MGM cleared the path for construction to begin when it signed a contract valued at nearly $500 million to occupy 17 floors of the new building late last year. The 425,000-sf, 15-year lease deal assured JMB that the high-rise will be at least 70% full when construction is completed in the spring or summer of 2003.

McCaslin, a former JMB exec, represented the developer in the deal. MGM was represented by Mitch Leit of West LA-based Corporate Real Estate Services.

There's a good chance that the building might be more than 75% or even 80% full when its doors finally swing open. McCaslin says he's negotiating now with several other prospective tenants, and GlobeSt.com has been told that aircraft-leasing giant International Lease Finance Corp. wants more than 100,000 sf in the new office tower.

JMB's Constellation Place will rise on the last available large parcel in Century City, which is part of the pricey West LA office market. Though rents in the entertainment and tech-heavy area have climbed at double-digit rates over each of the past few years, the growth has slowed in recent months as troubled dot-coms have put more than 1.5 million sf of their space up for sublet.