The insurance company had occupied 39,440 sf on floors 41, 42, 43, 48 and 49 in the 55-story Chase Tower at 2200 Ross Ave. until Feb. 15. Its loan services group relocated to 2100 Ross Ave., where two full floors had been under construction for several months. Its Chase Tower lease doesn't expire until the end of July.

Sources say the new leases range from seven to 10 years at stair-stepped rates. Pru tried to keep the highly chased deals under wraps, with word leaking to the street after the last lease signing. Pru's broker Michael Wyatt, executive director for Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc., couldn't be reached to comment on the deals.

Chase's Sky Lobby

Chase Tower's keyhole floors are quoted at $37 per sf plus electric. In contrast, 2100 Ross' class A space is tagged at $19 per sf to $21 per sf plus electric.

Payne says Pru's space planning will be done by summer, allowing finish-out to ramp up so it can move in as soon as possible. When the shuffle's complete, Payne will have 55,000 sf of sky window space in the two towers, which have floor plates of roughly 9,000 sf. She says signatures are pending on a lease with a new oil and gas company and negotiations are under way with a financial services firm that's new to the market. The 1.3-million-sf Chase Tower was 92% leased when it was bought by Houston-based Hines REIT in November 2007 for $290 million.