DALLAS-Meditrust Cos., headquartered in Needham, MA, has completed asset sales and mortgage repayments of $138 million since the end of the second quarter, taking its year-to-date total to $459 million in an ongoing strategy to beef up its Dallas-based La Quinta lodging subsidary. The health-care bailout is blamed in part on the federal government.

HOUSTON-The city's space race puts 17 more tenants in the West Memorial Park office complex. The tenants are absorbing more than 60,000 sf in the project along Interstate 10.

FT. WORTH-A CO-based corporation is turning to Woodmont Property Management to oversee two office buildings, totaling 65,304 sf. The structures are located in downtown Ft. Worth and the suburban market of Hurst.

HOUSTON-Trammell Crow Co.'s building a field of dreams - a 25-story, mixed-use tower with upper-floor apartments with a clear view of the Astros' stadium when the retractable roof's open. A former mission is just one of the structures being razed to make room for the developer's grandstand play.

HOUSTON-The downtown hotel market holds the lead in the city and it's predicted to stay that way through year's end. More than 700 rooms are under construction by leading hoteliers.

DALLAS-Cushman & Wakefield Inc. is promoting Michael S. Wyatt. to senior director in the Dallas office of Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. His specialty is building tenant service and representation, with a current focus on high-tech clients.

AUSTIN-Conn's appliance and home electronics is eyeballing Austin to expand its operations, hoping to find sites for five more stores. The city's robust economy and per capita income have set the hook for the expansion.

HOUSTON-A high-end retail center, totaling 290,000 sf, is in the works for The Woodlands, a master-planned development of Morgan Stanley Partnership and Crescent Operating Co. The project's first phase breaks ground in first quarter 2001.