To make the close, Equastone has secured a $300-million loan from Norwalk, CT-based GE Real Estate for 13 class A office buildings and 43 developable acres in five of the metro's top-ranked submarkets. Although the intention is its usual three-year hold across the board, Clint Harrington, Equastone's executive vice president and head of the Gulf Coast region, tells GlobeSt.com that he's been inundated with "unsolicited offers to pick off some buildings and land."

The prized package is a mix of stabilized buildings averaging 95% occupancy and value-adds that are 80% leased on average, some dipping as low as 68%. Harrington says the Fort Worth-based REIT's upkeep, though, means Equastone's added investment most likely can be directed toward tenant-improvements more so than large overhauls. "There is tremendous upside on some very quality assets in a rising Dallas market to capitalize on growing rents with existing vacancy," he explains.

With the acquisition, Equastone now owns nearly four million sf in Dallas/Fort Worth, all bought since June 2006. "We are getting an unprecedented amount of unsolicited offers on everything that we own in Dallas," Harrington adds. "There is a lot of velocity in both leasing and investment sales. Everything's always for sale at the right price."

The deal just about puts the privately owned Equastone at its $1-billion spending goal for this year. But, Harrington says, the shopping spree is far from over. "Dallas, Houston and Austin represent three of the top 10 growth markets in the country and we have no intention of slowing down," he stresses. Statewide, Equastone owns 4.3 million sf of office properties, all overwhelmingly class A.

To keep pace with the hard push in Texas, Harrington has opened a Dallas office at its Landmark Building at 14800 Landmark Dr. for a senior team of professionals. He's just hired Brian Marsh, formerly with Rreef North America, as Equastone's senior vice president of asset management and Ron Skipper, formerly with Crescent, as vice president of asset management. Two more are poised to come on board.

Meanwhile, Equastone has turned over leasing and management for the Crescent properties to Transwestern's Dallas team of Kim Butler, Reid Caldwell, Kim Brooks and Matt Hurlbut. Transwestern, in turn, has picked up "a large group" of Crescent employees at the just-bought buildings. "It wasn't part of the deal," Harrington says, "but it makes sense."

None of the building names will be changed, but they will clearly carry the Equastone branding for signs and service programs. And whether it's stabilized or not, Harrington says "Crescent ran these very well, but we think we can value-engineer operating expenses to the benefit of existing tenants and be more attractive to prospective tenants."

The office buildings are located in Far North Dallas, Las Colinas, Uptown, Richardson/Plano and Stemmons Freeway. "This acquisition demonstrates Equastone's ability to find value-added opportunities in our target markets," Jeff Schindler, Equastone's chief investment officer, says in a press release that hit the streets within an hour of yesterday's late-afternoon closing. He credits the region's "broad-based employment expansion" as a chief incentive to buy because of the inevitable impact on demand for office space. "With strong job growth forecasted throughout 2007 and 2008, we expect to see continued uplift in rental rates and occupancy across all of the Dallas submarkets," he says.

Crescent passed the portfolio on the eve of a shareholders' vote for its $6.5-billion sale to New York City-based kingpin, Morgan Stanley Real Estate. Crescent will bank about $142 million from the Equastone deal.

The original portfolio included the 274,684-sf Stanford Corporate Centre at 14001 Dallas Pkwy. and North Dallas Athletic Club at 13701 N. Dallas Pkwy., but they were pulled and will be re-marketed later, according to the REIT's press release. Crescent's sales team consisted of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP's senior managing director Andrew Levy, director Todd Savage and analyst Elizabeth Malone.

In Richardson, Equastone's new deeds are the 180,503-sf Palisades Central I and 240,935-sf Palisades Central II at 2425 and 2435 N. Central Expressway, respectively; 301,033-sf Greenway I, IA and II at 2150, 2100 and 2400 Lakeside Blvd.; and the 43 acres of developable land.

In Las Colinas, Equastone bought the 446,031-sf 125 E. John Carpenter Fwy. and MacArthur Center I and II, totaling 298,161 sf, at 5601 N. MacArthur Blvd.

The Far North Dallas properties are the 215,016-sf Addison at 14951 N. Dallas Pkwy. and 319,760-sf Aberdeen at 14841 N. Dallas Pkwy. Equastone's other buys were the 233,543-sf 3333 Lee Pkwy. in Uptown and 634,381-sf Stemmons Place at 2777 Stemmons Fwy.