PRESS RELEASES

Equastone Closes on Three-Million-Square-Foot Class A Office Portfolio

San Diego, CA – Equastone, a private real estate investment firm, announced today that it has acquired a portfolio of 13 Class A office buildings totaling nearly 3 million square feet plus 43-acres of excess developable land in the Dallas area from Crescent Real Estate Equities Company, a Fort Worth-based real estate investment trust. GE Real Estate provided Equastone a $300 million loan for the acquisition, making it one of the largest office portfolio deals of the year in Texas. The seller was represented by Andrew Levy, Todd Savage and Elizabeth Malone of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. Equastone represented itself in the transaction.

Chad Carpenter, CEO, said, “The acquisition of the Greater Dallas Portfolio increases Equastone’s presence in Dallas to 4.3 million square feet and propels the firm closer to its goal of acquiring $1 billion in assets this year. Buying institutional quality properties at below replacement cost in a rapidly recovering market is a key part of Equastone’s investment strategy that allows us to achieve attractive returns for our investors.”

The Greater Dallas Portfolio is located in one of the fastest recovering office markets in the country. Absorption in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex was 5 million square feet in 2006, nearly tripling the 1.7 million square feet in 2005. Over the past three years, absorption has totaled 10.6 million square feet. The region’s demand for office space is projected to continue increasing faster than most U.S. markets due to a high number of corporate relocations, expansions, and new business startups.

Jeff Schindler, Chief Investment Officer, said, “This acquisition demonstrates Equastone’s ability to find value-added opportunities in our target markets. Dallas/Fort Worth is experiencing a period of broad-based employment expansion that is resulting in an increase in office space demand. With strong job growth forecasted throughout 2007 and 2008, we expect to see continued uplift in rental rates and occupancy across all of the Dallas submarkets.”

Approximately 86 percent leased, the Greater Dallas Portfolio properties are strategically located in five of the area’s most dynamic office submarkets: Far North Dallas, Las Colinas, Uptown, Richardson/Plano and Stemmons Freeway. Equastone has opened an office in Dallas and assembled a team of senior real estate professionals to provide asset management services, including fixing, leasing and operating the properties. Transwestern was selected from a group of well respected providers to assume property management and leasing for the portfolio.

According to Clint Harrington, Executive Vice President and head of Equastone’s Gulf Coast Region, “Our due diligence team has already identified areas where we can increase operational efficiencies while maintaining high levels of service. In addition, there are opportunities to increase the value of these assets through leasing of vacant space, expansion of a number of existing tenants and by increasing below-market rents as leases expire.”

The properties in the Greater Dallas Portfolio include:

About Equastone
Equastone currently owns 59 office and flex buildings encompassing more than 9.4 million square feet throughout the United States and intends to acquire $1 billion of new investments this year. Equastone currently has offices in San Diego, Denver, Houston and Dallas, and owns properties in California, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, Oregon and Texas.

Equastone is a real estate investment firm specializing in the opportunistic acquisition and asset management of value-added real estate. Equastone manages investment capital on behalf of Equastone Real Estate Funds, which are private equity funds for high net-worth and institutional investors. For more information about Equastone, call Mykel Sprinkles at (858) 812-3261 or visit www.equastone.com.

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