"Our ability to expand them today turned the tide in our direction," Matt Craft, principal with locally based Trammell Crow Co., tells GlobeSt.com. The 19-year tenant, represented by Dan Paterson with Swearingen Realty Group in Dallas, has grabbed 18,000 sf on the 25th floor and got first right of refusal on the estimated 6,000-sf balance when it becomes available, he says. The Baker & McKenzie team, which is taking down the new space in phases, also occupies the 23rd and 24th floors in the 49-story high rise at 2001 Ross Ave., where the quoted rate is $26 per sf to $28 per sf plus electric.

The law firm's new stair-stepped lease pushes the term well beyond 2010, according to Craft, who teamed with TCC principal Jon McNeil to land the deal for the trophy's joint venture owners. Fort Worth-based Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. owns the ground lease and mortgage to the 96%-leased, 1.1-million-sf landmark.

Craft says the team has one more major lease to put to bed among its largest tenants, of which four have cut early renewals in the past two years. The deal on the table is the law firm of Patton & Boggs, which occupies 75,000 sf through 2010. In the case of Baker & McKenzie, other building owners and developers were up against a class AA space overlooking Nasher Sculpture Garden, the Dallas Center for Performing Arts site and Belo Mansion. "And, the views are just getting better," Craft says.