Game firm to move

Duke Realty isn't playing games when it comes to leasing up Perimeter One. But its newest tenant is.

Vicious Cycle Software, which developed video games such as "Puzzle Quest" and "Flushed Away," agreed to lease 20,000 square feet in Duke's new 204,000-square-foot office building in Morrisville.

The building is now 37 percent leased -- more than twice Duke's goal for 2007.

Vicious Cycle joins Progress Software, which is taking 36,000 square feet, and Duke itself, which leases 20,000 square feet.

More deals could be on the way. Federal government contractor Northrop Grumman, for instance, is said to be considering space in the building.

Vicious Cycle is moving out of a disjointed 13,100 square feet at Quadrangle business park in Durham. In the past seven years, the company's growth spurts were handled with small expansions connected by meandering hallways.

The new space will let the gamer grow under one roof, which is important as more people buy its games, says CEO Eric Peterson. "You want to have those crossing-paths situations where you get to say, 'Hey I was thinking ...' "

The company, which this year was bought by Japanese game company D3Publisher, is expected to reach about $7 million in sales this year -- double the tally in 2005. Its 55 employees are expected to grow to about 90 in the coming years. The company's deal with Duke allows it to expand if needed.

Meanwhile, Peterson is planning the new space.

His current focus: a glass-encased entertainment area that will include a cafe, arcade games, billiards and ping-pong, he says. "We are a game company, right? So we need to embrace that."

After five years of emptiness, Imperial Plaza is finally getting some love.

Wells Fargo agreed to lease 16,000 square feet in the 23-year-old, 80,300-square-foot office building at 4600 Emperor Blvd. in Durham.

It's the first tenant since Durham investor Anthony Dilweg bought the building from Nortel Networks for $3.1 million in June 2002. Dilweg had been holding out for a single tenant.

Wells Fargo, the nation's second-biggest home lender, is growing out of 7,000 square feet it leases from Highwoods Properties at Rexwoods Office Center in West Raleigh, says Rich Harris, the GVA Advantis broker who represented Wells Fargo and Vicious Cycle. The three-year lease could help the company add several dozen jobs.