Crescent Real Estate Equities acquired Hughes Center in 2003 from the Rouse Co. for $233 million. Crescent's senior vice president of leasing Bob Boykin tells GlobeSt.com that signed leases are in hand for more than 60% of the building currently under construction. "We most definitely will be 93% leased" by the time the first space is ready for occupancy in February 2007, he says.

Hughes Center, anchored by the 17-story, 259,000-sf Wells Fargo Tower completed in 1986, is described by local brokers as the premier office park in the region, and its performance backs that up. While the current class A vacancy rate in the Las Vegas Valley is a scant 4.5%. It's about half that at Hughes Center, where approximately 150 companies employ some 3,000 people in the fields of banking, law, real estate, gaming, insurance and finance. Project amenities include seven restaurants, a twin-tower residential complex and two nearby hotels.

The upcoming building, 3883 Howard Hughes Parkway, is being built to satisfy pent-up demand of our existing customer base and a vibrant market in general, Boykin says. "Some of our existing Hughes Center tenants who need expansion space will move into the new building, and we are already backfilling the space they are leaving," he says.