NEW ORLEANS, LA--(MARKET WIRE)--Aug 20, 2008 -- Equastone, a private real estate investment firm based in San Diego, California, has completed a double escrow of the McGlinchey Stafford building located at 643 Magazine Street in New Orleans.

Source: Equastone
Pan-American Life Center

The building is a former warehouse that was converted into an 86,000 square foot office building to serve the McGlinchey Stafford law firm. The Buyer was New Orleans real estate developer Brian Gibbs who is presently planning to convert the single tenant office building to multi-tenant use. Greg Riera of Jones Lang LaSalle represented Equastone in this transaction.

This was not a run of the mill transaction. This closing was one step in a series of transactions related to McGlinchey Stafford PLLC's ten-year lease, 68,168 square foot lease at Pan-American Life Center. Equastone agreed to buy the building as a condition to McGlinchey Stafford entering into the lease. Equastone arranged the sale of the building to Gibbs.

Chad Carpenter, CEO of Equastone, noted, "We took a calculated risk by agreeing to purchase the law firm's existing building. But we lined up a highly qualified buyer before we inked the deal, so we essentially double escrowed the property. We are very aggressive and creative when it comes to leasing. In this case it really paid off."

Clint Harrington, Executive Vice President at Equastone, said, "Downtown is vibrant and reflects the economic upturn of the State and region. Signing the largest office lease since Katrina and bringing one of the City's most recognized law firms to the Pan-Am building is a major vote of confidence for the area."

The Pan-American Life Center spans 28-stories with more than 684,000-square feet of space. It houses the Pan-American Life Conference and Media Center, a full-service cafeteria, sundry, as well as a 795-vehicle public parking garage. It is also connected to the InterContinental Hotel. For leasing information please contact Greg Riera of Jones Lang LaSalle at (504) 585-2678.

About Equastone

Equastone's affiliated funds currently own 59 office and flex buildings encompassing nearly 9.4 million square feet throughout the United States. Equastone has offices in San Diego, Denver, Dallas and Houston, and owns properties in California, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, Oregon and Texas.

Equastone is a real estate investment firm specializing in the acquisition and asset management of opportunistic and value-added real estate. Equastone manages investment capital on behalf of Equastone Real Estate Funds, which are private equity funds for high net worth and institutional investors. For more information about Equastone, call Mykel Sprinkles at (858) 812-3261 or visit www.equastone.com.

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