Floor appeal. (Real Estate).

Eleven miles to the east, Tri-Cities' largest lease deal of the year was signed in East Pasadena.

Management consulting and technical services firm Tetra Tech Inc. will be consolidating its four Pasadena offices into a new, 68,500 headquarters in Pasadena Corporate Park at Foothill Boulevard and Halstead Street. The 12-year deal was valued at more than $25 million.

"They get a brand new facility where they can consolidate," said Doney, who, with Insignia's Nico Vilgiate, represented both the tenant and landlord, Kearny Real Estate Co.

Tetra Tech expects to occupy the new space in either the fourth quarter of 2002 or the first quarter of 2003. It will get building-top signage on the 115,000-square-foot building, of which the remaining 46,500 square feet has yet to be leased.

At a starting rent of $2.25 a foot, the deal illustrates Tetra Tech's willingness to pay for a new product that has, at 34,000 square feet, some of the largest floor plates in the submarket, according to Bill Boyd, senior vice president at Grubb & Ellis Co.

"That's great rent for East Pasadena," said Boyd. "There is sublease space in even higher quality buildings in Glendale and Burbank from $1.70 to $1.85, although for not as long a lease term."

Staff reporter Danny King can be reached at [phone] ext. 230, or at [e-mail].