Debevoise Plimpton leases at 919 Third.

The law firm Debevoise & Plimpton is taking over rival Skadden Arps - well actually, just some of its space. The deal for 415,142 square feet at 919 Third Avenue is an expansion for D&P and notches in as the largest Midtown lease deal of this quarter. It was made possible because Skadden Arps is leaving multiple floors for its own new and even larger 4 Times square headquarters in mid-2001.

Other law firms, including Schulte Roth & Zabel, have also been picking up various Skadden Arps Slate Meager & Flora floors, plus other space in the building.

Debevoise is currently housed in 278,300 square feet at the neighboring 825 Third Avenue, and has about another 27,700 square feet at 150 East 52nd Street, so the new space will allow them to combine at one site and expand by a third.

The law firm will be taking floors 2 and 3, 31 through 35 and 42 through 47 in the Class A building.

There is nothing wrong with their space or the two-story Class A building at 875 Eighth Avenue, which has been owned by Boston Properties for the last year, says Barry Mills, the Debevoise real estate partner who was in charge of the business issues of the deal.

"We needed to substantially renovate the existing space, and in our judgement, rather than living through years of renovation, our best option was to find a new space and renovate it, and then move in," explained Mills. "This is also an expansion," he added, as the firm prepares for the new century with more attorneys, more staff and larger case rooms.

"We're planning to grow, and we're planning to build a large dining facility, so our employees can get to know each other," Mills added.

The law firm did not handle the legal work on the lease itself, but called on Fried Frank Harris Shriver and Jacobson partners Jonathan L. Mechanic and Meyer Last, while The Georgetown Company's Alan R. Grossman acted as their broker.

The ownership of 919 Third Avenue, 919 Fee Assoc. LP, was represented by Robert Alexander and Leonard DiMiscelli of Insignia/ESG.

A bigger issue for the law firm - as it is for all law firms - and one that will be decided by Debevoise after lengthy discussions, is what to do with their library space, currently taking up about 12,000 square feet?

"It will not be the showplace it was," agreed Mills. "The tendency for law firms today is to have much smaller libraries."

That's because through desktop computer terminals and modems, and the development of proprietary services such as Lexis, as well as information available from many courts, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies, attorneys and staff can simply let their fingers do the walking and don't have to wade through books to find what they are looking for - just search engines.

But what happens when there's a power failure or the needed site for research is off-line the night before a document must be filed? Should the law firm give up the books and rely solely on the Internet? Or if they keep some books, what do they give up?

Those kinds of question will arise whenever a law firm now considers changing its offices, and will certainly affect legal space needs and thinking.

The Debevoise deal underscores another important consideration for building owners and managers who may operate terrific properties, but are hard-pressed to keep tenants that want to expand and rejuvenate their offices but don't want to "live through" a renovation. If the building can't accommodate the tenant, the tenant will go elsewhere, simply for its own convenience and stress reduction.

The Debevoise deal also now opens a nearly 300,000 square-foot block at 875 Third Avenue for the publicly-traded Boston Properties. According to CoStar, that comply picked it up from Kenvic Assoc. in November, 1987 for about 890,869 Operating Partnership units and the assumption of $180 million in debt.

The 631,175 square-foot building was designed by Skidmore Ownings Merrill and has a glass-enclosed, three-story retail atrium. Other tenants include Instinet, Sidley & Austin and Grey Entertainment.

SOM also designed its 1.4 million square-foot neighbor three blocks north at 56th Street, 919 Third Avenue, where about 220,000 square feet is still available for a January 2001 occupancy.