He says Faison has "a strong operation in Atlanta, giving us access to all of Georgia; a strong presence in Orlando; a strong Charlotte presence and we're picking up steam in the Northern Virginia area and up to New York State."

Finding capital for transactions right now is no problem, he says. "We have sufficient capital to fund the operations and deals that they would come up with, and we have strong tenant relationships in those markets," Norwood tells GlobeSt.com.

This transaction comes 10 days after Faison's repurchase of a retail development and regional mall business, and a property management operation from Trammell Crow Co. Beil says that in1998, Faison sold these retail business units to TCC as part of a larger transaction.

Prior to the deal, Biel left Faison for Federal Realty, a Rockville, MD-headquartered Investment Trust, to become a senior vice president and CEO until June 2000.

Along with Drew Gorman and other senior members of FRT's development team, Biel then formed Palisades with the goal of creating grocery-anchored community centers in the mid-Atlantic region and urban street retail projects in select metropolitan areas.

Palisades' current pipeline includes shopping centers in Charles, Calvert, Prince George's and Frederick counties in Maryland; and Gloucester County (New Jersey), and street retail buildings in Milwaukee, Charlotte, Philadelphia and Washington, DC.

The new company brought about 233 employees back into Faison's fold, the majority of whom were working for FRT, Norwood says.