"I think it's a good match for them," Maxwell says. "They'll be able to bring their call center and corporate folks together in one place and have room to expand. So I think it's a good move for Texas Guaranteed and an excellent move for Round Rock."

Phil Capron, Kennedy-Wilson's senior managing director in Austin, say buyer and seller got something out of the deal, but the seller would have liked just a bit more. He says the building probably would have fetched $4 million to $5 million more in a better market. Then again, in a better market the company might have held onto the building.

The buyer is getting "an extremely high-quality building for cost," Capron says. "We're disappointed we're not going to make any money off of it." He says the purchase allows Kennedy-Wilson to take its equity from the project. "We can make better use of our equity elsewhere."

Patterson says Texas Guaranteed began looking for space in 2001, well before its current lease expiration at Tower of the Hills, a 172,000-sf building at 13809 Research Blvd. in the far northwest submarket. The lease with CarrAmerica Realty Corp. runs out in May 2004.

Texas Guaranteed wanted the time to look at the alternatives: direct leasing, subleasing, build-to-suit and renewal. "The other thing we wanted to do was take advantage of the soft real estate market right now and see what opportunities there were as well, Patterson says. "There was a lot to look at. It was a nice situation for us to be in."

Patterson says a team from Transwestern Commercial Services helped in the search. The principal members were Powell McGill, Riis Christensen and Tom Regan.

The three-story 301 Sundance building met Texas Guaranteed's needs for the amount of space, flexibility of space, telecommunications and technology and location, Patterson says. Most of Texas Guaranteed's employees live in the northwest Austin-Round Rock area.

The building's large floor plates were important to Texas Guaranteed. The number of the organization rises and falls so the building gives "more flexibility in terms of putting teams and groups together and expand and contract them," says Patterson. Texas Guaranteed will use about 160,000 sf to start and is considering whether to try to lease the other 30,000 sf, according to Patterson.

The 328-acre La Frontera at Interstate 35 and FM 1325 has had more success filling retail space than office space. Stores have taken more than one million sf of retail space, but 301 Sundance and the Summit, an 87,711-sf Koontz-McCombs building, came online as the office market crumbled. A recent 3,000-sf lease by Lexmark Inc. bumped the Summit's occupancy to 10%.

Now that a contract is pending, other Round Rock buildings may benefit from the sale. Capron says Kennedy-Wilson had to take the building off the market and put several prospective lease tenants on hold. "There's not a fabulous market, but there is a decent demand for space unique to the far north area of Round Rock," he says.

Maxwell hopes more companies will follow Texas Guaranteed's lead and land in Round Rock. He says Texas Guaranteed is the kind of stable employer that the city wants. "That helps relieve the pressure off the residential tax rate," he says. "That's a good thing, especially when you can fill an empty building."