The lease expiration has Verizon's brokers from Grubb & Ellis Co.'s Dallas office scouting Las Colinas for office space as it enters into negotiations to renew at Solana, GlobeSt.com has been told. "They might end up renewing. It's time to make that decision," says Sam Hocker, a Grubb & Ellis vice president. Verizon has been a Solana tenant since 1995.

Solana is one of the most impressive developments in the Dallas-Ft. Worth region. The eight-building project, encompassing more than one million sf, had been built for IBM, which holds a long-term lease on the high-end complex. IBM had downsized its DFW holdings in 1993 and opted to sublease the bulk of Solana. IBM, which has maintained a Solana office, has very little trouble finding tenants for the coveted address. Hocker estimates that just 50,000 sf is vacant by his best guess.

Hocker and Grubb & Ellis' Lee Wagner have just closed the 25-acre sale for Verizon while Maguire Partners has used in-house representation. The acquisition clears just one more hurdle in Verizon's plan to build its second network operation and control center in the nation. The acreage is located on the northeast corner of Texas 114 and Dove Road and has been under contract since April.