"There is really good solid market information coming out of thefirst quarter," Bo Estes, senior vice president of Grubb &Ellis Co. in Dallas, stresses to GlobeSt.com. He acknowledges thatabsorption had slowed in Q1, but that's not unusual since brokersand companies historically use the opening months to map out theiryear. In the year-to-year comparison, though, the region was down750,000 sf when measured against 2006's Q1 absorption.

Digging into the numbers, Grubb & Ellis' local research teamrecorded slightly more than 570,000 sf of absorption marketwide.The bulk of the leasing fell right in line with brokers'projections in late 2006 that class B space was going to be in highdemand because class A rates were rising.

"We think a lot of companies are going to be looking at class Bas an alternative," assesses Stephanie S. Seno, the brokeragehouse's local research analyst. "And in the first quarter, therewas a tremendous amount of growth in the class B area." The numbersreflect a 20,000-sf uptick for class A absorption and a 500,000-sfgain for class B.