Inland paid Market Square Shopping Center LLC $13.05 million or $107.16 per sf for the 29-year-old property 22 miles west of Downtown Atlanta. In Gwinnett County, the REIT paid Springfield Park LLC $10.88 million or $103.30 per sf for the 15-year-old center 30 miles north of Downtown. The acquisitions bring Inland's property county to 135 in 12 states, cementing its title as the most aggressive shopping center buyer in the Southeast.

"This is a continuation of our acquisition's strategy from last year in which we purchased more than eight million sf of retail space valued at more than $1 billion," says Steve Sanders, senior vice president, Inland Real Estate Acquisitions Inc. "And we have more than $600 million of properties in the pipeline" to possibly close in 2003.

While closing on the two suburban Atlanta properties, Inland also acquired the 15-year-old, 118,727-sf Oakley Plaza in Asheville, NC for $9.4 million or $79.17 per sf from MCW-RC North Carolina LLC.