PRESS RELEASES

Equastone Acquires BergstromTechnologyCenter in Austin

Austin, TX – Equastone, a private real estate investment firm, announced today the acquisition of Bergstrom Technology Center, a 274,231-square-foot office/industrial project located at 6800 Burleson Road in Austin, Texas. Bergstrom Technology Center is a unique project consisting of two connected structures: a 165,900-square-foot two-story office building and a 108,300-square-foot, single-story light industrial building that includes 21,100 square feet of warehouse space and 15,000 square feet of mezzanine office space. In the transaction, the seller, KBS Realty, was represented by Mike Hardage, Steve Simon and Hale Umstattd from Transwestern. Equastone represented itself.

“Bergstrom is an opportunistic investment in a market where we project that rental rates and occupancy will steadily increase,” said Jeff Schindler, chief investment officer of Equastone. “Austin is home to several technology companies and, due to a weak dollar, we believe U.S. technology exports will continue to rise. Economic forecasts project that Austin will have the third highest employment growth in the nation over the next five years. This growth will lead to greater demand for quality office and industrial space and a further increase in rental rates. It is a great sign that citywide office occupancy rates among all classes held steady at 86.2 percent in the third quarter 2007 despite the addition of nearly 1.2 million square feet of new office inventory since 2006.”

Located near the intersection of Burleson and Montopolis in the Southeast sub-market, Bergstrom is favorably situated near Austin Bergstrom Airport and three of Austin’s major freeway arteries -- Highway 71, Interstate 35, and Highway 83. The location is attractive for tenants because it provides easy access to downtown and south Austin, two of the area’s largest and fastest growing business centers. With the acquisition of Bergstrom – Equastone’s third major purchase in the area over the last 18 months – the firm now owns nearly 1 million square feet of investment real estate in Austin and 6 million square feet throughout Texas.

Currently, Bergstrom is 78 percent occupied and houses four major tenants including Capital Spectrum Inc, the Transportation Security Administration and two state government agencies. Property management and leasing of Bergstrom has been awarded to Transwestern.

Clint Harrington, executive vice president for Equastone said, “Bergstrom is an affordable opportunity in Austin for companies to gain a higher-end office image with convenient freeway access and ample parking. We will offer new tenants attractive improvement packages and are confident the property will lease-up very quickly as the economy continues to grow in Austin.”

About Equastone
Equastone currently owns 58 office and flex buildings encompassing more than 9.3 million square feet throughout the United States and intends to acquire $1 billion of new investments in 2008. Equastone has offices in San Diego, Denver, Houston and Dallas, and owns properties in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, Oregon and Texas.

Equastone is a real estate investment firm specializing in the acquisition and asset management of opportunistic and value-added real estate. Equastone manages investment capital on behalf of Equastone Real Estate Funds, 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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