He said there were too many twists and turns in large commercial leases to trade office space like winter wheat.

The future of the region over the next three years will be determined as thousands of large and small leases expire.

The largest individual lease was the renewal by Citibank of 34,950 square feet in the complex for its telemarketing and retail training operations.

One of the largest leases in years was just announced last week.

Rents in the $70's and $80's a square foot are still being paid on some large leases.

Only about 50,000 square feet of space is now available; the larger leases run to 2008 or beyond.

The pressures weakening the commercial property market here were illustrated by the largest lease negotiated last year.

On larger leases owners had been paying about $50 a square foot a year toward tenant work.

In the late 1860s a number of large pastoral leases were taken up in the area but no township evolved.

A heading on Sept. 15 for a table listing the 50 largest commercial leases so far this year described them imprecisely.