The agreement has an aggregate value in excess of $2.9 million, according to Thomas Kramer, a principal of locally based Jackson Cross Partners, who negotiated the transaction on behalf of US Equities Realty LLC. In March 2004, Septa, which owns the building, handed the operation, management and leasing contract for it to Chicago-based US Equities Realty. At that time, the building was fully leased with Septa occupying approximately 400,000 sf.

A year ago, when a 38,000-sf vacancy loomed for this January, US Equities enlisted Jackson Cross, an Oncor International affiliate, to fill the space being exited by CananWill Inc., an international insurance broker. Mission accomplished. "With this lease, the building occupancy is just a few percentage points less than 100%," Kramer says. The local office of Jones Lang LaSalle represented the Census Bureau in the transaction.

The 20-story building was completed in 1973 and contains retail on the lower floors. It offers direct concourse access to the Septa regional rail and subway lines, and there are more than 3,000 parking spaces within one block, Kramer points out.