Trammell Crow Co. principal Rusty Tamlyn tells GlobeSt.com that the sale results from the liquidation of the Copley fund by AEW Capital Management LP, a Boston-based real estate investment advisory firm. Tamlyn has been assisted by associates Ralph Tullier and Aaron Thielhorn in negotiating the sale on behalf of the Copley Pension Fund.

According to Tamlyn, Net Fund I specializes in acquiring industrial properties valued from $3 million to $7 million. He says Net Fund's interest in the property is indicative of outside investment interest in Houston due to the counter-cyclical strength of the city's economy. "We don't have a tech wreck or dotcom meltdown," he says in comparing Houston to major competitors such as Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York. Tamlyn believes Houston will be one of the top three cities in the nation this year in terms of new job creation, a factor that will definitely bode well for investment in the city's commercial real estate market.

Pathfinder Energy Services Inc. leases the entire Sommermeyer Road building, which is used as a research and development laboratory. Tamlyn says Pathfinder has a 10-year lease on the tilt-wall, freestanding building. Pathfinder, a subsidiary of W-H Energy Services Inc, is a Houston-based service provider for oil companies.