Greene says he is unable to discuss terms of the lease; however, CBRE's website lists a rate of $24 per sf for 625 Liberty. The release from Equitable says the company will relocate its production and midstream business units to 625 Liberty, while maintaining its Equitable Gas Co. gas subsidiary, a utility company, at 225 North Shore. According to a release from DCED, the move, scheduled to take place during the spring and summer of 2009, will keep 772 jobs in Pittsburgh and create 354 new ones.

"Although we are anticipating a good bit of growth outside of Pennsylvania, we're happy to be keeping our corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh," says Murry Gerber, Equitable's chairman and CEO, in a prepared statement. "The unregulated gas drilling and transportation segments of our business have been driving our development."

Gov. Ed Rendell says in a statement that "this was a competitive project and several other states were hoping that the large private investment and hundreds of jobs would be going their way." Equitable will be getting a $2.8-million incentive package that includes a $1.4-million opportunity grant, $350,000 in job training assistance and $1.06 million in job creation tax credits, according to the DCED release. The company may also consider developing a training and research facility at a separate site, Rendell says in a statement.