new building on Victoria Street will beat out the rest of the contenders coming on the market.

"This will be the most modern building in the City,'' the former Premier exults as he took The Royal Gazette on a tour of the building, under construction and expected to be completed by the end of September.

The site was the location of his construction and rental company, John W. Swan Ltd. The new four-storey building incorporates the original 30-year-old building with its Bermuda roof, the centre of Sir John's business empire.

He sold the rental part of the real estate business to long time business associate and friend Alex Swan in April to concentrate on developing office buildings and homes.

In addition to the Swan Building on Victoria Street, Sir John has also received planning permission to build the much ballyhooed eight-storey Seon Place next to Dismont Robinson's on Front Street.

But while the foundations have been dug for that building, Sir John is concentrating on getting the Victoria Street complex going. He has already rented out half of the 39,400 sq-ft of space and is looking for more tenants to fill the rest of the building.

He's especially enthusiastic about the look of the building which incorporates the hexagon shape of his original offices, and will have a larger hexagonal atrium with a sun roof as a crown.

The front and rear of the building will have a completely glass facade. The curtain glass system -- made of steel uprights with sheets of glass glued to the frame -- is being imported from Canada.

"The object is to produce light flowing all over the building,'' Sir John said. "When people come to work they won't get the feeling they're inside. In our technology driven era we are trying to reduce some of the stress by bringing some of the outside inside.'' Sir John is certain the demand for office space will continue, even though other developers are rushing to fill the gap.

"There is a lot of crammed capacity and a lot of old buildings,'' he said.

"From an architectural point of view this will be a modern building.'' The Swan Building was designed by Erwin P. Adderley Associates Ltd. with advice from Benevides & Associates.

FINISHED PRODUCT -- An impression of what the Swan Building will look like.

IN THE MAKING -- Construction workers at the site of the new Victoria Street building.