Edward with Gov. Perry, who says the Texas Enterprise Fund, which is designed to attract new business to the state or assist with expansion of current businesses, has brought 55k jobs and $14.3B in capital to the state in the past five years. He emphasized his support of the 10th Amendment, explaining that the federal government is supposed to be an agent for the state, not the other way around. If the Constitution doesn’t already tell us what to do, those decisions belong to the states. Perry says his governing principles are simple. For starters, don’t spend all the money. Texas, he says, has $8B in its rainy day fund.

Collins Capital’s De’Juan Collins (left) and De’On Collins flank ESmith Legacy’s Tamela Thornton, and Encore Enterprises’ Donna Arp, Jeremiah Sunden, and Collin Lotter. Jeremiah tells us Encore is celebrating the closing of a 360k SF deal in Cincinnati. Details are forthcoming. (He must've mistook the Gov's security detail for Secret Service; thus the secrets.) Donna was talking about   projects with the Collins brothers, too. How's that for networking?

Manny Naser Inc.’s Manny Awad  got a pic for the mantel as well. The real estate investor owns about a dozen shopping centers in the Metroplex. Right now, he has 20k SF under construction at Shiloh and Kingsley in Garland. Manny says the market is turning and things will get even better in the next 9-12 months. Last year, there were so many vacancies, he was giving away a month or two of rent to get tenants or replace those breaking leases. Now he's able to be more selective when choosing who leases the space.