The retrofit in a million-square-foot tower may cost about $750,000 and pay for itself in three years through reduced energy costs.

Most corporate tenants, however, are not big enough to justify a million-square-foot tower.

Under the partnership, The Times has a 58 percent stake in the project and will occupy 825,000 square feet of the 1.5 million-square-foot tower.

The 1.4 million-square-foot tower is at the northwest corner of the Times Square bowtie.

In the many million-square-foot towers, $2 a square foot amounts to $2 million a year.

And the office itself is 35,000 square feet, or 1.3 percent of the planned 2.6 million-square-foot tower.

Twelve years ago, Chase had nearly closed a deal to move 5,000 technical jobs to a proposed 1.5 million-square-foot tower at the Newport project.

There is one new building going up in midtown, of course, the 48-story, 1.6 million-square-foot tower being built by the Durst Organization.

The firm occupies 365,000 square feet of the 1.3 million-square-foot tower.

More than 12 floors in the 66-story, 1.4 million-square-foot tower have been leased.