DALLAS-It is still far from rosy, but there were some gains, albeit slight, made in Q1, according to the first report released in the region. Vacancy overall is 27.5%, down a shade from the 2002 close, but it's not nearly enough to stop rents from dropping.

FORT WORTH-AmeriSouth Realty, in back-to-back purchases this week, gets the deed to the 100-unit North Hills Manor. A $700,000 rehab follows the closing for the 100%-occupied asset, the first to go in a class C offering by an Arlington investor.

DALLAS-Four office buildings in Richardson, Plano and Fort Worth get new deals and renewals in a leasing round that delivered commitments from 42 months to five years. One deal brings the first office in Dallas-Fort Worth for a Memphis securities trader.

DALLAS-WesTower Communications takes 12,851 sf to relocate operations bought from SpectraSite Communications. April 1 is the moving date from a freestanding building in Cedar Hill to a site leased for the short term inside the Dallas line.

FORT WORTH-Ascent Assurance has given a seven-year nod to more than half of the class A office space vacated a year ago by Atlanta-based Assurant Group. A May 1 move-in is planned as Assurant's brokers wait to hear about filling the 36,000-sf balance.

DALLAS-Mediation between the two, with Boston's Spaulding & Slye on the sidelines, could start within six months. IDI wants repaid brokers' commissions for a 100,000-sf build-to-suit. A bankrupt tenant and the meaning of "occupancy" fan the fire.

DALLAS-Two tenants are making plans to move and three have just gotten their keys. The largest pact, 66,668 sf, drives a tenant move across Interstate 30 to Pinnacle Park from Turnpike Distribution Center.

DALLAS-Cirrus Group hawks the property to two family trusts from Kansas and California, which put up the highest bid and a pledge to close in 30 days. That effort won a fully leased, 20,200-sf asset along Hampton Road in Dallas.