About a year ago, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) tapped Trammell Crow Co. to steer the search. Other offices are open or will soon open in New York City, San Francisco and Atlanta.

Brokers on both sides of the deal say the feds based the final decision more so on building quality than economics. Still, Chris Hermann with TCC in Dallas, tells GlobeSt.com "the economics of the transaction were right. It was a good transaction for the quality of the product and they wanted to be in a finer class A building." Just how good is something that he and Mark Dickenson, senior vice president of Cousins Properties Services, aren't allowed to say.

The "priceless" lease is packaged in an 18th floor office with views of Lake Carolyn and the Urban Center plus a location just steps from the elevator in a 1.4-million-sf, four-building office property that just took a TOBY regional and is headed to the international competition in Toronto. The quoted rate at 5215 N. O'Connor Blvd. is $22 per sf to $25 per sf.

"The 90% leased in a market with over 30% vacancy obviously speaks well for the sponsorship," Dickenson says of the New York City-based TIAA Realty Inc.'s prime piece of real estate, which is managed and leased by the Texas team of Atlanta-headquarters Cousins. With the PCAOB lease filed away, he says a couple more equally high-profile deals are nearing the finish line.

Hermann says Las Colinas was favored for proximity to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Love Field. He says the direction turned to class A status about midway through a six-month search. Las Colinas' marble curbs, canals and reputation for a high-powered corporate headquarters clustering undoubtedly weighed heavily on the decision-making. The short list was down to five when Williams Square's Central Tower got the nod. Then, the final paper was inked less within two months, the brokers say.

The board is in the process of hiring a staff of 25 to 30 to be ready to go for a July 1 move-in. Highland Builders of Dallas is upgrading an office emptied in late 2003 by a tenant who relocated within the building.