According to World Trade Centers Association executive vice president Robert C. DiChiara, these new centers could take the form of new developments or new licensing deals of the WTCA brand on existing sites. No deals are expected to close before September, he says.

Of course, it's too early to discuss project size either, although DiChiara notes that no all trade centers carry the massive measurements commonly associated with the trade centers. While all are class A complexes--often the first in their locales--"there is no minimum square footage," the EVP states.

Minimums are no problem for the two-phased center set to break ground in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. The center's president, Sergei G. Ovchinnikov, explains through an interpreter that the first phase, some 100,000 sf including first-floor retail, will come out of the ground next year. Phase I already has leasing commitments for 85% of the space. The second phase, which will deliver some 350,000 sf in two buildings, will commence upon completion of the first phase.

While specific economic boosts to the central Russian city were hard to come by, typically, a center can improve upon local leasing rates by as much as 75%, DiChiara points out.