Crow Holdings' 2100 McKinney, like its peers, has piqued interest from buyers of all types. Commercial Developments International/East Inc. of New York City previously confirmed its interest in the property, but then walked away from the deal a few months ago. Now, CDI is rumored to be circling for the close.

The sale will cap about three months of record prices for a select few. "Dallas is seeing some good sales activity," says Gary Carr of CB Richard Ellis Inc. in Dallas. Those properties bringing in top dollar are "well leased, stabilized assets with stable rent rolls and no near-term rollover," he adds.

But, the big tickets are relegated to the beauty queens. "It's very selective and confined to trophy properties that have a story to them...and rent rolls over the next three to five years," says Barry Brown of Dallas' Holliday Fenoglio Fowler.

Brown and Carr are accounting for the high-ticket trades that have been kept low key. The 2100 McKinney, assessed at more than $67 million, has attracted a dozen offers from "core-return buyers" in the six months it's been on the market, Brown says. All the offers, he confirms, are well above the replacement cost.

About a dozen offers also rolled in for the 294,000-sf Addison Circle One, which stands at the gateway to Post Properties' mixed-use Addison Circle. Champion Partners collected well above the $47-million assessment from Franklin Street Partners of Boston, Carr says. "We beat that substantially," he tells GlobeSt.com.

Franklin is a two-time buyer of Champion Partners properties, having held the deed for the last couple of years to Willow Bend Center, a 117,000-sf class A asset at the Dallas North Tollway and Parker.

Franklin's new Dallas holding at 15601 N. Dallas Tollway is a 10-story design that is fully leased with 90,000 sf dedicated to the Staubach Co. headquarters "It's truly a trophy story asset," says Carr, who went from listing to closing in four months.

The high-rollers started to flex their muscles as the third quarter opened, just about the time that RREEF plunked down some big bucks to Houston-based Hines for the Galleria North's 112,000 sf of fully leased retail and 306,000 sf of practically full office product. Carr sold the office building and Brown hawked the retail.

In a market like today's, rumors spread like prairie wildfires. Street talk, though, is pretty reliable. And in Hines' case, the latest word is it too is within weeks of a return to the closing table. This time, it will be signing over the 1.8-million-sf Galleria, all upscale retail that's 95% filled, reportedly to UBS Realty, the Boston-based arm of UBS AG, Switzerland's largest bank. Still to come will be a buyer for the 431-room Westin Hotel, which has Hines as the majority partner and Starwood Hotels & Resorts as minority owner and operator.