"Our strategy is to be the market leading developer and operator of class A apartments in seven core markets," Summit president and CEO Steven LeBlanc says in statements during the company's third quarter conference call in October. Including the Texas locations, the company now has a 10-market portfolio, after abandoning the Columbus, OH, Richmond, VA, and Wilmington, DE markets this year. "Since 1998, we pursued this strategy by selling our older, bottom quartile communities and non-core markets and redeployed that capital into new market leading developments and acquisitions in our core markets particularly Washington, South Florida and Atlanta." According to the National Association of Realtors two Metropolitan Washington, DC markets were among the "hottest multifamily markets in the third quarter." Rent growth in Baltimore increased by 3.7% and in Norfolk, VA rents increased by 6.5%. LeBlanc adds that Summit expects to wrap up the consolidation plan by the end of 2003.