Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle's Austin leasing and management portfolio encompasses more than one million sf, but that, too, should be changing, Byron Edgmon, vice president of project and development management in Dallas, tells GlobeSt.com. There are several deals in the pipeline that promise to beef up the leasing and management portfolio come the fourth quarter.

Patrick Fernandez is coming from Jones Lang LaSalle's Dallas office to serve as senior project manager. Victor L. Russo, now in Houston, will be Austin's leasing and management director, while Francine Evans, who has been a part of the Austin team, is the office's general manager for leasing and management.

"We are very committed to Austin. How quickly and how aggressively is all dependent on our new business opportunities," Edgmon tells GlobeSt.com. What will occur is a full-service lineup, similar to the structuring in Dallas. And, he says, more staff is sure to follow.

Until this move, Clint Harrington, vice president and regional manager for Jones Lang LaSalle in Houston, has been overseeing the Austin buildup. "Patrick, Vic and Francine bring a wealth of experience to our Austin team and will add tremendously to our capabilities in this important market," he says.

The Jones Lang LaSalle Austin portfolio includes EDS, Sprint, Sun Microsystems, the Shidler Group, Wells Fargo, Aon, Clear Channel Communications and Kaplan Education Center. Fernandez will be handling several projects for Wells Fargo Bank. He has just wrapped up converting more than 600 sites to the newly merged Norwest and Wells Fargo standards. He also will be handling Genuity Internet Solutions and AO Insurance.

Russo has 19 years' experience in the industry and had been vice president for Coldwell Banker Commercial American Spectrum. Evans will oversee property management services for four buildings, totaling 650,000 sf, which are owned by Shidler Group and Angelo Gordon. Her prior experience includes managing several trophy buildings for PM Realty, Transwestern Commercial Services and CarrAmerica in Houston and Austin.

The new players are joining Michelle McDonald, vice president of tenant representation, and Margaret Stutz, a tenant rep associate. Edgmon says no one person has been assigned to head up the office, relying instead upon the team for direction and new business in the state capital market.