Regency, which specializes in grocery-anchored shopping centers, currently owns and operates 263 retail properties totaling 28.7 million sf. However, it has no properties in this state and just one each in NJ and DE, which are also a part of the market being covered by the Bala Cynwyd office.

The opening of the suburban Philadelphia office coincides with the opening of a Regency office in Washington DC, another target of shopping center acquisitions. At a meeting of the Philadelphia chapter of CREW Network - the network of Commercial Real Estate Women - Mary Lou Fiala, Regency's president and COO, said her company hopes to acquire between $300 million and $400 million worth of retail properties in the Mid-Atlantic, now a regional "void" in her company's portfolio.

Arms confirms to GlobeSt.com that this is a realistic expectation from the two new offices over the next five years. "We're not rushing to push money out the door," he says, "but we have more than $600 million available for acquisition and development nationwide and an appetite to develop as much good property as we can.