Regency Centers' Stein Touts Demographics as Key To Success
03/07/2013 | by Carisa Chappell
Martin “Hap” Stein, chairman and CEO of shopping center REIT Regency Centers Corp. (NYSE: REG, joined REIT.com recently for a CEO Spotlight video interview during NAREIT’s Washington Leadership Forum.
 
Regency Centers has properties across the country, ranging from assets in the coastal markets in California to markets in Texas, the Raleigh/Durham region, the Southeast and Washington, D.C. Stein discussed the company's diverse markets and what makes them successful.

“Throughout the country our properties are doing well. What is driving that is the demographics of our shopping centers,” said Stein.

In terms of development and redevelopment projects, Stein said the development of irreplaceable shopping centers at attractive returns on risk to capital is one of Regency Center’s core competencies. In 2012 the company completed nine properties that are already 97 percent leased, according to Stein.

“Our development has performed very well, and it’s a key part of what we do at Regency,” he said.

Looking ahead, Stein was careful not to focus on one possible trend, but, instead, said there are several in the shopping center sector that he is keeping an eye on. They include the supply versus demand dynamic. He also said lack of supply makes the shopping centers in his company’s portfolio more desirable to expanding tenants. He used the example of restaurants, the third-largest category of tenants in the company’s shopping centers, as having expansion potential.

“You never know what is going to be the key trend,” he said. “The thing is that we own great shopping centers in great locations with great anchors and they’re going to produce reliable growth and net operating income, which are the key drivers of predictable earnings.”