(Hallsville, Harrison County) - Natural gas has replaced oil as the kingpin of East Texas energy output.

BP America, one of the world's largest energy companies, opened its $13 million Hallsville facility at 886 Finklea Rd. The 25-acre BP America campus is south of I-20 and west of FM 3251.

BP's new campus includes the 25,000-sf office building that already houses about 100 BP employees and could accommodate about 100 more if market conditions justify it.

The campus also has a 15,000-sf warehouse and a 5,500-sf conference center and training facility.

The company is priming itself to be a major player in the development of the Haynesville Shale natural gas field that straddles East Texas and Northwestern Louisiana.

"This office sits on the edge of one of the largest onshore natural gas discoveries in the history of this great country, the Haynesville Shale," said Arno Appel, operations center manager for the Harrison County facility.

"With the advent of the Haynesville Shale development and our existing 300,000 acres of development in this area, it made perfect sense to house all of our expertise in the area under one roof in Hallsville."

Appel said moving into the new site allowed BP to consolidate operations formerly housed in Longview, Marshall and Carthage.

The campus supports BP oil and natural gas operations in six Texas counties — Upshur, Gregg, Rusk, Panola, Harrison and Shelby — and Louisiana's DeSoto Parish. The 25-acre campus supports BP's two drilling programs — Haynesville Shale and conventional natural gas.

For more see the Longview News-Journal.

While no region has escaped the recession, in Omaha, four Texas metros, a handful of Northeastern manufacturing bases and select southern cities, diversified industry and relatively stable housing fundamentals have provided local residents with comparatively secure standards of living, according to Forbes.com.

Forbes.com released its list of America's fastest-recovering cities.

In No. 2 San Antonio (home to four military bases) and No. 3 Austin (the Texas seat of government), municipal jobs supplement Texas' robust energy sector.

In Dallas (No. 6), it is a thriving tech industry that buffers it from energy highs and lows.

Although Houston (No. 8) is invested mostly in oil, it has diversified its energy industry beyond oil rigs into refining and chemicals manufacturing.

What's more, the state's housing prices never ascended to the unsustainable levels the rest of the country hit at the peak of the housing bubble. Thus, it didn't crash as hard. These factors have toughened the local economy against a recession that is inextricably tied to real estate.

"Texas didn't have as big of a boom," says James P. Gaines, research economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. "So we're not having anywhere near the kind of bust."

Full List: America's Fastest-Recovering Cities

(Brownsville) - Below is the family income for households with a Hispanic householder during the 12 months ended December 2008 (in 2008 inflation-adjusted dollars).

A family consists of a householder and one or more other people living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. All people in a household who are related to the householder are regarded as members of his or her family.

In compiling statistics on family income, the incomes of all members 15 years old and over related to the householder are summed and treated as a single amount.

The City of Abilene issued a $4,462,800 commercial building permit for the construction of a new Teacher's Federal Credit Union. The new 37,048-sf building will be located at 3849 Antilley Rd.

(Harlingen) - Below is the family income for households with a Hispanic householder during the 12 months ended December 2008 (in 2008 inflation-adjusted dollars).

A family consists of a householder and one or more other people living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. All people in a household who are related to the householder are regarded as members of his or her family.

In compiling statistics on family income, the incomes of all members 15 years old and over related to the householder are summed and treated as a single amount.

(Edinburg) - Below is the family income for households with a Hispanic householder during the 12 months ended December 2008 (in 2008 inflation-adjusted dollars).

A family consists of a householder and one or more other people living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. All people in a household who are related to the householder are regarded as members of his or her family.

In compiling statistics on family income, the incomes of all members 15 years old and over related to the householder are summed and treated as a single amount.

(Houston) - Pacific Sun Investments LP purchased a 30,000-sf office building in the Westchase submarket. The Class A building, sold by Brookfield Real Estate Opportunity Fund, was 50 percent leased by JPMorgan Chase.

The building, located at 10411 Westheimer Rd., is 100 percent leased.

Eighteen offers came in within a week. Half the building was leased, long-term, to a national credit tenant. The asset was on an almost four-acre tract, which allows potential future development.

And there was the location. "You had an irreplaceable location at the corner of Westhemier and Beltway 8 and three streets of frontage," H. Dan Miller, senior managing director of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP, said.

(DFW) - Desperate to fill empty rooms in this recession-wracked economy, local innkeepers discounted rates to levels not seen, in some cases, since 2005.

But with consumers expected to gain a smidgen of confidence, and hotel openings slowing, industry insiders say travelers next year can expect to see fewer freebies and a steeper tab.

"There are a lot of great signals that we've hit bottom, and we're seeing the trend, at least in the upper end, coming back," said Tom Santora, chief marketing officer and senior vice president of sales for Irving-based Omni Hotels. "Occupancy [rates are] starting to come back. Once companies get enough confidence in demand, you'll see rates start to come back up."

Experts expect local hotel rates to inch north by mid to late 2010 — the first time for them to rise since fall 2008. Still, it will probably take until at least 2012 to get back to the area's pre-recession average rate of $95-plus per night.

With the traveling public either lacking cash or afraid of flashing cash, the number of hotel rooms sold nightly started slipping in late 2008 and then went into free fall, dropping an estimated 12 percent in spring 2009.

That drop — coupled with an increase in supply as new projects opened their doors — is expected to pull fall room rates down as low as an average $84.36 a night at Dallas-area hotels ranging from luxury to lower end. That's 9.5 percent lower than a year ago, according to the report.

For 2009, PKF expects Dallas-area rates to be $88.95, or 8.7 percent below those of 2008.

For the luxury set, the slide figures to be a little steeper at 10.3 percent. Hotels in the North Central area, which runs near Central Expressway between Uptown and LBJ Freeway, can expect average rates of $73 this year, a drop of 11.7 percent and the sharpest decline locally, according to PKF.

"We never thought the bottom would be as low as it was. Even in the '91 recession, it didn't get that low. We haven't seen this kind of rate decrease in a long time, said Lisa Swain, an associate in PKF's Dallas office."

At the Westin Dallas Fort Worth Airport Hotel, annual revenue will be off about 10 percent, due largely to a 30 percent decline in group business, said Todd Raburn, general manager.

Hotels nearest Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and in Irving are expected to see the greatest occupancy drop among eight local submarkets tracked by PKF. Occupancy is expected to fall 8.5 percentage points between 2007, the last pre-recession measure, and 2009.

But rates in that area are projected to be essentially flat — the best showing among submarkets.

Gaylord Entertainment Co. said third-quarter revenue at its Gaylord Texan Hotel & Convention Center in Grapevine fell 15.6 percent to $39.5 million. Occupancy held steady at 73 percent, but the average daily rate fell 11 percent to $149.86.

FelCor Lodging Trust Inc., an Irving-based hotel real estate investment trust, posted a net loss of $25.5 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, as sales fell at its 85 hotels, which include the Embassy Suites, Doubletree and Hilton brands. Revenue per available room fell nearly 18 percent.

Total nonagricultural employment in Texas increased by 41,700 positions in October with significant increases in Professional and Business Services and Education and Health Services.

The Texas seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly to 8.3 percent in October, up from 8.2 percent a month ago, and continued to trend well below the U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 10.2 percent.

“In October, the Texas job market regained some lost ground experienced over the past several months, although it is too soon to indicate a trend,” said Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Chairman Tom Pauken.

Education and Health Services employment grew in October with the addition of 14,900 jobs, and Professional and Business Services added 10,800 positions in October. Employment in the Financial Activities industry increased by 4,500 jobs in October.

Employment in the Leisure and Hospitality industry was up in October by 2,600 jobs, while Trade, Transportation and Utilities reported an increase of 2,500 positions in October. Construction employment continued to experience job losses with a decrease of 9,400 jobs last month.

(North Austin) - Construction is still underway on the expansion of Simon Property Group's Domain shopping center in North Austin. The 600,000-sf expansion is the biggest retail project under construction in Austin.

The expansion will include a new Dillard's, smaller retailers and office space, and a Gold Class Cinema, an upscale movie theater where tickets will sell for about $20. The movie theater will be the fifth U.S. location for Village Roadshow Ltd. The 208,000-sf Dillard's will be the retailer's first new Austin-area store in more than a decade.

Dick's Sporting Goods, one of the new anchors, is already open, as are 438 apartments above the stores. Most of the other components will open in February 2010. The Westin Austin hotel at the Domain is scheduled to open in March 2010.

Whereas the original Domain is filled with high-end stores such as Neiman Marcus and Louis Vuitton, the expansion will include familiar mall brands such as Aeropostale, Bath & Body Works and Payless Shoes.

Aside from the Simon project, there is little other retail development going on in Central Texas. The recession, retail downturn and slowdown in the lending markets for commercial projects has stalled or shelved other projects. Austin is on track to add about 1.2 million sf of retail space this year, down from 2.8 million sf in 2008, according to the Weitzman Group.

One of the highest-profile delays has been for the retail phase of Endeavor Real Estate Group's Domain project, which is just east of Simon's Domain. Endeavor plans to add a Whole Foods Market, Saks and Austin's second Nordstrom to its development but postponed the retail phase this year because of the downturn. Recently, Endeavor said it would be at least three more years before that work starts.

September, however, brought news of the region's first major retail project to be announced in nearly three years, the Trails at 620, a $70 million, 300,000-sf center planned at RM 620 and Wilson Parke Ave. Pending City of Austin approval of a site-development permit, the developers, Rodney Speaks and Leslie Perry Sloan, hope to break ground by June and anticipate a summer 2011 opening.

For a visual of the location of the Domain expansion, see the basic site plan featured in the Austin American-Statesman.

(Houston) - Below is the family income for households with a Hispanic householder during the 12 months ended December 2008 (in 2008 inflation-adjusted dollars).

A family consists of a householder and one or more other people living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. All people in a household who are related to the householder are regarded as members of his or her family.

In compiling statistics on family income, the incomes of all members 15 years old and over related to the householder are summed and treated as a single amount.

(Mission) - Below is the family income for households with a Hispanic householder during the 12 months ended December 2008 (in 2008 inflation-adjusted dollars).

A family consists of a householder and one or more other people living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. All people in a household who are related to the householder are regarded as members of his or her family.

In compiling statistics on family income, the incomes of all members 15 years old and over related to the householder are summed and treated as a single amount.

(San Antonio) - Below is the family income for households with a Hispanic householder during the 12 months ended December 2008 (in 2008 inflation-adjusted dollars).

A family consists of a householder and one or more other people living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. All people in a household who are related to the householder are regarded as members of his or her family.

In compiling statistics on family income, the incomes of all members 15 years old and over related to the householder are summed and treated as a single amount.

The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area gained 9,100 jobs in October, the Texas Workforce Commission reported Friday.

Job growth was boosted by 7,900 non-farm jobs being added in the government sector, 2,500 jobs in the professional and business services sector and 2,000 more jobs in the trade, transportation and utilities sector.

Those gains were offset by losses in the leisure and hospitality, other services, construction and education sectors, which lost a combined 4,600 jobs during the month.

The unemployment rate for the area in October was 8.5 percent, unchanged from September but up from 5.2 percent in October 2008.

(Fort Worth) - Imagine an encounter with Paluxysaurus jonesi, the intimidating 60-foot-long, 12-foot-tall official state dinosaur of Texas that roamed these parts about 112 million years ago.

Or being caught in a virtual prairie thunderstorm as you walk among a herd of freestanding life-size longhorns in the Cattle Raisers Museum.

Perhaps stargazing is your cup of tea, and you can do just that in the Noble Planetarium, where live feeds from the Hubble Telescope offer a real-time view of our solar system. You may get lucky and witness an asteroid or a meteor shower live.

These and many other jaw-dropping interactive experiences await when the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History opens Nov. 20, 2009.

What began in 1945 as the Fort Worth Children’s Museum has evolved into a dazzling 166,000-sf, $80 million state-of-the-art complex that will thrill children and enable adults to find their inner child.

(Rockport) - Work on the new Holiday Inn Express has begun. The new 69-room three-story hotel will replace the current one in Rockport. New requirements by Holiday Inn necessitated the move.

The current Holiday Inn Express will take on another name when the new hotel is completed. The building permit for the new hotel is valued at $2.2 million.

(Tyler) - Southside Bank is expanding its presence around its Beckham Avenue headquarters. The bank has started construction on a two-story, 10,265-sf building at 1305 S. Beckham Ave.

The building will be the new home for the bank's Trust Department, which has $665 million in assets under management and 15 employees.

Southside also started work on a branch on Highway 64 West just outside Loop 323. The full-service branch will include four drive-up lanes.

The Beckham Avenue facility and the new branch are slated to be open by late summer 2010.

(Austin) - Central Texas existing-home sales jumped nearly 38 percent in October as buyers took advantage of a federal tax credit for first-time homeowners and favorable mortgage interest rates.

It was the biggest year-over-year percentage gain in more than four years and encouraging news for a housing market that struggled for much of 2009. 

"We're still in an environment where the Austin region is losing more jobs than are being created," said Eldon Rude, local director for Metrostudy, which conducts housing research in Austin and 32 other markets nationwide. "There remains a lot of uncertainty out there."

The Austin Board of Realtors reported Wednesday that 1,823 single-family homes were sold last month, compared with 1,322 in October 2008.

Pending sales — transactions expected to close in November — were up 47 percent, an indicator of another strong month.

Last month, 64 percent of sales were for homes priced between $100,000 and $249,999 — a typical range for first-time buyers.

The median price was $182,000, down 5 percent from a year earlier.

Experts say the tax credit, along with low mortgage rates, will continue to feed sales in the coming months.

But some experts are cautious about the Austin economy.

Major high-tech employers have cut manufacturing jobs. And construction jobs have disappeared with the slowdown in commercial development.

Rude noted that traffic from relocation buyers — people moving to Austin for new jobs — is down significantly.

(Austin) - ATCO Advisory Services acquired The Shops at 360 in downtown Austin from 360 Novare-AU LP for $4.9 million, or approximately $356 per square foot.

The Shops at 360 is a 13,762-sf retail space at 360 Nueces St. It is on the ground floor of 360, a mixed-use building and high-rise condo. The Shops is 96 percent leased with tenants like Garrido’s Restaurant, Royal Blue Grocery, Optique and Lora Reynolds Gallery.

The Weitzman Group Inc. negotiated the deal.

(Dallas) - Design specifics for the George W. Bush Presidential Center have been revealed. According to the Los Angeles Times, the 225,000-sf project will cost an estimated $250 million.

The design will tip its hat to the former president's home state, from the pecan wood paneling inside to the wildflowers, bluebonnets and prairie outside.

The plans for the complex will include a museum, library and policy institute at Southern Methodist University (SMU). The complex will be on 23 acres on the east side of the campus, about five miles from downtown Dallas.

The three-story building will feature a life-size Oval Office that opens up to a Texas Rose Garden overlooking the Dallas skyline. It is expected to be completed by early 2013.