldwide in the transaction. The company explored many options in the Boston marketplace, but opted to renew and keep its corporate headquarters at this location. Arnold, a marketing firm which has worked with brands such as Volkswagen, Procter & Gamble, EMC, Brown-Forman, MTV, McDonald's, Monster.com, Lufthansa, and L'Oreal, cited Boston Properties' proactive management of the Prudential Center, as well as its landmark address, among the many reasons it chose to remain.

The building is located in the city's Back Bay neighborhood and is part of the Prudential Center, which is comprised of 2.6 million sf of office space in three office buildings--the 52-story Prudential Tower, the 25-story 101 Huntington Ave. and the 35-story 111 Huntington Ave. There is also 620,000 sf of retail space, connected via glass-enclosed arcades to the Hynes Convention Center and approximately 50% of the city's total hotel rooms.

Lease rates for this deal were not available, but the average asking rent for space in the building ranges from $35 to $42 per sf depending upon the floor. According to Meredith & Grew's third quarter statistics, the vacancy rate for the city is 16.4%, comparable throughout the year yet up from 14.4% at the end of 2002. The report notes that the vacancy rate for tower space on floors 20 or above is only 6.4%, which it emphasizes indicates a "two-tiered market with class A high-rise space experiencing different dynamics than the market as a whole."