Smith spoke about Regency Center's Pacific Region,which includes California, Washington, Oregon andNevada, during the Goldman Sachs' Annual RealEstate/REIT Conference and Property Tour. He says thatRegency expects to break ground on nearly $160 millionof new centers this year alone. Next year, the REIThopes to kick off $144 million in new developments.

Since 1998, Regency has developed roughly $1.3 billionof retail product in the Pacific Region. Today, theportfolio consists of 85 properties in the fourPacific states with 75% of the properties located in California.

The Golden State accounts for 86% of the REIT's newdevelopment in the Pacific Region, Smith says."California is definitely the engine the PacificRegion," he adds. Of those developments, nearly 80%are grocery-anchored centers and the remaining are Target-anchored community centers. "Target is a very important part of our development pipeline," he notes.