Andrew Lazarus, Howard Grufferman and Andrew Hawkins of Grubb & Ellis Co. represented Johnson & Ritchi. CB Richard Ellis represented Zagats Survey LLC, who leased the space for its online division, but never used it. The space was originally built and occupied by Swanke, Haden & Connell Architects.

Faced with a renewal rate of close to $80 per sf, Johnson decided to go west to the eight-story, 118,000-sf 4 Columbus Circle where advertised rents were in the mid $30s per sf. The space also appealed to the firm because it needed very little work done on it to meet its needs. Other tenants include Details, Steelcase and Vecta.

According to Grubb & Ellis preliminary figures, overall vacancy and average rental rates were flat in August. Leasing activity through August, which totaled 23.2 million sf, is just shy of the total space leased in 2003--23.5 million sf. And the top three industries year to date based on the total amount of space leased are: banking and finance, 20.4%; media/entertainment, 13%; and legal, 12.6%.