"This is the largest single hiring of a group of individuals at the same time in Dallas," says David Carroll, senior vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle's markets group and overseer of Texas, Louisiana and Colorado. JLL is marking its second major raid in the past two months of the CBRE camp plus the one-off, high-profile catch, Frank Ricca, managing director in Fort Worth.

JLL isn't resting on its laurels; talks are under way with other seasoned professionals on its competitor's team. In line with the beefing up, JLL will relocate its office late next week, doubling its size to 20,201 sf--enough room for 100 employees or roughly 30 more than it has today.

The latest hiring wave has reeled in Matt Craft and Jon McNeil as managing directors and Jeff Eckert, James Esquivel and Curt Holcomb as senior vice presidents. Although JLL's Carroll won't confirm it, GlobeSt.com has learned from several sources that CBRE senior exec James Yoder also has signed with the firm. Carroll isn't saying who, but he did say another hire will be announced next week.

Carroll says JLL's goal is to be the top brokerage house in all respective markets or at least in the Top 3. "There is a tremendous focus on Texas from our firm," he stresses. "It will be interesting to see where we are at the end of this year." Its present ranking isn't clear, but what is clear is Dallas has the spotlight because it's second only to New York City in its number of Fortune 500 headquarters, Carroll explains.

Since the merger, all national brokerage houses have been heavily courting CBRE-Trammell Crow Co.'s talent pool and their clients too. Street talk has it that JLL is offering signing bonuses in multiples of average annual earnings in every metro where it's aggressively chasing CBRE-TCC brokers. In Dallas, JLL also is rumored to be beefing up so it has in-place muscle to compete for upcoming office portfolio assignments like the 3.1 million sf that Schenectady, NY-based Trimarchi Management is poised to buy from Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. of Fort Worth.

"To be able to pitch senior executives of this caliber to institutional investor clients as well as local and regional firms is going to be very powerful," Carroll says. "It truly is a reflection of the focus that we have on growth, especially in Dallas. It gives us great flexibility in growing the platform going forward."

As part of the right-sizing in Dallas, CBRE did the inevitable, handing out pink slips in recent days to other well-known brokers. But none of the JLL newcomers, representing nearly 100 years of experience, fell into that category.

Until now, CBRE senior managing director Mark Fewin has been silent about losing his TCC brokers. "We are the No. 1 market leader in the Dallas-Fort Worth market for commercial real estate. With over 800 professionals within the region, we will continue to set the ultimate standard for excellence with the region supported by our global platform, Fortune 500 clients and local, specialized client services," he says in a prepared statement for GlobeSt.com. "While we would have liked for the departing brokers to be with us to enjoy our future successes, we do wish them well. We maintain a thorough coverage of DFW across submarkets and property types and look forward to serving our customers with the very best service that commercial real estate has to offer."

JLL's Carroll says the latest round wasn't a team hiring; each broker was independently courted and signed. But, blood runs thick and it was agreed that Craft and McNeil will continue to work as a tenant rep team while Eckert and Esquivel will stay together on the agency leasing side. Holcomb will co-lead the critical operations practice with senior vice president Thomas Freeman.

It's no secret on the street that the best and final was between JLL and Transwestern for the six brokers. "We had talked to these guys," admits Jack Eimer, president of Transwestern's Central Region. "I just feel they're a very high-quality team that any company would be proud to have." But, he's also been talking to other senior players in other competitors' camps. It's the sign of the times.

Now as before, none of the departing brokers are making any statements. Their silence speaks volumes: it's as much about not burning bridges as it is out of respect for their TCC grooming in the legendary company.

As part of its growth strategy, JLL is taking over the fifth floor of One Galleria Tower at 13355 Noel Rd. in North Dallas, which is part of its third-party leasing portfolio. The JLL move is penciled for next Friday, turning out lights on a nine-year location that it's simply outgrown. Carroll says the move is timed to coincide with the lease expiration in Northpark Central at 8750 N. Central Expressway.