MESQUITE, TX-The Dallas buyer, planning to buy about 2,000 units before the year ends, acquires its first deed this year, paying about $10 million to beat out the competition for the 39-building Garden House in West Mesquite. A $2-million rehab is revving up.

DALLAS-For the second time in six years, the North Texas NAIOP chapter names Hillwood as developer of the year. Ross Perot Jr. accepted the honor at this morning's breakfast, which featured Dallas Mayor Laura Miller as the keynote speaker.

DALLAS-US Sen. John Cornyn is unpacking at Dallas' Occidental Tower, which also gets a renewal from a longtime tenant, while World Savings & Loan Association is planning a June 1 move into Millennium Center in the Las Colinas Urban Center.

TYLER, TX-The buyer secures a loan of almost $3.3 million and a 6.5% interest rate from a Dallas-area bank to acquire the asset from two East Texas investors. The complex sits on 8.6 acres along a main thoroughfare.

CARROLLTON, TX-The Frankford Trade Center quartet is billed as the only class A industrial portfolio now on the market in Dallas-Fort Worth. With that under way, Argent Property is designing another 330,000 sf of spec development for the 165-acre park.

PLANO, TX-Margaux Development and Granite Properties have bought 9.2 acres in East Plano for a 100,000-sf, Kroger-anchored center. In Crowley, they are working a 125,000-sf first phase while awaiting clearances for three more in other Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs.

DALLAS-Home Marketing Services gives the nod to Summit at Preston Trails, signing an 11,204-sf lease for the three-building complex. The firm, relocating from within the North Dallas submarket, is planning an April 1 move.

DALLAS-The mixed bag of deals range from 911 sf to 47,241 sf to keep a half dozen businesses firmly rooted in medium- to long-term pacts. The leasing round supports predictions early on that the 2003 push would be tenant retention.