WASHINGTON, DC-Two of the Metropolitan Washington region's most prominent independent commercial real estate services firms--Cassidy & Pinkard and The Irving Group--announce their intention to merge. Together, the firms were responsible for executing $1.3 billion in transactions in 2001.

EDGEWATER, MD-Real estate firm Washington Brick and Terra Cotta Companies begins work on its new $3.4 million headquarters. Washington Brick will occupy the entire top floor of the 40,000-sf structure, and will lease the remaining space. The structure is the city's first class A building.

MIRAMAR, FL-Hilton Garden Inn Ft. Lauderdale SW/Miramar opens as the first location of Hilton Hotels Garden Inn brand in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale region. The 149-room property caters to mid-market travelers and is one of about 140 Garden Inns throughout the country.

WASHINGTON, DC-The recently shuttered Columbia Hospital for Women will likely be reborn as an apartment property now that the 230,000-sf facility has been put on the market.

WASHINGTON, DC-The recently shuttered Columbia Hospital for Women will likely be reborn as an apartment property now that the 230,000-sf facility has been put on the market.

BALTIMORE, MD-DreamWorks SKG takes on 40,000 sf of space in the 500-acre Carroll Camden Industrial Park. The film company will use the space for office and production purposes for the next six months while it films the movie, "Head of State.

HOLLYWOOD, FL-Sprawling Hard Rock Hotel & Resort properties are coming to Seminole Indian reservations in Hollywood and Tampa, as the Seminole Tribe of Florida closes on $350 in financing for construction of the two developments.

BOCA RATON, FL-The building that housed American Media Inc. before its October anthrax attack may become the property of the Federal Government. AMI, unable to procure sufficient public funding to decontaminate the 65,000-sf structure, wants to trade it for a government cleanup job.