All this activity comes on the heels of Silverstein Properties naming CBRE as the exclusive leasing agent for 7 World Trade Center, the 1.7-million-sf office tower being rebuilt in Lower Manhattan--the first after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Tighe believes the firm has been on a roll in Manhattan lately because it has the "right combination of ingredients."

"We have a seasoned and extremely sophisticated agency department, people who have a well-established track record on being able to represent landlords and sub-landlords," she explains. "Number two, we have the dominate market share in tenant representation. As a result, I would say anywhere between a third and 40% of the deals in our agency buildings are done by our firm." This can save landlords up to millions of dollars, depending on the size of the building, because they only have to pay one full commission instead of an override, she adds.

Tighe also points to CBRE's market information as a leading factor in picking up the leasing assignments. "In an interesting way it's a generative cycle. We have the most information because we represent the most buildings because we represent the most tenants because we have the best information," she says. "Everything feeds into everything else. Our technology captures all of this so we're not in doubt about where pricing should be on, literally, a day-to-day basis. When the market is moving as swiftly as the market in Midtown is moving right now you want to know, day-by-day, where are the rent-up packages, where's the free rent, what's the rent going on in a competitive product and we have that information as close as our Blackberry. "