Senior managing directors Dennis Barnes and Marijke Lantz exited the Insignia office Monday and started Tuesday morning at C&W, which admits to courting the duo for the past several months to lob a serious play for asset services in the region. Insignia, though, isn't out in the cold entirely, with Michael Griffith just in from Miami to find himself in the fray as Lantz's permanent replacement, Barnes' temporary fill-in and business development leader for all agency services in North Texas, the job created for his Texas return.

The question remains as to when or if a replacement will be named for Barnes, much like those lingering about the Dallas office's fate in the wake of I/ESG's merger talks with CB Richard Ellis Inc. "When the merger happens, then decisions will be made...office and personnel," an Insignia spokesman in New York City tells GlobeSt.com.

With the high-powered talks under way, I/ESG's top man in Dallas, Philip C. Baker, too is limited in what he can say. But, he emphasizes, only Barnes and Lantz left, not the entire asset team, which now has a head count of eight. The office, including accounting, numbers 102.

Griffith, originally from Abilene, was Lantz's counterpart in the Sunshine State, but was given the business development slot in Texas in a goodwill move since his fiancee from Florida is Channel 5's newest afternoon news anchor. "He has stepped into the role and it's as though we didn't miss a beat," Baker says of the 20-year professional.

Sixteen months ago, Barnes left Trammell Crow Co. for Insignia, a move that came shortly after Baker rolled his firm into the office. Two months later, Lantz left Archon for Insignia. With the shift to C&W, Barnes, a 14-year professional, is the senior director of leasing for asset services for the Dallas branch while Lantz, an 18-year veteran, is managing director of asset services for Dallas-Fort Worth. Barnes' slot is new, but Lantz is replacing Jim Mertz.

"I think we are getting the top team in the city," Elizabeth C. Trocchio, senior managing director and area leader, tells GlobeSt.com. That team is tasked with building up the asset services group, with bodies and contracts.

Barnes is starting out with two brokers, but more will be coming as Lantz builds the business with new clients, both office and industrial, according to Trocchio. "We are looking to venture into industrial," she says, "which we have talked about but never did."

Trocchio says the asset services' play clearly is aimed at "kicking it up a notch to the next level." The group focuses on professional property and facility management, project management and agency leasing services. Locally, it manages 8.6 million sf in 32 properties out of a 325-million-sf global portfolio held by C&W's asset services group.The C&W catch, Lantz, was responsible for adding 1.7 million sf to the I/ESG management and leasing rolls in a year's time. Barnes handled all areas of agency leasing for I/ESG in the DFW market.