Gregory P. Fuller, Granite's managing director in Dallas, confirmed the foreclosure and said the property, strategically positioned at 2350 Lakeside Blvd. in Richardson's Telecom Corridor, would be prepped to go on the market. Additional details about when or any possible upgrades were not available by publication time.

The Greenway Office Park building has been owned since June 1989 by Elman Investors Inc., which has its office in New York City's Upper East Side, according to the Dallas Central Appraisal District. Elman bought the building, constructed in 1985, from its Dallas-based developer, DalMac Cos. Elman did not return a telephone call for comment on the foreclosure.

The impact of losing Nortel as a tenant is best shown in the assessment records, where the $23.7-million levy in 2001 plummeted to slightly more than $13.1 million in 2002. There had been hope of a re-tenanting by a Grubb & Ellis Co. team that courted and almost won Blue Cross/Blue Shield. The death knell for Elman's control was sounded about three months ago when the carrier decided it preferred the view from across the street, taking 135,000 sf at Greenway II, a Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. property.

Few around town know anything about the New York City real estate investor. The Internet too has little to offer other than Elman Investors paid $24 million in July 2002 for a 200,000-sf office building in New Orleans, with the US Department of Interior's Mineral Management Services as the tenant, according to a published account. Records indicate it also could have part ownership in one other Dallas-Fort Worth office building.

George Roddy Sr., president of Foreclosure Listing Service Inc. in Dallas, tells GlobeSt.com that the Grubb team was quoting a lease rate of $17 per sf for the eight-story office building, which comes with a tri-level parking garage.

The cold facts are the Elman foreclosure most likely is just a prelude of what lies ahead. "We haven't seen the last of the foreclosures," Roddy says of the pendulum's swing to the north in the number of properties that are pointed south. Still, it's a far cry from history repeating itself. In 1989, there were 2,000 foreclosed properties of all sizes, shapes and product type in the metroplex, according to Roddy. Last year, there were 154 foreclosures.