Baker & Jares:

Real estate agents Debbie Hunn and Karen Hunn of Williams Trew Real Estate Services have since been exclusively handling resales in the building and report that the development is doing great. They refer to the building as its own "neighborhood."

"Everyone is just talking doom and gloom," Debbie Hunn said of the residential market. "The Tower is still going strong."

Of the 294 units in the building, four are high-dollar penthouses. Three of those have been sold.

Since opening, 92 units have been resold, the women report. Only two units have been sold twice, but two units have also gone into foreclosure.

In 2005, when the building reopened as condos, there were 10 resales at an average price of $267 a square foot. The condos were sold at 97 percent of the list price, on average.

A year later, 33 condos were resold at an average price of $262 a square foot and at an average of 96 percent of the list price. In 2007, 21 condos were resold at an average price of $275 a square foot and at an average of 97 percent of list price. Last year, 24 condos were resold at an average price of $270 a square foot and at an average of 95 percent of list price.

Four condos have been sold this year at an average $296 a square foot, and two sales are pending, they said. Thirty-four condos are listed for sale and 19 are listed for lease.

"We have had a lot of interest this year," Karen Hunn said.

Green awards

Two Hurst companies, Elite Custom Homes and Eco-Living Solutions, are finalists for the 2009 National Association of Home Builders Green Building Awards.