(Ian Ritter is national online editor for GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)

BIRMINGHAM, AL-Even though Colonial Properties Trust executives sold off a major portion of their retail assets this year, they still plan to make the development of open-air centers a future priority, officials said yesterday during their Q4 conference call. Last year Continental sold off its majority ownership in 10 malls.

"The retail development business continues to be a priority for the company," says C. Reynolds Thompson, the firm's chief operating officer. "We are able to create more value in retail development than anything we can do right now." The company currently has five new retail projects underway totaling 1.3 million sf.

Two retail projects are scheduled to open this year, the 289,000-sf Colonial Pinnacle Turkey Creek, in Knoxville, TN; and the 300,000-sf Colonial Pinnacle at Tutwiler Farm, in Birmingham. Other projects under development are throughout Alabama.