"Our margins are being squeezed," says Williams As a result, Post plans to reduce its annual development costs from $350 million to $400 million to "a more conservative" $200 million to $250 million range. The current pipeline is at $600 million, about two-thirds of which is funded.

Post plans to begin an aggressive sales campaign to shed some of its assets, hoping to raise funds for internal development activities, reducing debt and repurchasing shares up to a previously announced $100 million.

The company expects to record a charge of $6 million to $7.5 million (13 cents to 17 cents per share) for writeoffs related to pre-development expenses on projects it will abandon. Post's FFO growth rate for the next 18 months to 24 months will be about 4% to 6%, Williams notes. Over the last seven years, Post has been running at an 11% rate.

Atlanta is one of Post's healthiest markets, Williams says. However, the area also has some of the company's oldest properties. Metro Atlanta is "targeted for more asset sales than any other location," Post's chairman says.

Dallas is another market in which Post will sell assets. "We will not continue to invest in Phoenix, Nashville or Houston, and we are looking at Florida," Williams says. But markets Post likes are Atlanta, Washington, D.C., southern California and New York.

Post is also pulling back from its planned large-scale participation in major Atlanta projects, Atlantic Station and the MARTA Lindbergh site. Both are complicated by neighborhood resistance, "uncertain and too far down the road in the pipeline" of about 18 months to 24 months.

Williams stressed Post's balance sheet is strong and stabilized properties are performing well. The company is discontinuing its dividend reinvestment plan for individual investors.