HOUSTON-The REIT buys a pair of shopping centers in Laredo from different sellers and picks up a third retail plaza in Texas Tech's territory in Lubbock from Graco Real Estate. All are grocery-anchored centers and all are nearly full.

PHOENIX-With a combined 182 units, the Promenade and Glenrosa Garden Apartments tempt a contract in less than a week on the market. Investors from California and Arizona best 10 others for a 20-year-old asset with value-add written all over the deal.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ-A Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial team lands the coveted assignment to find tenants for the 345,000-sf Chaparral campus. The search extends in all directions, focusing on companies in hubs with higher costs than the Phoenix metro.

HOUSTON-A General Electric Co. division is planning a Q1 2005 move into Park Towers, signing a long-term lease with expansion rights and flexibility. The deal caps more than a year of searching for just the right spot.

PORT ARTHUR, TX-The 256-unit Heatherbrook Apartments swings to a local investor, who's planning an extensive upgrade of the 20-year-old complex and ditching the label as an elderly housing project.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ-Avenue Communities marks a second asset for conversion, getting a non-recourse loan to exit "a troubled asset class" and replace it with today's favored product. The work begins in the coming months on the Lofts at Grayhawk.

HOUSTON-FSV Payment Systems jumps from sublease space to a direct lease at World Houston Plaza after scouring the market and then opting to stay. The office team gets double the space and shifts floors in the eight-story building.

PHOENIX-Silagi Development & Management has spent nearly $3.9 million for 28.9 acres in the West Valley, following through on an announced plan to ply its trade outside the California line.