DALLAS—Legacy in Plano and Uptown are two key submarkets institutional investors are continually eying in Dallas, said experts at RealShare Dallas's first panel, “Institutional Investment Insights,” on Tuesday.

Moderated by Steve Pumper, executive managing partner, capital markets and asset strategies at Transwestern, an overarching theme centered on Houston's energy slump, and how Dallas is poised to, literally, capitalize.

At the panel's open, Pumper cited numbers that Dallas's sales volume recently ranked fourth nationally at $8.2 billion, just behind, Manhattan, LA and Chicago.

That's thanks to “numerous transactions of magnitude, and a lot of activity going on,” Pumper said.

“We really don't lump Texas into a statewide strategy,” said Greg Krauss, managing director at Invesco. “Houston [was] clearly the energy play in 2011-2013. Houston has more easy to digest and understand institutional assets to acquire…but Dallas is hitting a lot of the checkmarks. Multifamily continues to defy expectations. Office to us is a little bit of a barbell-type exercise from an institutional standpoint. We like the Uptown, Legacy/121 intersection. I think you're going to see Dallas high on peoples' lists.”

While other panelists touched on their firms' reticence to get back into the Dallas market, after losing money in the '80s and '90s, they as a whole remain bullish on the investment opportunities here.

Carrington Brown, executive director, real estate investments at USAA Real Estate Co., spoke about an significant transaction his firm has recently made, the acquisition of Energy Square, a 950,000-square-foot building that is currently 80 percent leased. He also disclosed that next month, USAA will close on acquiring the landmark Meadows Building, off North Central Expressway.

“[We're] taking advantage on great vacancy and taking advantage of leasing activity,” Brown said.

In North Dallas, with Toyota poised for its new campus, the growth potential is off the charts.

“We're slowly starting to see absorption of companies who want to be here because they want to be near Toyota or Liberty Mutual,” said Ryan McManigal, vice president with KBS Realty Advisors.

Other panelists included Kevin Westra, regional director, Northwestern Mutual, and Brad Davey, senior vice president, Clarion Partners.

Summed Pumper: “Dallas is poised for investment dollars coming in here.”