Crescent Real Estate Announces Sale of Non-Strategic Assets for $89 Million.

FORT WORTH, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 26, 1999--

Crescent Real Estate Equities Company (NYSE:CEI), one of the nation's largest real estate investment trusts, announced today that certain subsidiaries have agreed in principle to sell its equity and debt interests in the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association, interest in American Airlines Center, the new Dallas sports arena development, Victory, the 66-acre mixed-use development in downtown Dallas, and certain promissory notes relating primarily to the Dallas Mavericks.

These assets, most of which were originally acquired in conjunction with Crescent's purchase of the Carter-Crowley Properties Inc. office portfolio in May of 1997, are expected to be sold to Hillwood for approximately $89 million cash. Hillwood owns the majority interest in the Dallas Mavericks and Victory. The interests in the Dallas Mavericks and the American Airlines Center are expected to be sold by Hillwood at its cost to Belo (NYSE:BLC) as a part of a structured transaction between Crescent, Hillwood and Belo. The transactions involving the Dallas Mavericks are awaiting approval by the National Basketball Association. The sale is expected to have no impact on 1999 Funds from Operations.

John C. Goff, Crescent's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "These are non-strategic assets for Crescent and were acquired with the purchase of a Dallas office portfolio; their sale is part of the pruning process in which we are now engaged. We want to move quickly in the disposal of such assets and refocus our efforts on the primary business sectors of our Company. In this instance, we received fair value in an all-cash transaction that was negotiated quickly and efficiently. The proceeds from the sale will be used to pay down our revolving line of credit and thus create additional buying power for capitalizing on new growth opportunities. We view the sale as a forerunner of other non-core asset sales that we plan to effect in the near future."

"It's been a pleasure working with Crescent for the past two years," said Hillwood CEO Rick Patterson. "This transaction further demonstrates Hillwood's commitment to the Mavericks and the Victory project."

Certain matters discussed within this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Although Crescent believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, Crescent's future operations will depend on a number of factors that may differ materially from Crescent's assumptions. These factors are detailed from time to time in Crescent's SEC reports, including its annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and reports on Form 8-K.

Crescent is a fully integrated real estate company which owns through its subsidiaries a portfolio of real estate assets consisting of 89 office properties and 7 retail properties with a total of 32.6 million square feet, a 39.6% interest in 92 refrigerated storage properties with a total of approximately 19 million square feet, 88 behavioral healthcare facilities, 7 full-service hotels with a total of 2,247 rooms, 2 destination health and fitness resorts, and economic interests in 5 residential development corporations. The office properties are located in 31 metropolitan submarkets in 9 states.

Dallas-based Hillwood is one of the largest privately held developers in the country. In addition to Victory and American Airlines Center, Hillwood's major projects are the Alliance development around the world's first industrial airport in north Fort Worth, Circle T Ranch in Westlake, Texas, and Heritage in Fort Worth. The company also provides advisory services around the world and is one of the largest single-family lot providers in Dallas-Fort Worth. In 1996 Hillwood's focus expanded beyond real estate with its purchase of the Mavericks. For information regarding Hillwood, please contact David Pelletier, Director of Communications for Hillwood, at 817/224-6044.

For further information regarding Belo, contact Harold Gaar, vice president/financial and investor relations at 214/977-7650. Additional information on Belo is available online at www.belo.com.

For further information, please contact Jack I. Tompkins, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Crescent Real Estate Equities Company at 817/321-1426. Crescent is also online at www.cei-crescent.com.