DEERFIELD, IL-Business consulting organization William M. Mercer, Inc. takes two full floors at 540 Lake-Cook Road in Equity Office Properties Trust's four-building complex, where asking rents are $19.50 per sf.

AUSTIN-Cousins Properties has turned demolition crews loose on a CBD site. Cranes should be on the job in mid-February for the long-awaited 525,000-sf Congress at Fourth. Identifying the turnaround was key to the decision to start.

LAUREL, MD-Laurel Mall will soon have Crown American Realty Trust as its new manager. Owners of the mall sign a two-year contract with the Johnstown, PPA-based REIT, and the management changeover is to begin in December.

DANVILLE, CA-An anonymous flyer about the project proposed for the edge of Tassajara Valley, passed around at a county hearing on the project, complained that tenants of the 1,400-unit project will have no commitment to Danville beyond one month's rent.