HOUSTON-The large losses were largely confined to the CBD, Galleria and Allen Parkway, says Sanford Criner at a state-of-the-market press conference. Rent is resting at rock bottom levels and vacancy is up. Still, he believes there will be change this year.

HOUSTON-Page Southerland Page is retooling 21,177 sf of first-floor space at 1100 Louisiana St. in the CBD, adding a 4,000-sf mezzanine to an office and a unique design element to the 1.3-million-sf structure. The new office will be ready to occupy in August.

HOUSTON-Amidee Capital Group starts out in an 8,895-sf, "plug 'n play" sublease, taking the balance of the term and all its class B office space from Inovis Corp. in a 45-day transaction finish.

HOUSTON-MBS Cos. of Metairie, LA, scratches off two more apartment properties from a nine-asset sale in Texas. The Cedar Pointe complex fetches about $5.3 million from Sterling Systems while deal details are pending for yesterday's late afternoon trade.

HOUSTON-Crown Roofing Services is settling into 5,823 sf at Technipark 10 in the Park Ten development on the west side of town. The short-term lease takes a two-building complex to 74% occupancy.

HOUSTON-Accounting firm Green & McElreath and SouthTrust Bank commit to 5,700 sf and 4,707 sf, respectively, for class B office space in the historic Neils Esperson Building at 808 Travis St. in the downtown.

HOUSTON-The developer of the Gardens Shopping Center at 15125 North Freeway rolls construction financing to permanent, landing a 15-year loan with a 5.8% fixed-interest rate from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

HOUSTON-Sage Interests uses the 19,649-sf Buffalo Westpark center near Rice University as collateral for the LaSalle National Bank loan. The 10-year loan has a sub-5.5% fixed-interest rate and 30-year amortization.