Transactions: Crescent Real Estate Holdings plans Dallas project

Fort Worth-based Crescent Real Estate Holdings is planning a 600,000-square-foot office and residential project at McKinney Avenue and Olive Street in Dallas and has hired internationally acclaimed architecture firm Pelli Clarke Pelli to design the property.

Cesar Pelli designed the World Financial Center in New York, the Petronas Towers in Malaysia and the International Finance Centre in Hong Kong, some of the world's most recognizable buildings. The firm last designed a Dallas commercial building in the 1980s.

Crescent has owned the 3.1-acre site, adjacent to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Uptown Dallas, for 15 years. Crescent also developed the hotel.

"With our regional economy continuing to gain strength and companies once again starting to position for growth, we see tremendous opportunity to develop a project of meaningful value for both Crescent and the city of Dallas," John Goff, Crescent's chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

Crescent's development site spans from McKinney Avenue to Cedar Springs Road. Plans include 400,000 square feet of office space, 60,000 square feet for shops and restaurants, and 50 luxury residences.

"It was clear from the beginning that we shared the same vision as Crescent in developing this incredible Uptown Dallas site," Pelli said.

Building bought, leased

Hearthstone Properties has bought a 14,674-square-foot industrial building on 7 acres at 1315 Riverside Drive in Fort Worth and has leased the property to TNT Crane & Rigging, one of the largest crane-service providers in Texas.

TNT Crane has eight locations in Texas and Louisiana. Its cranes have a lifting capacity of 15 to 800 tons.

Pete Richardson and Drew Richardson with Cushman & Wakefield represented Hearthstone Properties in the purchase, as well as negotiating the lease agreement with TNT Crane.

Bob Scully with CB Richard Ellis represented Bright Truck Leasing in the sale to Hearthstone.

Construction jobs lag

Construction employment rose in only 19 states and the District of Columbia in November, a weaker showing than in recent months, the Associated General Contractors of America said.

"Although there have been selective improvements in private nonresidential employment, multifamily construction and even home building in a few states, public construction employment declines are negating these gains in much of the country," Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist, said in a statement.

Rhode Island had the largest one-month percentage gain, 5.8 percent, while Arizona had the largest one-month drop, 4.3 percent, the association said. The group analyzed Labor Department figures.

North Dakota ranked first in construction employment gains from November 2010 to November 2011, at 18 percent.

In Texas, 586,700 construction jobs were recorded in November, up from 576,100 jobs a year ago. Last month's figure is down 0.4 percent from October's 588,900 jobs, figures show.