Regency Knows West

BERKLEY, CA-Although Regency Centers Corp. has arobust national development pipeline, the shoppingcenter REIT is focusing much of its activity on theWest Coast, particularly in California. “Ourdevelopment pipeline is very strong in the West,” saysBrian Smith, managing director of investments forRegency Centers. “It’s probably stronger than I’veever seen it.”

Smith spoke about Regency Center’s Pacific Region,which includes California, Washington, Oregon andNevada, during the Goldman Sachs’ Annual RealEstate/REIT Conference and Property Tour. He says thatRegency expects to break ground on nearly $160 millionof new centers this year alone. Next year, the REIThopes to kick off $144 million in new developments.

Since 1998, Regency has developed roughly $1.3 billionof retail product in the Pacific Region. Today, theportfolio consists of 85 properties in the fourPacific states with 75% of the properties located in California.

The Golden State accounts for 86% of the REIT’s newdevelopment in the Pacific Region, Smith says.”California is definitely the engine the PacificRegion,” he adds. Of those developments, nearly 80%are grocery-anchored centers and the remaining are Target-anchored community centers. “Target is a very important part of our development pipeline,” he notes.