The Ft. Worth-based REIT has inked a definitive agreement with Crescent Operating Co. "It's a win-win for both companies," Keira B. Moody, Crescent's vice president of investor relations, tells GlobeSt.com. She says Crescent has "taken all the steps from an accounting perspective and tax perspective so that we're sound" with regard to IRS approval. Several subsidiaries will be set up with the structuring so that in the end the REIT's books will be simplified.

The initiative will be presented to stockholders in the third quarter. A meeting date has not been set for the required shareholder vote. The REIT is paying $37.8 million for the resort and hotel lease interests and $40.6 million for the residential development corporations and related assets.

"We saw the REIT Modernization Act as a means to simplify the businesses of Crescent Real Estate and Crescent Operating, so the challenge was to develop a solution that works for both," John C. Goff, CEO for both entities, says in a prepared statement.