Same store net operating income from PREIT's retail portfolio this third quarter dropped from 96.6% in third quarter 2002 to 95%. The closing of an Ames store at Dartmouth Mall in Massachusetts was the primary cause of the decline. PREIT has a non-binding letter of intent to sell a pad including that site to May Co. for a 140,000-sf Filene's Department Store.

PREIT's power centers were 97.7% occupied in the most recent quarter, and occupancy at its enclosed malls was 86.3%. Sales in the company's same store mall properties averaged $377 per sf, versus $382 per sf in the comparable quarter a year ago.

During the third-quarter PREIT executed 43 retail leases encompassing 356,657 sf at an average rent of $10.37 per sf. New leases for previously leased space accounted for five transactions totaling 16,243 sf at an average rent of $32.85 per sf, which is $6.13 per sf higher than the average prior rent in those spaces. Renewed leases for 21 tenants, occupying an aggregate 159,503 sf, averaged $12.65 per sf, an increase of just 89 cents per sf over the rent at expiration.