The gold-plated law firm, opting against shopping, has beenrenegotiating its lease at 2001 Ross Ave. for the last eight monthswith a Trammell Crow Co. consulting team at its side to bargainagainst TCC colleagues and a pair of execs from the ownership line.The talks resulted in a stair-stepped lease for upper bank floors;a 26,000-sf expansion or a full floor with flexibility for aphased-in takedown; and tenant improvements on old and new space invarying degrees of refurbishing, Jon McNeil, theDallas-headquartered TCC's senior vice president, tellsGlobeSt.com.

The prized pact pushed the 1.1-million-sf trophy's occupancy to91%, edging one notch above a market benchmark for Dallas CBD andUptown office building owners. The building's quoted rent is $25per sf to $27 per sf plus electric. With lawyers as the tenants andTexas' strict confidentiality clause, it's not likely that wordwill get out as to how much was saved by writing a new lease. Thelaw firm, like others around town, are jumping into renewals andtaking down expansion space for the long, long haul to lock inrates just in case they start to climb.

Though the law firm wasn't looking to move, the possibilityalways hung overhead. "This transaction," Rob Walters,co-administrative partner in Dallas for the Houston-based law firm,says in a press release, "would not have been possible without theefforts of all of these seasoned and capable professionals." Vinson& Elkins' consultants were TCC principals Phil Puckett andBrant Bernet and vice president Chris Herrmann. The FortWorth-based building owner, Crescent Real Estate Equities Co., hadTCC principal Matt Craft and McNeil negotiating its terms alongwith its leasing director Kirby White and regional vice presidentMichael Lewis.